What Is Project Life Cycle?

The term project life cycle refers to the act of planning, controlling and monitoring of a project, right from the time of its inception to up till the time when the project is completed.

Many different models of the project life cycle have been developed and propounded over the last few years. One of the first models to be propounded was the simplistic Waterfall Model. But, as the nature of software becomes more complicated due to the advancement of technology, this particular model of development has not yielded significant results, often becoming counter-productive. Other models have devised a more iterative approach like Rapid Application Development and Rational Unified Process.

The degree of regulation and intricacy of the lifecycle for every project is limited by several aspects, like budget limitations, the experience level of the project team etc.