The Eye Diagram: A New Perspective on the Project Life Cycle

Abstract

The project life cycle, a well-established concept in project management literature and education, is used to highlight the dynamic requirements placed on a typical project manager. As a project moves through the selection, planning, execution, and termination phases, the project manager and team are faced with different, vying areas of concern—including the immediate task priorities, the probable sources of conflict, and the relevant critical factors for project success. Unfortunately, traditional representations of the project life cycle emphasize accounting-oriented aspects of the life cycle that are less interesting, such as percent complete and level of effort. In this article, the authors introduce a new framework, the eye diagram, that illustrates the more substantive aspects of the life cycle concept in an intuitive and accessible format.