Lesson 3: The Serial Lifecycle & the Initiation Phase
The serial lifecycle, also called waterfall, drives a project through four sequential phases: Definition/Initiation, Planning, Execution, and Delivery. In this lesson we focus on the first phase — Initiation: how to build a Business Case, run a Feasibility Study, draft a Project Charter, and answer
In brief: waterfall runs a project step by step (Definition, Planning, Execution, Delivery). Initiation justifies the project (Business Case + Feasibility) and gives the manager formal authority (a Charter). The more uncertainty, complexity, and pace a project has, the riskier it is.
- Serial Lifecycle (Waterfall)
- A linear approach in which the project advances through four sequential phases — Definition/Initiation, Planning, Execution, and Delivery — each finishing before the next begins, with heavy planning and documentation.
- Initiation (Definition)
- The project's first phase, focused on goals, specifications, tasks, and responsibilities. Here the project is justified and formally authorized to begin.
- Business Case
- The business-justification and viability document: it describes the current situation and its drawbacks, the harm if the project is not done, and the solution's goals ranked by importance (often using SMART).
- Project Charter (PC)
- A document that establishes the project exists and grants the project manager written formal authority to begin. It typically includes purpose, stakeholders, requirements, constraints, milestones, a communication plan, and deliverables.
- UCP model
- A classification model with three dimensions: Uncertainty, Complexity, and Pace. The higher the dimensions, the higher the project's risk.
- U-C model
- A two-dimensional model: technological Uncertainty at four levels (Low / Medium / High / Super-High-Tech) and system Scope at three levels (Assembly / System / Array).
- NTCP model (Diamond)
- Shenhar & Dvir's Diamond model with four dimensions: Novelty, Technology, Complexity, and Pace.
- Breakthrough project
- A project that delivers unprecedented improvement and demands a fundamental change in thinking; the initial reaction is often 'we can't do this'. Examples: the car, the PC with the mouse, the iPhone.
