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.
Virtual Project Consulting has been awarded in the 2019 African Business Excellence Awards as the Best Online-only Project Management Consulting Services Provider. The Press Release with the official announcement can be found here.
The listing that goes with this award is as follows:
Virtual Project Consulting is your trusted online advisor for the most comprehensive recommended resources for project management training, software, products, books and best practices! Find practical advice on project management processes, templates and tools.
Service offering includes PMO supported Project & Portfolio Management Software, online training for new Project Managers and partner for Agile Project Management online training.
Social responsibility initiative called Success Stories Shared, which captures and publishes the experience of high-performing Project Managers to share with current and future generations.
We are proud to be showcased with other outstanding businesses across sectors and we will continue to serve our online community of project management practitioners as we have been doing for the past 10 years.
When it comes to project planning, I have three beliefs that I adhere to on all my projects. They are:
Always be planning – that means you should be continuously planning
Always be communicating – use consistent communication practices
Always build relationships – team alignment is very important
However, there are more elements to great project planning. That’s why Wrike, a project management software company, is bringing us the right ingredients to cook the perfect project plan. Enjoy!
The concept of Emotional intelligence (EI) has captured audiences across the globe since the publication of Daniel Goleman’s research on the topic in 1995. Irrespective of the large body of scientific research published on the topic during the past two decades, there are many misconceptions about this field. EI is extremely important in modern day leadership, but it’s unfortunately easily misunderstood.
Here are 7 common misconceptions about Emotional Intelligence:
#1 EI and IQ is the same thing
EI and IQ is not the same. EI is often referred to as EQ or emotional maturity. Just as IQ is the measure of our cognitive intelligence, EQ is a measure of how emotionally intelligent or emotionally mature we are. Our EI indicates our ability to recognise and handle one’s own and the emotions of others. It determines how we interact with and treat people. On the other hand, IQ indicates a person’s ability to learn, recalling learned information and using it to reason and solve problems. The better we are at applying these abilities, the higher our IQ is expected to be and the better our chances of achieving high marks in school. It is possible for a person to have a high IQ but low EQ.
#2 Women are more emotionally intelligent than men
Probably the most well-known urban legend is that women are more emotionally intelligent than men. Women are not more emotionally intelligent than men and men are not better at understanding and managing emotions. In general, men and women are more similar than different when it comes to EI. Too few research studies regarding EI and gender have been done during the past two decades to conclusively state that one of the sexes is superior to the other. EI is definitely not a touchy-feely female attribute. Both men and women can be highly emotionally intelligent or seriously lack these skills.
#3 EI is about being empathetic
EI is often only associated with being empathetic or nice. Empathy is a core part of EI but not the only ingredient. Being emotionally intelligent does not mean being nice; it requires empathy for us to recognize the feelings of others.
EI starts with strong self-awareness and self-control skills to understand and manage our own feelings. In addition, it includes assertiveness to help us build and maintain constructive and healthy mutually beneficial relationships.High empathy together with other underdeveloped EI skills can do more harm than good.
#4 EI is born and not learned
IQ is an ability we are born with and typically develop until we reach our teenage years when our brain is fully developed and remains the same thereafter. EI can however be learned and can be improved over time as we continue to learn from our live experiences i.e. as we mature. The sooner we start developing our ability to recognise and handle our own emotions and the emotions of others, the sooner our EI will grow and help to building and maintain healthy and collaborative relationships in our lives. Developing emotional intelligence skills requires hard work. You also have to believe there is a need for change and you have to be in it for the long haul. Developing your EI will probably be one of the most difficult challenges you will ever face.
There is no easy fix and you will not become more emotionally intelligent if you do not practice these skills. Conscious effort and practice will lead to increased EI. It is also easy to fall back on old habits. Working on your EI is therefore a continuous effort. EI is not dependent on our genes and it is not just common sense.
#5 Emotionally intelligent people do not handle conflict
Having EI skills does not equate to an unwillingness to solve conflict or deal with difficult issues due to being too nice. Emotionally intelligent individuals are capable of dealing with conflict. Their ability to listen, understand, recognize and manage their own and the feelings of others, makes them highly successful in dealing with the issue at hand. They embrace and effectively solve conflict.
#6 Emotions do not belong in the workplace
The world of work is emotional. You cannot leave your emotions at the door when you walk into the office. Due to the physical structure of the human brain, emotions are a core part of our being. Emotions unavoidably inform our thoughts, actions and decision making and influence how we respond to others. The behaviour of others for example can influence how we feel and our emotions can influence our performance. Not being able to understand and manage our emotions in the workplace is often the cause misery and could potentially lead to losing our jobs or not getting promoted. Increasing research evidence the past three decades have shown that managing our own and the emotions of others can significantly influence our work performance.
#7 IQ is more important that EQ for success
Each job requires basic entry level technical skills and a level of IQ. On a daily basis as we operate in the trenches, we pick up more specialized knowledge and skill. We need this technical expertise to get the job done. Technical expertise alone however is not enough for superior performance. High IQ professionals often fail in their careers due to low EQ. They find themselves in trouble because they are not able to apply their expertise through productive collaboration with others. High IQ and technical expertise together with the lack of emotional skills to manage relationships often make clever people stupid. It is the emotional competence that adds the edge and contributes more to superior performance than IQ and technical expertise.
Eben van Blerk has more than 25 years’ corporate experience and he holds a Doctor of Technology degree in ‘the role of emotional intelligence in information systems work‘. Eben has published articles and book chapters on leadership and emotional intelligence in local and international publications. His emotional intelligence talks and programmes are well received by the corporate and private sector.
Contact Eben on LinkedIn if you need a speaker and workshop facilitator on emotional intelligence for your next team engagement.
Your audience will be captivated by his emotional intelligence insight, strong interpersonal skills and practical teamwork experience. It will equip them with knowledge and tools for improved communication, effective conflict handling and managing their emotions towards a more productive and fulfilled business and personal life.
If you are in the market for a software that helps to make project planning and the sharing of those plans really easy, you may like GanttPRO.
GanttPRO is an online Gantt chart software used for project planning, task management, collaboration, team and resource management as well as cost management. The software is highly estimated by professionals thanks to an intuitive UX/UI design, a short learning curve, and robust features. Worldwide 350K+ managers and other project participants already tried the solution and made sure that project planning and management can be fast and enjoyable.
The software is mainly used by teams. However, managers and individuals use it for personal projects and purposes too. The tool has a 14-day free trial with all the features available so that anyone can decide whether GanttPRO is a good fit for them.
The software is able to become a powerful and affordable alternative to Microsoft Project. In case you already planned your project in MS Project, you have a chance to import it to GanttPRO and see for yourself all the advantages.
In GanttPRO, there are ready-made Gantt chart templates designed for a variety of professional spheres: software development, construction, marketing, design, manufacturing, etc. They include typical tasks and offer a typical structure for an easy start. However, templates are fully customizable.
The main benefits of GanttPRO
Transparent task management
You can create tasks literally in seconds from one menu defining:
Their start and end dates
Assignees
Dependencies with other tasks
Deadlines
Progress
Status
Priority
Duration and estimation
Completeness
Milestones
Requirements
Colors
All this information is available directly in the task settings menu. In the project grid, you can add columns or hide those you don’t need.
One of the most useful features in GanttPRO that distinguishes it from competitors is the possibility to add Custom columns. They do not limit project participants to certain settings and allow working with personal information available through Text, Number, Date, List, Checkbox, and Color columns.
Team and resource management
GanttPRO online Gantt chart maker allows working with real team members and virtual resources. Team management is available via email invitations only on the Team plans. At the same time, virtual resources are created just in a few clicks and available even on the Individual plan. If you are not deeply engaged in team management, virtual resources can be a working way-out. The tool offers the following time working units for team and resource management: per hour, per item, and cost.
Per hour means that the cost is calculated per hour for a labor resource
Per item means that the cost is calculated per item for a material resource
Cost is a fixed value with no connections to time and items
GanttPRO makes provision for the following roles: an Owner, an Admin, and a Member.
An Owner of a project is in charge of billing and has all the rights on it: he/she adds or removes people, grants rights to edit a project or see costs.
An Admin has almost the same rights as an Owner but he/she can’t pay for the subscription.
A Member can work only on those tasks that he/she is assigned to. All the rest is not available
Collaboration
Collaborationin GanttPRO allows team members to be fully aware of current updates in tasks. Project participants can:
Comment tasks
Attach files to them
Describe requirements for tasks
Mention people
Get real-time notifications about changes in tasks they are assigned to.
Export and sharing
The Gantt chart software allows having a physical project at hand thanks to the advanced Export feature as well as showcasing plans to third parties thanks to Sharing via URL feature.
Export in GanttPRO is very powerful. On the screen, you can see how your chart will look like after exporting.
You can choose the following options:
Format: PDF, PNG, XML, Excel
Paper size
Orientation
Filter
Zoom
Critical path
Today marker
Workload
Type of columns
Sharing via URL allows presenting to third parties, even not registered in GanttPRO, two states of a plan: a dynamic and static ones.
The dynamic option means that a plan is updated even after sharing when changes happen in a project.
The static option means that a plan remains the same as it has been at the moment of creation. It does not reflect changes.
Conclusion
GanttPRO is a tool for everyone who needs powerful planning, team management, and collaboration. It is all combined with an intuitive interface and an affordable pricing policy.
Project management software refer to all applications that were designed to facilitate project delivery and make it more efficient.
Here are some interesting facts about the type of teams using PM software, how companies choose PM software, the most used features and what improvements will lead to satisfaction with PM software.
Enjoy the Infographic brought to you by Wrike project management web based software
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.
Project management trends that make the shift to Agile approaches more inevitable
The Agile Project Manager in the enterprise context
The role of the Agile Project Manager and what they need to do in the Agile context
This article will focus on what is required to make a successful transition to Agile project management.
An Axelos survey among project managers in 2017, found:
The project manager of the future will be valued above all for creativity, flexibility, agility and emotional intelligence.
Axelos
Reward systems
When adopting an agile approach, organizations will need to re-evaluate their reward systems to encourage agile practices, where collective goals supersede individual accomplishments. Most performance evaluation criteria is still focussed on the individual as well as on the more traditional criteria for project delivery, namely time, cost, scope, stakeholder feedback and benefit realisation. In agile it should be more about the performance of the team, value and benefit delivery as well as customer satisfaction.
Challenges with transitioning to agile project management
Project managers are accustomed to being at the center of coordination for a project. During execution and as part of the controlling processes of a project life cycle, you would be monitoring and tracking progress through status meetings, minutes and status reporting to represent the project’s status to the rest of the organization.
Now, there is a shift from being the center to serving the team and management. In typical high-change projects, there’s more complexity than one person can manage. Instead, cross-functional teams coordinate their own work and collaborate with business representatives like the product owner and subject matter experts (SME) of the organisation.
Project managers are now servant leaders which changes the emphasis:
to coaching people who want help,
to foster greater collaboration on teams,
to align stakeholder needs.
Adaptive approaches use short cycles to undertake work, review the results, and adapt as necessary. This means that Agile is fast paced, disciplined and demanding, encouraging improved team performance due to the inspect and adapt approach. These cycles provide rapid feedback on the approaches and suitability of deliverables, and generally manifest as iterative scheduling and on-demand, pull-based scheduling.
This will require project managers to unlearn some behaviours, to develop a different mindset and developing some new technical skills such as running a retrospective or ‘orchestrating’ work where in the past it was ‘managed’.
What do Agile Project Managers need to be successful?
Taking guidance from the Agile Practice Guide (2017) Project managers need to work on growing skillsets beyond their area of expertise. Some valuable attributes include:
Knowing how to provide a tailored experience for every client
ability to work with flexible workflows – coordinate between different systems and methodologies,
coaching their team(s) in a singular direction,
delegating the control of detailed product planning and delivery to the team.
Rather focus on building a collaborative decision-making environment and ensuring the team has the ability to respond to changes.
Remember that an adaptive environment requires adaptive planning. Planning for agile projects look different to what project managers are proficient with on traditional projects. The different levels of agile planning are clearly explained in the image above.
In their book: Adaptive Project Planning, the authors, Christopher and Louise Worsley, found that one of the most distinctive characteristic of high performing project managers is their ability to use their experience and know-how to adapt the planning approach to meet the specific challenges of the project they were managing.
Develop characteristics of Servant Leadership. This is not the answer to it all, but when leaders develop their servant leadership or facilitative skills, they are more likely to become agile. Read: “Servant Leadership in the Agile context” for more information.
Servant leaders can help their teams collaborate to deliver value faster. They facilitate the team’s success by:
promoting self-awareness,
by serving those on the team,
by helping people grow,
active listening,
coaching versus controlling,
promoting safety, respect, and trust,
promoting the energy and intelligence of others.
Part of the transitioning process is to keep learning, because the demand for competent resources and certified practitioners will keep growing globally. If you want to be a complete Agile Project Manager, your learning should include:
Adopting an agile approach to project management
An overview of agile methodologies
Agile planning: project initiating and requirements gathering
Agile planning: doing estimates and completing the release plan
Planning and monitoring iterations on an agile project (example: conceptual sprint plan on scrum)
Leading an agile team
Managing stakeholder engagement on an agile project
Ensuring delivery of value and quality in agile projects
There are many training opportunities available. What you choose, will depend on your circumstances, your project management experience and your new role in the agile context.
In the next article, we will explore some of the Agile Certifications available, as well as the considerations before you make a selection.
If you are a seasoned project management professional like me (20 years) who is transitioning into agile, you will find that this article aims to give answers when you’re trying to make sense of what it means to be an Agile Project Manager (PM).
We know that Agile is not a new concept. In 2001 it was made official through the publication of the Agile Manifesto although it had been around before then. It is just my experience lately that project managers, especially experienced ones, as well as new Project Management Professionals (PMP’s) are expected to understand Agile better and to know how to operate efficiently within an Agile context.
That is why representing organisations, like the Project Management Institute (PMI), have included information on agile practices, alongside traditional approaches in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide– Sixth Edition, and partnered with Agile Alliance® to create the new Agile Practice Guide. The guide provides tools, situational guidelines and an understanding of the various agile approaches available to enable better results and is useful for more traditional project managers to adapt to a more agile approach.
Before talking about the Agile PM role specifically, I think it’s worthwhile to have a brief look at the trends that I believe, are impacting the project management profession currently. This is not meant to be a complete list, but rather a focus on those trends that make the transition, to become Agile project managers, necessary.
Project Management Trends (2019 research)
#1 Project Complexity
In the past few years we have seen an increasing complexity on projects which requires project managers to have the ability to simply interpret and explain complex business processes to project teams and stakeholders alike.
#2 Project thinking
There seems to be a shift where project thinking is integrated into all parts of the work processes.
#3 Design thinking
Development of design thinking as a new type of creative approach. This would be applicable for tasks like definition of requirements, solutions to atypical problems and so on.
#4 Distributed work teams
Due to globalization, more and more companies have distributed work teams due to the increase in the number of international teams in modern business. Often, a specialised stream of work, is outsourced to a vendor company who may supply resources from India and it will be a cheaper solution than to find internal resources with capacity or local resources whose specialized skills come at a higher cost.
#5 Shift from Waterfall to Agile approaches
We see an accelerated shift from Waterfall to Agile Project Management in larger organizations as the only way to deliver on benefits in increasingly dynamic and complex environments in order to learn and adapt quickly.
#5 Project Managers as all-rounders
There is a move for PM’s to be more all-rounders, requiring them to be flexible, strategic, focus on the dependencies within the project. At the same time there is more pressure from stakeholders for PM’s to be more creative to meet strategic objectives.
#6 Emotional Intelligence
The development of emotional intelligence as an important soft skill has become essential as part of the day to day through the project life cycle. Read what it really means here.
#7 Cloud-based systems
There is a huge push to move projects to cloud-based systems which are accessible from any-where.
#8 Enhanced Reporting and data
We live in a world with expectations for enhanced reporting and data. Project stakeholders, like management, want views, templates and saved filters for easy access. Management and team members also want real-time information to stay informed and to help make decisions on a day-to-day basis.
Sources for PM trends:
Merehead
PMI Pulse of the Profession 2017
Invensis Learning – excerpts from group of experts
Clickup.com
Agile considerations
On projects with evolving requirements, high risk, or significant uncertainty, the scope is often not understood at the beginning of the project or it evolves during the project.
Agile methods deliberately spend less time trying to define and agree on scope in the early stage of the project and spend more time establishing the process for its ongoing discovery and refinement. With emerging requirements there is often a gap between the real business requirements and the business requirements that were originally stated. Therefore, agile methods purposefully build and review prototypes and release versions in order to refine the requirements. As a result, scope is defined and redefined throughout the project. In agile approaches, the requirements constitute the backlog.
The main difference between traditional and agile approaches with regards to the triple constraints, is best illustrated with the image below. On traditional projects the scope is normally fixed at the beginning of the project with either the resources/cost or time being more flexible or negotiable. On agile projects the resources (teams) and time (time-boxed iterations) are normally fixed, with the scope being flexible based on delivering the most valuable products first.
This is why we see in trustworthy sources, like the PMI Pulse of the Profession 2017 Report, that there are several principles and methods to be considered for an Agile approach. They include:
Focus of the team of specialists on the needs and objectives of the company’s customers;
Simplification of processes and organizational structure;
Division of the workflow into short cycles with specific tasks;
Focus on feedback and active use of its results;
Increase the authority of members of the work team;
Introduction of a humanistic approach
The Agile Project Manager in the Enterprise context
With a view of the current trends impacting the Project Management profession as well as the Agile considerations, where does it leave professional Project Managers?
Here, I’d like to quote Alistair Cockburn, a signatory of the Agile Manifesto 2001, when he was asked at a conference in 2015 whether organisations should get rid of project managers and replace them with scrum masters, his response was,
“If organisations think that agile is a way of getting rid of project managers, they’re wrong. We need good people more than ever.”
Alistair Cockburn
Although the quote is 4 years old, it still rings true.
In agile it’s about working together more effectively to deliver value more quickly to the customer. The Manifesto called on organisations to “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.”
According to Collin D Ellis, a leadership and culture expert, organisations need to act as if people are the most important. He states:
“do this by regularly displaying behaviours such as empathy, respect, trust, courage, generosity and honesty. It means keeping promises and making sure people are recognised for their efforts. It’s about having a working environment that is diverse and inclusive by design and where people know that they are empowered as soon as they walk through the door to be able to act without fear”.
Collin D Ellis
Where do project managers fit in?
In the image below, you will see a framework for Agile (mostly Scrum) as it may typically look like in an enterprise environment.
It constitutes of three circles. The inner circle represents one (or more) Scrum teams with the cross functional dedicated team members fulfilling the three main roles, a Product Owner, a Scrum Master and the Development team who may consist of a Business Analyst, Developer(s) and Tester.
The second circle represents roles with people who are not necessarily dedicated to one team only, but who could support multiple scrum teams. They represent Architects (solution -, platform -, business -), Business Owner and Subject Matter Experts (SME), Release Manager, Project support (administrator), Project Manager and Agile Coach (optional).
The third circle will consist of a Business Sponsor and members of the Steering Committee, the Project Office (PMO), Change Management, Training, Enterprise Architecture and Program Management.
As you can see, the Agile Project Manager is part of the second and third circle and acts as the connection between the two. Where the Scrum Master is inward looking and responsible to support the team and to help remove impediments, the project manager is outward looking, more like a coordinator often overseeing multiple scrum teams on a project with duties including allocating and tracking budget, communicating with external stakeholders, contractors and vendors, maintaining a risk register and helping to manage interdependencies with other projects and teams.
The Role of the Agile Project Manager
According to the PMI PMBOK and Agile Practice Guide (2017), the role of the project manager in an agile project is somewhat of an unknown, because many agile frameworks and approaches do not address the role of the project manager.
Some agile practitioners think the role of a PM is not needed, due to self-organizing teams taking on the former responsibilities of the project manager. However, pragmatic agile practitioners and organizations realize that PM’s can add significant value in many situations.
The key difference is that their roles and responsibilities look somewhat different. The traditional role of a project manager as planner, organizer, and controller disappears, and the role of a facilitator or coach who effectively manages the collaborative efforts of team members without stifling their creativity takes its place (Highsmith, 2003). The focus is on people, rather than on process.
All project managers will not automatically move into the Scrum Master role, or alternatively into the Product Owner role. An Agile project manager must still monitor that corporate policies and project governance is followed. Mike Cohn (Mountain Goat Software, 2019) explains it well when he says that Scrum Master’s authority extends only to the process. The Scrum Master is an expert on the process, and on using it to get a team to perform to its highest level. But, a Scrum Master does not have many of the traditional responsibilities – scope, cost, personnel, risk management – that a project manager does. Duties, such as task assignment and daily project decisions revert back to the team. Responsibility for scope and schedule tradeoff goes to the product owner. Quality management becomes a responsibility shared among the team, a product owner and Scrum Master.
What Agile Project Managers need to do
Different Mindset
You will need a different mindset, considering the agile principles and values. There are new tools and techniques to understand and apply on agile projects for example Adaptive Planning techniques.
Servant Leader
The next thing to change is to let go of a command and control approach and being the centre of coordination. You will need to move into the Servant Leadership space in order to focus on people rather than process.
On a team level, the agile project manager can play a consultative role to put in place the appropriate people, process, and tools, to improve team efficiency and effectiveness. In addition you can be coaching members of the team as needed to optimise the project team’s performance.
Facilitator
Do encourage the distribution of your responsibility to the team: to those who have the knowledge to get work done. The team will be accountable as a whole for what needs to be delivered. For this to work well, you need to build a collaborative decision-making environment as a facilitator and a coach to empower the team to make decisions and to be high-performing.
Stakeholder engagement
The agile project manager works with the customer to layout a common set of understandings from which emergence, adaptation and collaboration can occur. The agile project manager lays out a vision and then nurtures the project team to do the best possible to achieve the plan, as per Mike Cohn.
Manage interdependencies
Another important responsibility on complex Agile projects will remain the management of project intra- as well as interdependencies, with other projects. To do this well, stakeholder engagement is still essential.
Recently, I had to start a new project with an estimated timeline of 12 months. With many of the project team members being contractors who are new to the company, the most important thing to do, after having an approved budget, is to plan for a proper kickoff workshop.
It serves an important purpose for many reasons. Some are:
to help with on-boarding of new team members
to establish the vision and objectives
to show the expected timelines with milestones
to explain the roles and responsibilities of team members and steercom members
to establish the governance framework and recommended way of working
to give guidance on tools and techniques to be used
Below you will find an Infographic with 10 steps for a successful kickoff. If you take the time to plan and prepare well for the project kickoff, you will have a great start with excited and motivated team members.
Infographic brought to you by Wrike virtual project manager
If your Business is running multiple Agile projects and you are seriously in need to scale, you would have heard of the Scaled Agile Framework also known as SAFe. Read more as an introduction to this framework and how you can use it to your advantage.
What is SAFe?
While most business users have heard the term Scaled Agile Framework, many of you are not familiar with what it actually means. This framework is a combination of both lean and Agile principles designed to make collaboration and centralized decision-making easier. Some examples of the principles would be cross-functional teams, continuous code integration and systems thinking among others.
One of the biggest benefits that comes with using SAFe is the various configuration options it offers. The three basic levels used in SAFe are:
team,
program and
portfolio.
When using SAFe, companies are able to view the “big picture” of a particular project. This level of visualization is only possible when mapping out the roles of your team and assigning them particular responsibilities. Luckily, the Agile principles SAFe is based on, can be scaled to fit the needs of large corporations. Most businesses find that the centralized decision making promoted by this framework helps to speed the progression of a project up without mistakes being made in the process.
The Benefits of Adopting SAFe
The main benefit that comes with adopting SAFe is the efficiency it can bring to the software development process. Using this framework not only benefits the developers in the trenches writing code and developing new programs, but it is also helpful for software leaders.
Often times, these leaders are tasked with answering high-level strategy questions. Getting the answers to these questions is easy when everyone is on the same page and decision-making is centralised. Most large corporations have found that SAFe’s big picture view helps them to coordinate strategies even on large scale projects that are complex in nature.
Another advantage of using SAFe is that it helps business owners stay aligned with shareholders goals and wishes. In some instances, the bottom-up approach of Agile can lead to developers and testers losing sight of the big picture. With the top-down approach of SAFe, you can keep everyone moving towards a common goal with ease.
One more major benefit is the Inspect and Adapt principles which support a systematic view of outcomes and will lead to continuous improvement.
Challenges of Implementing Scaled Agile Frameworks
The first thing you need to do before starting to use this framework is to put the right tools in place.
For instance, if you use Microsoft IIS to host your websites, investing in software that acts as a strong Monitor for IIS performance is a must. Putting the right tools in the hands of your developers will make the transition to SAFe and the software development process as a whole more successful.
As mentioned before, SAFe uses a “big picture” model to keep all of your team members on the same page. This is why creating a detailed roadmap for the project at hand is so important.
Furthermore, Lean-Agile leadership is required that will help management to lead the transformation rather than follow it.
Another challenge is to dedicate enough time for innovation and planning, else you will incur technical debt, more overtime will be required and teams will fall victim to the ‘tyranny of the urgent’.
Adopting SAFe Takes Time
As with any other project management methodology or framework, the SAFe adoption process will take time and effort. Instead of getting impatient and making mistakes, you need to take your time to implement it slowly. Consulting with professional Agile Practitioners who have experience with Scaled Agile Frameworks can be very beneficial and is recommended.
Whether you work in a corporate organisation’s marketing department or in an Agency providing services to clients, you will know that successful content marketing projects are complex and involve the whole business.
It requires a good content marketing strategy and then a plan to create, publish and share your content in an authentic way.
This Infographic, with compliments from Wrike, will give you the 10 areas that need to be addressed as essential elements of your content engine.
Infographic brought to you by Wrike project task management software
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
