There are different types of project management life cycles project managers should be aware of. One of them is the incremental life cycle. The incremental life cycle is where the scope of the project is determined in the early part of the cycle. However, the cost and time estimates are always modified by the team as the project progresses. With this process, the products are developed by successively adding elements that can add the functionality of the product.
Generally, there are two types of project life cycle used in project management– the iterative and incremental lifecycle. The project phase, also called iterations, repeat the project activities as the team’s understanding of the product also improves. This means that the product is developed through a repeated cycle. The incremental life cycle, on the other hand, adds successively to the functionality of the product. This means that the product is designed, implemented as well as tested in increments until it is completed.
In the incremental life cycle, the whole requirement, for instance, is divided into various builds which are then divided into smaller yet easily managed modules that should pass through the requirements design, implementation and testing phases.
This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.