’Project lifecycle’ refers to a logical sequence of activities to accomplish the project’s goals and reach its objective. Regardless of scope or complexity, all projects go through a series of phases or stages; these stages are described as the project lifecycle.  Lifecycles differ across industries and business sectors and by the methodology chosen for the project.

An example is CITI’s four phase lifecycle ‘Initiate, Plan, Do, Close’.  This closely maps to those used by PRINCE2®, the PMI and the APM.

A lifecycle is used to control progress through a project; to provide gateways (review points) from one phase to the next, at which the project’s likelihood of success is validated and a decision to move to the next phase made.  Within the overall project lifecycle there are likely to be one or more ‘product’ lifecycles such as Agile or the traditional Waterfall or V models – particularly where the project is delivering technology products.