TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Most systems move inexorably through a process or series of developmental stages. In planned human systems, development occurs through an intentional, logical sequence of prescribed activities called the systems development cycle. Project management takes place within the broader context of systems development and is the function responsible for planning activities and for organizing and guiding their execution. The two chapters in this section outline the process of systems development and describe the role of project management within its stages.
There is a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to reap; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up
Ecclesiastes 3:1
An important aspect of the systems approach to management is the concept of life cycle the basic pattern of change that occurs throughout the life of a system. There are two ways of considering life cycles in the systems approach: One is to recognize the natural process that occurs in all dynamic systems that of birth, life, and death; the other is to incorporate such recognition into the planning and management of systems.
The practice of project management occurs within the context of just such a natural process. For any human-made system, the process of developing, implementing, and operating the system involves a logical sequence of activities called the
