Adaptive Life Cycle
An adaptive life cycle is a change-driven approach that is both iterative and incremental, where the detailed scope is defined and approved before the start of each iteration.
Explanation
Adaptive life cycles — often called agile — are designed for environments with high levels of change and uncertainty. Rather than attempting to define the full scope upfront, the team works in short iterations (typically one to four weeks), with the scope for each iteration determined just before it begins. This allows the project to respond to changing requirements, stakeholder feedback, and emerging information.
Agile methods such as Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming (XP) are implementations of the adaptive life cycle. They emphasize customer collaboration, working software (or deliverables) over comprehensive documentation, responding to change over following a plan, and individuals and interactions over processes and tools — the four values of the Agile Manifesto.
Adaptive life cycles work best when requirements are uncertain or rapidly evolving, when the customer wants frequent delivery of value, and when the team can work in close collaboration with stakeholders. They require a high degree of stakeholder involvement, empowered teams, and organizational support for iterative decision-making.
Key Points
- •Change-driven, combining iterative and incremental approaches
- •Detailed scope is defined at the start of each iteration, not upfront
- •Emphasizes customer collaboration and rapid feedback loops
- •Requires empowered teams and active stakeholder engagement
Exam Tip
PMI views agile as one end of a spectrum, not a separate discipline. If a scenario describes evolving requirements, short iterations, and close customer collaboration, it points to an adaptive life cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Topics
Iterative Life Cycle
An iterative life cycle is an approach where the project scope is generally determined early, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as understanding increases through repeated cycles of work.
Incremental Life Cycle
An incremental life cycle is an approach where the deliverable is produced through a series of iterations that successively add functionality within a predetermined time frame.
Hybrid Life Cycle
A hybrid life cycle is a combination of predictive and adaptive approaches, using elements of both based on the nature of the work.
Project Life Cycle
The project life cycle is the series of phases that a project passes through from its start to its completion.
Product Backlog
The Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product, serving as the single source of requirements for any changes to be made.
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Predictive Life Cycle (Waterfall)
A predictive life cycle is a plan-driven approach where the project scope, schedule, and cost are determined early and changes are carefully managed.
Subsidiary Plans
Subsidiary plans are the individual management plans that are components of the overall project management plan, each addressing a specific Knowledge Area or management function.
Burndown Chart
A Burndown Chart is a graphical representation of work remaining versus time in a Sprint or release, showing whether the team is on track to complete the planned work.
Resource Leveling
Resource leveling is a resource optimization technique in which adjustments are made to the project schedule to keep resource usage at or below a defined limit, often resulting in a longer project duration.
Risk Register
The risk register is a project document that records the details of individual project risks, including their identification, analysis results, response plans, and current status.
Stakeholder Mapping
Stakeholder mapping is the visual representation of stakeholder relationships, influence, interest, or other attributes using grids, matrices, or diagrams to support analysis and engagement planning.
Relative Estimation
Relative Estimation is an agile technique where work items are sized in comparison to each other rather than in absolute units like hours or days, providing faster and more accurate estimates.
Cost Performance Index (CPI)
Cost Performance Index (CPI) is an EVM efficiency metric that measures cost performance as the ratio of earned value to actual cost: CPI = EV / AC.
Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is an EVM efficiency metric that measures schedule performance as the ratio of earned value to planned value: SPI = EV / PV.
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