Project Management Fundamentals and the Project Life Cycle
What the exam tests
This domain checks whether you can distinguish projects from operations, explain how life-cycle phases and development approaches shape control, and recognize organizational influences on authority. A project is a temporary, unique effort that creates a product, service, or result; operations are ongoing and repetitive. The project life cycle is the sequence of phases from start to closure, while the product life cycle can extend beyond the project.
Core rules
- Predictive life cycles define scope early and manage change through baselines; adaptive life cycles deliver in iterations and welcome controlled change; hybrid combines both.
- A phase gate reviews deliverables, risks, and business justification before the next phase. Gates are decision points, not status meetings.
- Organizational structure affects power: functional managers retain authority in weak matrices; project managers gain more in strong matrices; projectized structures give the PM clear authority.
- The PMO may support, control, or direct projects; its mandate changes reporting and escalation.
Worked example
A design phase ends with requirements approved but a key interface untested. The gate criteria require both. The correct decision is to hold the build phase, record the open risk, and set a dated entry condition. Reasoning: a gate protects the next investment; approving build because the schedule is tight converts a known risk into costly rework.
Traps
- Confusing project closure with product retirement.
- Assuming adaptive projects need no baseline or governance.
- Treating a recurring service request as a project because it has a ticket.
- Forgetting that matrix authority can be shared and ambiguous.