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| changeDate="2007-07-22T16:27:25.317-0700"> |
| <mainDescription><p>
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| The project lifecycle provides <em>stakeholders</em> with oversight, transparency, and steering mechanisms to control
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| project funding, scope, risk exposure, value provided, and other aspects of the process.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| Each iteration delivers a product increment, which provides an opportunity for stakeholders to understand what value
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| has been delivered and how well the project is tracking. It also gives the development team the opportunity to make
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| changes to the project to optimize the outcome.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| OpenUP organizes iterations into a set of phases. Each phase ends with a milestone aimed at providing oversight by
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| raising and answering a set of questions that are typically critical to stakeholders:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <a class="elementLinkWithUserText" href="./../../../openup/guidances/concepts/inception_phase.html"
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| guid="_0hmKgBOMEduCNqgZdt_OaA">Inception</a>. Do we agree on project scope and objectives, and whether or not the
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| project should proceed?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <a class="elementLinkWithUserText" href="./../../../openup/guidances/concepts/elaboration_phase.html"
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| guid="_2plxwBOMEduCNqgZdt_OaA">Elaboration</a>. Do we agree on the executable architecture to be used for
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| developing the application and do we find that the value delivered so far and the remaining risk is acceptable?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <a class="elementLinkWithUserText" href="./../../../openup/guidances/concepts/construction_phase.html"
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| guid="_48EKsBOMEduCNqgZdt_OaA">Construction</a>. Do we find that we have an application that is sufficiently close
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| to being released that we should switch the primary focus of the team to tuning, polishing and ensuring successful
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| deployment?
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <a class="elementLinkWithUserText" href="./../../../openup/guidances/concepts/transition_phase.html"
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| guid="__ca5UBOMEduCNqgZdt_OaA">Transition</a>. Is the application ready to release?
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| If the answer is Yes to the above questions at the phase review, the project continues. If the answer is No, the phase
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| is delayed (usually by adding an extra iteration) until a satisfactory answer is received, or the stakeholders may
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| determine that the project should be cancelled.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| One of the objectives of the project lifecycle is to focus on two key stakeholder drivers: risk reduction and value
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| creation. The OpenUP phases focus the team on risk reduction related to the questions to be answered at the end of the
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| phase, while tracking value creation, see Figure below.
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| </p>
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| <blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| <img height="268" alt="Risk goes down and vlaue goes up as project progresses." src="./resources/project_lifecycle.jpg"
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| width="500" />&nbsp;
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| </blockquote>
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| <p dir="ltr">
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| <em>Risk reduction (red curve) and value creation (green curve) during the project lifecycle.</em>
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| </p>
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| <p dir="ltr">
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| Risk is a manifestation of the likelihood of unexpected things happening to the project, and risk stands in the way of
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| value creation. Risk is directly proportional to uncertainty in estimates, and stakeholders typically want to know
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| sooner rather than later what value the project can deliver in the stipulated time. In many cases, you reduce risk when
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| you create value by implementing and testing the most critical capabilities. However, there are situations where risk
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| reduction and immediate value creation are at odds with each other, see <a class="elementLink"
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| href="./../../../openup/guidances/concepts/core_principle_balance.html" guid="_ssG6MMvpEdqukPpotm3DYg">Balance
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| competing priorities to maximize stakeholder value</a>.
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| </p></mainDescription> |
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