Excerpt From The Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Handbook

The life cycle of a project may be defined in five stages:

1. Visualizing, selling, and initiating the project
2. Planning the project
3. Designing the processes and outputs (deliverables)
4. Implementing and tracking the project
5. Evaluating and closing out the project

Understanding a project’s life cycle leads to better estimation of what resources need to be applied and when. Identifying the stages also provides for intermediate decision points (go/no-go) as a stage nears completion. The advantage of planning by stages is that fewer contingencies need be built into the estimates of the total project, as funding and resource allocations are made stage by stage, with greater knowledge of actual requirements just prior to each new stage.

Quality Management BOK Reference

III Management Elements and Methods 
III.C Project Management 
III.C.1 Project management basics - Use project management methodology and ensure that each project is aligned with strategic objectives. Define the different phases of a project: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closure. Recognize the importance of keeping the project on-time, and within budget. ​ 

Additional Resources
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