Management Model: Linear Project Management Life Cycle Model

1. Linear Project Management Life Cycle Model

A linear model is a model that is based on a simple starting with the determination of the scope, a planning phase, a monitoring process and consecutive phases through to the closing of the project. It relies heavily on planning during the initiation phases of the project, which sets the scene for the execution of the project. Wysocki in Chin, however pointed out that “knowledge based from one process group (…) cannot be used to revise and improve the deliverables” (Wysocki, 2009). What Wysocki pointed out, infers that, when changes do occur, it would have a large effect on the project’s budget, schedule and would constitute a putting more pressure on the project team. To alleviate the pressure,

The review of the tests are assessed and any required changes are incorporated into the next stage of solution development. At each stage of increment of project execution, changes and amendments of the planned developments actually adds value to the process, and is important in ensuring the success of the final solution. The weakness of this approach is linked to the scheduling of the stages of the solution development. Again, Wysocki commented that a mistake in scheduling of development (linked for example, to the dependencies between the developments) is putting the whole project schedule at risk. The project team can try and mitigate this weakness through additional effort in terms of planning and scoping, thus attempting to predict possible outcomes and how they will influence each other. Additionally, during the solution development, testing should be exhaustive to ensure that all scenarios are considered and taken into consideration.

We can thus deduce that the incremental Lifecycle model places a strain on resources that more specialised resources are required within the project team that more people with contextual knowledge would be required. Furthermore, pressure causes people to need more human resources management skills at an interpersonal level.

The second identified group of Lifecycle approaches consists of iterative life cycle models and adaptive models-

It is important that the resources are secured full time throughout the project, not only periodically.

4. Adaptive Project Management Life Cycle Model

This model is based on cycles, with each cycle being planned and scheduled based on the findings from the previous cycle. This is the model, that favours the focused approach, and only the viable options are taken into account (i.e. solutions considered probable based on each cycle’s findings). Further, there is the minimal planning involved, as the model is based on frequent change. The disadvantages of this model are that it requires an active Client involvement and the solution of the project is unknown.

The solution to these two downsides would be to ensure that all within the project team, and especially the Client are aware of the nature of the project (i.e. that it is unspecified, and there are a lot of the unknown factors). Secondly, the Client must understand that this model requires a very active involvement on their side, and similarly to the iterative model, a dedicated team must be established by the