Why adopt this practice?
Project stakeholders look for ways to understand and control project funding, scope, risk exposure, value
provided, and other aspects of the project. While project iterations deliver product increments that show
value delivered and show progress at a fine-grained level (meaning that work items are being addressed), they do not
provide the necessary project oversight, transparency, and steering mechanisms at a coarse-grained level that allow
stakeholders to make informed business decisions about the project.
The organization of iterations into a set of phases -- with a well-defined milestone at the end of each phase --
provides the structure that stakeholders and managers need to assess whether the objectives of the phase have been
met and whether the project should move on to the next phase or not. See Phase Milestones for more details.
By addressing the goals and risks of each phase, the team has the opportunity to find the right balance between risk
reduction and immediate value creation, which are two major drivers for stakeholders. See Project Lifecycle for more information.
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