Look at any successful project and you’ll likely find a great team behind it. In addition, another important factor would be that the right project management methodology was selected to deliver the project.
Much like building a house on unstable ground, a project is doomed to fall apart if the wrong management method is chosen. Fortunately, there are several common methods to explore, each one suited for various types of projects or environments.
Common Project Management Methods
There are numerous project management methodologies, with new ones being developed all the time. Keep in mind this list isn’t exhaustive, and that there could be a project management method out there that’s an even better fit. That being said, here are the seven most common project management methodologies.
Waterfall Project Management
When it comes to project management, waterfall is considered to be pretty oldschool by many. This method involves completing projects in stages that are reliant upon the previous step.
This allows a team to dedicate all their attention on one thing at a time, but it also results in other teams waiting on the previous step to be completed. This can create a backlog or cause huge holdups, especially when it comes to software development.
Agile Management
Agile is about as far from waterfall management as it gets, as it emphasizes speed above all. While agile management isn’t an exact methodology, it is a guiding ethos for several other popular methods. Each of these agile offshoots focuses on speed and the ability to quickly pivot when necessary.
Kanban
Kanban is a type of agile management that focuses on efficiency. This efficiency is accomplished by looking at tasks and figuring out ways to streamline them. That, or if the task is necessary at all. This method is often used in factories or other consistent output-based environments, as you can easily streamline a process in these settings.
Scrum
Scrum is another agile project management method. Unlike Kanban, Scrum’s all about speed and adaptability. To make this happen, Scrum often involves breaking projects into chunks, each tackled by small teams. These teams tackle their microprojects in short cycles known as sprints. After a sprint the teams all come together to see what worked, what didn’t, and decide if anything needs to be changed.
The speed and adaptability of Scrum makes it great for software development.
Lean management
Lean is a lot like Kanban in that it emphasizes efficiency. Where it differs is that it’s concerned more with the customer, not what happens behind the scenes. Kanban is used to figure out how a process can be made more efficient for the customer without hurting the overall experience. This makes it a great choice for retail outlets or other customer-facing businesses.
Six Sigma Management
The Six Sigma method, while usable on its own, is often used after other methods. Six Sigma examines how the quality of the output can be improved, not how things can be faster and more efficient. This emphasis on quality makes Six Sigma a natural followup to a Lean or Kanban session, as those two styles can sometimes result in a less than satisfactory output.
PRINCE2 Management
PRINCE2 management is a detail-oriented style that looks at risk and efficiency over everything else. This incredibly scrutinous style is commonly used by private sector groups and governments, as it places safety and risk mitigation at the top of the priority list.
Finding a Project Management Style that Fits
The pressure to pick the right project management methodology can be large, especially in the early stages of planning. Because so much of a project’s success rides on the method chosen, it’s important that you take your time and carefully research and evaluate your options.
To help you make the right choice, Fundera has created this helpful animation on project management methodologies. With the information of this guide and some additional careful research, your next project can be started on the right foot and find success!
Animated Infographic with compliments from Fundera
About Fundera:
Fundera is the go-to financial resource for small business—helping you to achieve your financial goals, and grow your business.
There are a number of considerations to take into account before you decide on the best education in order to transition to agile.
Do some research to find out which qualifications are in demand. Also look at what the job market has to offer.
Some certifications have pre-requisites for taking exams to obtain the certification, for example, the fact that you need a number of project management hours experience.
There are costs involved for studying and taking the exam, consider what will your budget allow, or will your employer be willing to pay for this education?
You also need to consider what interests you? Where are you now on your career journey and what will be stimulating and fulfilling in the long run?
Another important factor that people might forget, is the perceptions of your peer group. Some people have preferences for one type of training/certification above another. Take the time and talk to colleagues and friends in the industry to find out what they think and recommend.
All the above considerations will inform your choice of which education to pursue and whether you want to take an exam to become certified or not.
In my experience, I have found that certification carries weight with employers and recruiters, because it gives an indication of knowledge and proven experience, as well as a willingness and commitment to invest in self-development, subsequently adding more value in the workplace.
Agile Certification options
Should you decide on any of the following certifications, remember that the companies offering the certifications, also have training that will prepare you for each type of certification. This is a summarized view of the popular, well-known certifications today, but not necessarily all inclusive.
Scrum Alliance:
Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
Advanced Certified Scrum Master (A-CSM)
Certified Scrum Professional – Scrum Master (CSP-SM)
Certified Product Owner (CPO)
Developers certifications
Scrum.org (Ken Schwaber in 2009):
PSM – Professional SM level I, II, III;
PSPO level I, II;
Prof Scrum Developer (PSD)
Prof Agile Leadership (PAL)
Prof Scrum with Kanban (PSK)
Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS)
APMG: Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) oldest full-project agile approach
AgilePM Foundation
AgilePM Practitioner
DSDM Agile Professional
PMI: PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Professional)
PMI-ACP for project managers who need to apply agile principles and practices in your projects. The qualification needs a combination of training, experience, and an exam. It covers a range of agile approaches such as Scrum, extreme programming (XP), Test-drive Development (TTD), Lean and Kanban. You will have PMI recognition and a very broad-based understanding of agile methods.
The pre-requisites are challenging:
2,000 hours of experience in project teams.
A current PMP® or PgMP® will satisfy this requirement but is not required to apply for the PMI-ACP.
1,500 hours working on agile project teams or with agile methodologies.
This requirement is additional to the 2,000 hours above.
21 contact hours of training in agile practices.
It is one of the more demanding examinations and also one of the more expensive.
Watch this video to learn about 8 key elements of the Scrum Master role.
When you fulfill the important role of Scrum Master on a Scrum Agile team, here are valuable aspects to focus on.
Servant Leader whose focus is on the needs of the team members and those they serve (the customer), with the goal of achieving results in line with the organization’s values, principles, and business objectives.
Facilitator by setting the stage and providing clear boundaries in which the team can collaborate.
Coach coaching the individual with a focus on mindset and behaviour, the team in continuous improvement and the organization in truly collaborating with the Scrum Team.
Manager responsible for managing impediments, eliminating waste, manaing the process, managing the team’s health, managing the boundaries of self-organization, and managing the culture.
Mentor that transfers Agile knowledge and experience to the team.
Teacher to ensure Scrum and other relevant methods are understood and enacted.
Impediment Remover solving blocking issues to the team’s progress taking into account the self-organizing capabilities of the Development Team.
Change Agent to enable a culture in which Scrum Teams can flourish.
For more details on the Scrum Master role to help you gain a better understanding, read the White Paper:
Scrum is an agile development framework used for managing product development. Like all other agile frameworks, Scrum boasts flexibility, team collaboration and iterative delivery.
This visual guide was developed to help you understand how the Scrum Methodology works. You can even download an A0 size version of the poster and print it to display in your office!
1) Select Scrum Team
One of the most difficult parts when creating a project is figuring out roles and responsibilities. Begin by identifying the roles people will take for the project.
The three roles on a Scrum team are:
a) Product Owner
The Product Owner should be someone with authority, availability and vision. They represent the customer and continuously communicate the priorities and vision to the team.
b) Scrum Master
The Scrum Master acts as a facilitator between the Product Owner and the Development Team. The Scrum Master will also work to remove impediments that may inhibit the Development Team reaching the sprint goal. The person does not, however, provide day-to-day directions or give instructions to the Development Team.
c) Development Team
The Development Team are self-organized and responsible for developing the product.
Do:
Train or orient your team on Scrum and agile development so that they know the roles they are playing once the sprint starts
Don’t:
Force anyone to take on the role of the Scrum Master. This role is important to the entire Scrum process and an unwilling person might not give enough dedication to the project
Top Tip:
Pick a strong Scrum Master. The Scrum Master plays a highly important role in the Scrum process. They ensure that the entire team are focused and have everything they need to get the work done. The Scrum Master is also responsible for removing obstacles that might keep the group from performing optimally or from reaching the deadline. Overall, the Scrum Master determines the success of the whole team.
2) Sprint Planning
Once the roles have been identified, it’s time to start planning the sprint. The whole team decide on a sprint length together, overseen by the Scrum Master. Sprints are typically 2-4 weekly cycles.
The Product Owner creates a product backlog which is essentially a ‘prioritized wish list’. The backlog is owned by the Product Owner, but everyone can add to it. The product backlog contains a list of user stories.
User stories serve as a guide for the team to show why they are working on something. They speak from the end user perspective and can look something like this:
As a
I want
so that
Music lover
uninterrupted music streaming from my device
it doesn’t use up storage space while letting me play music on the go
Music streaming app user
to receive recommendations based upon my current playlists
I can hear new bands that are suited to my taste
The Product Owner presents the highest priority user stories from the product backlog to the Development Team.
The Development Team decide on what they are able complete for the sprint and break user stories into tasks, estimating the effort and transferring them to a sprint backlog.
It is essential that the Scrum Master and Product Owner provide a set of acceptance criteria for each user story. Acceptance criteria is what determines whether the user story is complete. It can also be referred to as the “definition of done”.
The table below shows two user stories with two sets of acceptance criteria.
As a
I want
So that
Acceptance criteria
Music lover
A small-sized streaming app with no adverts
it doesn’t use up storage space and interrupt my listening experience
1. App allows user to stream music without downloading
2. App size is 60MB or under
3. App offers premium subscription with no ads
Music streaming app user
to receive recommendations based upon my current playlists
I can hear new bands that are suited to my taste
1. Radio feature created based upon user’s playlists
2. Daily “Have you heard..” notification to be sent to users
Do:
Work on high priorities first
Break down each user story into small and manageable tasks
Don’t:
Bite off more than you can chew. Make sure that no one in the team is committing to more than what is feasible to do in the set timeframe
Top Tip:
Use INVEST to prioritize your user stories. INVEST stands for: I-independent, N-negotiable, V-valuable, E-estimable, S-small, and T-testable
3) The Daily Standup
To make sure that everyone is in sync, the team must meet every day to discuss what they worked on the previous day, what they will work on today and identify any impediments. To make sure that time is used efficiently, the meeting should be time-boxed into a maximum of 15 minutes. The Scrum Master oversees the meetings and makes sure that the team focuses on the subject at hand.
Do:
Use burndown charts to track your progress. A burndown chart shows you how much work remains in your sprint and whether you are on schedule
Keep the meeting short and concise. Make sure that everyone is speaking straight to the point
Answer questions like: What have I done since the last Scrum meeting? What do I plan to do before the next meeting? What are the issues I need help with?
Don’t:
Bring up topics unrelated to the user stories you’re working on from the backlog
Top Tip:
Don’t cancel a Scrum Meeting, even if you are busy or if the attendance is poor. The Daily Scrum meeting is an essential component to a Scrum project. When you cancel one, it becomes easier to cancel others and this disrupts the team’s focus.
4) Sprint Review
By the end of each sprint, the Development Team should deliver a potentially shippable product increment. In other words, the product increment should be in a useable condition. No incomplete work should be presented during a sprint review.
During a sprint review, the team present what they have accomplished during the sprint. They demonstrate the functionality of the product increment to the Product Owner and customer. The purpose of the sprint review is to get feedback from everyone on the product increment. After the feedback is shared, the next set of product backlog items can be discussed.
Do:
Let everyone provide feedback and suggest new ideas
Make changes to the product backlog when necessary
Don’t:
Use the sprint review as a signoff or user acceptance meeting
Top Tip:
Don’t forget to focus on the end users. Make sure to fully involve them during the sprint review. It may seem difficult collaborating with your customers because of the fear of making changes or hearing criticism, but it is easier to hear everything sooner rather than later.
5) Sprint Retrospective
During a sprint retrospective, the team evaluate the whole sprint. The two main questions that are asked are “what went well?” and “what can be improved in the next sprint?”
Do:
Make a list of what to start, stop, and continue
Don’t:
Point fingers or blame. Try to be constructive instead
Top Tip:
Get creative! Play games and keep people moving. Engage in mentally stimulating activities and help to break down tension
6) Product increment
The product increment is the output of all the product backlog items completed during the sprint (plus any previous sprints). It must be fully functional, in a useable condition and meet the allocated acceptance criteria or definition of done. The Product Owner decides whether to release the product increment.
Interim delivery
During an interim delivery, the product increment is tested by the customer. If the product is incomplete, the Development Team return to the product backlog to prepare for another sprint. This cycle repeats until all user stories are completed to the Product Owner’s satisfaction.
Do:
Remember what was discussed during the sprint retrospective and apply it to the next sprint
Don’t:
Dwell on past mistakes. Move on and learn from whatever went wrong during the previous sprint
Top Tip:
It’s easy to get caught up in preparing for the next sprint, but don’t forget to celebrate achievements and good results from the previous sprint. This gives you some room to breathe and get pumped up for the next cycle
Practice makes perfect! If you are new to Scrum, you might not get everything right at the beginning. Learning takes practice and the more you do, the better you will be at using the technique
Final delivery
Completing a project takes several sprints. Once all the user stories are completed to the Product Owner’s satisfaction, the product is ready for final delivery to the customer.
Agile management frameworks are growing in popularity across many industries. Scrum is an agile framework that helps teams manage product development. The core principle behind Scrum is the understanding that customers can often change their mind about what they want at any stage of a project. For some teams, this can generate a lot of rework particularly in the later stages of development, which wastes time and money. Scrum manages this by delivering quickly in increments, gaining feedback early and adapting the product as necessary.
As with all agile frameworks, Scrum encourages team collaboration, frequent communication and continuous improvement. You can download an A0 size poster version of the graphic to print and display in your office!
If you’re interested to learn how Scrum typically works, take a look at the graphic below designed by Knowledge Train.
Many project managers prefer to use Agile project management for software development projects or on projects that are too complex for the customer to understand and specify before testing prototypes. This article will explore Agile Project Management to understand what it is, how to receive training and how to become certified.
What is Agile Project Management
Agile focuses on continuous improvement, scope flexibility, team input, and delivering essential quality products. Agile project management methodologies include scrum, extreme programming (XP), and lean.
According to Wikipedia:
Agile is an iterative method of determining requirements for engineering and information technology development projects in a highly flexible and interactive manner. During Agile development deliverables are submitted in stages. One difference between agile and iterative development is that the delivery time in agile is in weeks rather than months.
The 12 Agile Principles
The 12 Agile Principles are a set of guiding concepts that support project teams in implementing agile projects. Please have a look at the Agile Project Management Cheat Sheet for the details of the 12 Agile principles.
A typical Agile project will consist of 7 stages:
Stage 1: Product Vision
Stage 2: Product Roadmap
Stage 3: Release Plan
Stage 4: Sprint Planning
Stage 5: Daily Scrum
Stage 6: Sprint review
Stage 7: Sprint retrospective.
An Agile project also consists of specific roles, namely:
Development team: Group of people who create the product
Product owner: The person responsible for bridging the gap between the customer, business stakeholders, and the development team
Scrum master: Also called project facilitator who supports the development team and keeping the agile process consistent.
Agile mentor: Someone who has experience implementing agile projects and can share that experience with a project team.
Agile Project Management Organisations and Certifications
There are several representative organisations for Agile practitioners. Agile Alliance, the original global agile community, with a mission to help advance agile principles and practices.
Scrum Alliance is a nonprofit professional membership organization that promotes understanding and usage of scrum. The following professional certifications are offered by them:
Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Certified Scrum Developer (CSD)
Certified Scrum Professional (CSP)
Certified Scrum Coach (CSC)
Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)
PMI Agile Community
The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the largest nonprofit project management membership association in the world. The agile section of PMI’s website provides access to papers, books, and seminars about agile project management. PMI supports an agile community of practice and a certification, the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
Agile Project Management products
For project managers who want to become PMI-ACP certified, there is a good product from Cornelius Fichtner, the President of OSP International. It is called the Agile PrepCast.
The Agile PrepCast™ is a Video Workshop that you download to your smart phone, table or laptop and watch whenever and wherever you want. It’s a podcast/videocast with in-depth video lessons for your PMI-ACP exam prep.
After completing The Agile PrepCast™ and passing the Final Exam you will be able to print a 21 Contact Hours Certificate and use it to apply for your PMI-ACP® exam. OSP International is a PMI® Registered Education Provider.
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