To start with, there can be more than one project life cycle in one product life cycle.
The project life cycle & the product life cycle are quite confusing terms but are significantly different.
I will try to cover both graphs to make them clearer and easy to understand for you.
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Project Life Cycle
By definition, projects are planned to produce one product, and as soon as the product is handed over to the production project is over.
Regardless of the nature of the project, the principles of project management will always be the same. The life cycle of a project can be multi-phase, and every phase itself can have many activities from the five process groups:
- Initiation: The project charter is developed, and project stakeholders are identified
- Planning: A project plan is developed during this phase
- Execution: Real-time project work is done in this phase
- Monitoring & controlling: Monitoring & control happens throughout the complete project to control and avoid any possible deviation
- Closing: final deliverable, along with all requirements, is handed over, and the project is closed.
The important thing to be noted here is that a project will not always be a part of the product life cycle. Like when the project deliverable is some service or result.
Main Characteristics of the Project life cycle
The following are a few main characteristics of a project life cycle:
- The probability of risk is highest at the start of a project and decreases as the project is progressed.
- At the beginning of a project, resource requirements are at their minimum level, and it peaks during the execution phase, then it may decrease with the progress of a project.
- The cost of any deviation/change in the project plan is minimal at the start, increasing as the project progresses.
- The influence of stakeholders is biggest at the start of a project, and it starts decreasing as the project is progressed.
- Time and budget allocation are maximum for the project execution phase.
Let’s take the example of a project where we have to develop an android phone. At first, requirements are collected from stakeholders. Once the requirements are finalized, we’ll go for a project management plan to build an android phone and the project schedule. Then in the execution phase, its manufacturing will start. The product will be launched in the market as soon as its manufacturing is finalized. That project will be closed.
Product Life Cycle
The product life cycle is initiated as early as a simple idea and lasts until it is no more available in production and market.
The Product Life cycle can be divided into the following stages.
- Development: This phase starts from a simple idea until the product release
- Introduction: Once the development is concluded, the product is launched in the market for sales
- Growth: Product sales start increasing
- Maturity: Product is widespread in the market, and sale numbers are its peak
- Retirement: All the existing inventory are sold in the market, and its production of the product is closed mostly due to change in market trend/requirements.
All these phases exist in sequence, as stated above, and can’t be overlapped. There is no time limitation for any of the product life cycle phases stated above. Depending upon the products, the product life cycle can be one year, and for some others, it could be 20 years.
The project life cycle can be a subset of the Product life cycle, but vice versa isn’t true. A product life cycle can have many project life cycles.
Let’s take an example of a product life cycle for a new android smartphone. The first stage of its life cycle would be started with the inception of the idea. This will include a feasibility study, market trends, and then a business plan. A project can be initiated as soon as these activities are completed. Once the project is concluded with a new smartphone, the next product life cycle of sales and marketing will be started. And then, during the retirement phase,e product will be sold at discounted rates to support its decreasing sales numbers. Please note that if there comes a requirement to change product features during the life cycle, a new project will be initiated with targeted deliverables.
Differences b/w Project Life Cycle & Product Life Cycle
The following are the main differences between the project life cycle and the product life cycle.
- The product life cycle is always longer than that of a project.
- The product life cycle may or may not end compared to the project life cycle, which always has a definite end.
- The project life cycle can be a small part of the bigger product life cycle.
- The product life cycle mostly starts from the inception of an idea and can have a conceptual road map, whereas the roadmap of a project has a clear and defined path.
- Phases of the project life cycle usually overlap, whereas phases in the product life cycle are always sequential and can never overlap.
- There can be a chance of repetition in project life cycle phases, but the same isn’t true for phases in the product life cycle.
- There can be more than one project life cycle in one product life cycle.
Conclusion
To summarize the discussion, the project life cycle and product life cycle are somewhat related to each other in some cases but are different from each other. The project life cycle can be a part of the product life cycle, and there can be more than one project life cycle in the product life cycle, but the same is not true for the project life cycle.