Project Management Methodologies and Project Life Cycle

Question: Discuss about the Project Management for Methodologies and Project Life Cycle. Answer: Methodology and its Role in Project Management Methodology is set of guidelines and standards that are followed during any Information Technology (IT) and other projects (Marchewka, 2014). Methodology of a project includes specific definitions, rules, designs and research methods that must be followed by the individuals involved in the project. Methodology mainly emphasizes on two distinct parts: Design The design produced in the project must be easy to understand, efficient, effective and meeting the requirements of the project. Content The content must be disciplined and contain critical review of the project supervisors. Methodology is a very important part of project management. Firstly, a specific methodology guides the project members to proceed in the correct direction (Kerzner, 2013). Moreover, in project management, using suitable methodology increases the success probability of the project as well as determination of the suitable deliverables of the project. Some of the benefits of methodology in project management are as follows (Kloppenborg, 2014): Effective Decision Making Methodology helps in effective decision making in a project management task. Methodology also guides the project members in the right direction such that they take the right decisions during the course of the project. Save Money and Time Selecting the right methodology helps in saving a large amount of money and time (Schwalbe, 2015). If wrong methodology is followed, huge amount of time is consumed and additional expenses are encountered. Control of Project Scope Methodology also helps in defining the project scopes that are to be explored during the course of the project. Solutions to Problems Many problems are encountered during a project management task (Burke, 2013). Use of suitable methodology can help in solving the problems as solutions are already provided in the methodology. Comparison between two selected Methodologies Two methodologies chosen from the list are Agile and Waterfall. The method in which continuous iteration processes are executed in the development and testing phases of a project is called Agile Methodology. On the other hand, Waterfall Methodology is a non-iterative design of a software development where the processes are executed one below the other until the end goal is achieved (Palmquist et al., 2013). The similarities between Agile and Waterfall Methodology are as follows: Both of the methodologies are used to create an execution plan before the start of the actual project. Early lock down is achieved in both the methodologies. Sequential execution is observed in both the methodologies. In both the methodologies, execution can only be done after the previous step is successfully completed, i.e. all the steps must be executed successfully. Both of the methodologies can be used for documentation of each of the project steps. Both the methodologies can be used for meeting the requirements of the project. The differences between the two methodologies are as follows: Agile Methodology Waterfall Methodology It is based on iterative execution of steps It is based on sequential execution of steps This methodology is broken down into separate models and then approached This methodology does not support breaking down Agile methodology does not have a definite work structure, iterations are continued according to the errors and issues encountered Waterfall methodology has a specific breakdown structure that must be followed in a sequential manner As it is an iterative process, errors encountered are solved immediately in order to progress to the next part After the whole project is complete, testing is conducted and only then, errors are encountered and solved User Acceptance is used in all parts of the project User Acceptance is only used at the conclusion of the project Relation between Chosen Methodologies and Project Life Cycle Agile Methodology and Project Life Cycle (PLC) In agile methodology, iterative testing processes are conducted. After an error is encountered, changes are made and the testing process is repeated (Palmquist et al., 2013). Based on the test results, changes are made in the different sections of the PLC, thus providing it the right direction so that the project is completed successfully. Waterfall Methodology and Project Life Cycle (PLC) Waterfall model is an inseparable part of Project Life Cycle. During the development phase of the project life cycle, the project is broken down to several parts within the project life cycle that are then executed in a sequential manner. However, no part of the PLC can be left incomplete before completion of the project (Palmquist et al., 2013). Once a part in the sequential order is done completely, then the next part can be executed. References Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques.New Jersey, USA. Kerzner, H. R. (2013).Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley Sons. Kloppenborg, T. (2014).Contemporary project management. Nelson Education. Marchewka, J. T. (2014).Information technology project management. John Wiley Sons. Palmquist, M. S., Lapham, M. A., Miller, S., Chick, T., Ozkaya, I. (2013).Parallel worlds: Agile and waterfall differences and similarities(No. CMU/SEI-2013-TN-021). Carnegie-Mellon Univ Pittsburgh Pa Software Engineering Inst. Schwalbe, K. (2015).Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.