Most projects lifecycle: 1. exploratory phase documenting stakeholder requirements 2. analytical phase consolidating a design specification 3. prototype phas

Most projects lifecycle: 1. exploratory phase documenting stakeholder requirements 2. analytical phase consolidating a design specification 3. prototype phase where viability and scope is further refined 4. development phase where inflated expectations get attenuated 5. refinement phase where the stakeholders and end users realize they get what they asked for... but not quite what they needed. 6. revision purgatory where the clean efficient design gets hammered back into the same abomination it was meant to replace One can simply plot the exponential decay in job satisfaction by project phase number. If 40% of the team remains by the end, than it was a better manager than most. Good luck fellow travelers =)