This chapter is from the book
What’s a Project Life Cycle?
The project life cycle can be mapped according to PMBOK in the following structure, whatever its size or complexity (see Figure 1.2).
![Figure 1.2](/content/images/chap1_9780134060811/elementLinks/01fig02.jpg)
Figure 1.2 Project life cycle.
The characteristics related to the project life cycle are important to remember when managing a project:
- Cost and staffing levels are low at the beginning, peak as the work is implemented, and drop rapidly as the project draws to a close.
- Stakeholders’ influences and risks are greatest at the beginning of the project. Those factors decrease afterward.
- The ability to influence the final characteristics of the project’s product or output, without significantly affecting cost, is highest at the start of the project and decreases afterward.