No life cycle can be perfect for all projects. Instead, each project finds a spot on the continuum that provides an
optimum balance of characteristics for its context. Specifically,
complexity allows teams to segment work into a sequence of predictable groupings.
Provide finished deliverables that the customer may be able to use immediately.
approaches, they iterate over the product to create finished deliverables. The team gains early feedback and
project may provide an earlier return on investment because the team delivers the highest value work first.
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Section 3
3.1.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF PREDICTIVE LIFE CYCLES
Predictive life cycles expect to take advantage of high certainty around
firm requirements, a stable team, and low risk. As a result, project activities
often execute in a serial manner, as shown in Figure 3-2.
In order to achieve this approach, the team requires detailed plans to
know what to deliver and how. These projects succeed when other potential
changes are restricted (e.g., requirements changes; project team members
change what the team delivers). Team leaders aim to minimize change for
the predictive project.
When the team creates detailed requirements and plans at the beginning
of the project, they can articulate the constraints. The team can then use
those constraints to manage risk and cost. As the team progresses through
the detailed plan, they monitor and control changes that might affect the
scope, schedule, or budget.
By emphasizing a departmentally efficient, serialized sequence of work,
predictive projects do not typically deliver business value until the end of
the project. If the predictive project encounters changes or disagreements
with the requirements, or if the technological solution is no longer
straightforward, the predictive project will incur unanticipated costs.
PLANNING IS ALWAYS THERE
A key thing to remember about
life cycles is that each of them
share the element of planning.
What differentiates a life cycle is
not whether planning is done, but
rather how much planning is done
and when.
At the predictive end of the
continuum, the plan drives the work.
As much planning as is possible is
performed upfront. Requirements
are identified in as much detail as
possible. The team estimates when
they can deliver which deliverables
and performs comprehensive
procurement activities.
In iterative approaches, prototypes
and proofs are also planned, but
the outputs are intended to modify
the plans created in the beginning.
Earlier reviews of unfinished work
help inform future project work.
Meanwhile, incremental initiatives
plan to deliver successive subsets
of the overall project. Teams may
plan several successive deliveries
in advance or only one at a time.
The deliveries inform the future
project work.
Agile projects also plan. The key
difference is that the team plans
and replans as more information
becomes available from review of
frequent deliveries. Regardless of
the project life cycle, the project
requires planning.