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| <mainDescription><h3>
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| Overview
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| Although the entire purpose of a project is to produce a product, the specific goals of the team will vary
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| substantially throughout the project. In the beginning, there usually is considerable latitude in the requirements for
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| the product. It may not be clear whether the project is feasible or even if it is likely to be profitable. At that
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| time, it is critical to bring an answer to these questions and of little to no value to start developing the product in
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| earnest.&nbsp;Toward the end of the project, the product itself is usually complete, and issues of quality, delivery,
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| and completeness then take center stage. At different points in time, tasks are undertaken in new ways and work
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| products will have new content.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| To coordinate the team's efforts in a manner that takes these fundamental observations into account, the project
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| lifecycle should be divided into a sequence of phases. Each phase has a defined set of goals, a particular iteration
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| style, and customized&nbsp; <a class="elementLinkWithUserText"
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| href="./../../../core.default.uma_concept.base/guidances/termdefinitions/task_6C1FF051.html"
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| guid="_x459ktnmEdmO6L4XMImrsA">tasks</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a class="elementLinkWithUserText"
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| href="./../../../core.default.uma_concept.base/guidances/termdefinitions/work_product_826E4C22.html"
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| guid="_H4JXwB_SEdq6CKKKq4D7YA">work products</a> to address the unique needs of the project at that point. The project
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| lifecycle provides <em>stakeholders</em> with oversight, transparency, and steering mechanisms to control project
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| 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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| It helps to organize iterations into phases. Each phase ends with a milestone aimed at providing oversight by raising
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| 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"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.risk_value_lifecycle.base/guidances/concepts/inception_phase_C4456871.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"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.risk_value_lifecycle.base/guidances/concepts/elaboration_phase_BE880435.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"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.risk_value_lifecycle.base/guidances/concepts/construction_phase_873B6559.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"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.risk_value_lifecycle.base/guidances/concepts/transition_phase_DD5986E5.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 those questions at the phase review, the project continues. If the answer is No, the phase is
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| 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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| Within each phase, you might have one or several iterations, where the iterations aim at producing the results required
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| to answer these questions. As an example, to answer the question for Elaboration, we typically need to implement and
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| test key aspects of the system so that we understand what architecture we need, what commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS)
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| components we may need, what key risks we face and how to address them, the effectiveness of the team, and so on. These
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| needs will steer how we prioritize what is to be done in an Elaboration iteration.
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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: <b>risk reduction</b> and
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| <b>value creation</b>. As figure 1 shows, the&nbsp;four phases here described focus the team on risk reduction related
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| to the questions to be answered at the end of the phase, while tracking value creation.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| <img height="268" alt="Risk goes down and value goes up as project progresses." src="./resources/project_lifecycle.jpg"
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| width="500" />&nbsp;
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| <strong>Figure 1 - Risk reduction (red curve) and value creation (green curve) during the project lifecycle</strong>
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| </p>
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| <p dir="ltr">
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| <i>Risk</i> is a manifestation of the likelihood of unexpected things happening to the project, and risk stands in the
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| way of value creation. Risk is directly proportional to uncertainty in estimates, and stakeholders typically want to
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| know sooner rather than later what value the project can deliver in the stipulated time. In many cases, you reduce risk
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| when you create value by implementing and testing the most critical capabilities. However, there are situations where
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| risk reduction and immediate value creation are at odds with each other, requiring careful balancing of these competing
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| priorities to maximize stakeholder value.
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| </p></mainDescription> |
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