The Project Life Cycle

In this book, we make reference to various phases in the life of a project. These are the project phases and elements that are common to many, if not most, web development projects. The tips and techniques we offer are relevant to many phases in the project life cycle. For example, the section on how to run a meeting effectively will serve you well through your project, and perhaps even beyond your web project experience.

Following is a brief description of each phase, and where we discuss it in this book.

• Planning: This is typically the first phase of most projects, and involves outlining the full scope of the project. In some consulting organizations, this phase follows the approval of a proposal or scope of work. In many internal projects, the project begins with the planning phase. We define the conclusion of the planning phase with the client's approval of the wireframes, and requirements document. We discuss planning in Chapters 4 and 5.