What is agile project management?
The purpose of agile project management is based on two insights gained from practicing the classical project management approach. First of all, sometimes it is not possible to know the exact outcome of a desired product. Secondly, adaptations during the project are very likely to occur and expensive. But in classical project management one of the most important stakeholders is partly excluded from that process – i.e. the customer. In classical management the customer would state the requirements of the product in the beginning. Afterwards it is assumed that the provider/contractor knows exactly how the desired product should be delivered. Therefore, the impact of the customer declines after the project start. Moreover, demanding any further adaptations could be a potential threat to the project´s success because cost and time couldn´t be met within the required budget and timeline.(1)
In order to avoid waste of resources and failing customer´s needs the agile project management approach turns the triangle of project restraints upside down. Time and resources must not be changed, but the scope of the project has to be adapted after every iteration. Frankly, that means that deadlines are met relentlessly. Taking into account that the expectations of the customer/user are evaluated constantly during the process. Accordingly, the project team is prevented from producing (e.g.) a feature the customer does not need. Hence, avoiding waste of time, manpower or money. Referring to the guide of the “Atlassian Agile Coach” the iron triangle would look like this:
classic vs. agile iron triangle²
Agile techniques
The agile project management approach is about iteration and incremental improvement. It provides high flexibility and fosters interaction between customers and contractor. The core proficiencies of agile project management are iterative workflow, constant communication and reflection. Preußig (2015) relates current and popular techniques to the following questions(3):
How to manage agile projects
Task Board
Daily-Standup-Meetings
Work-in-Progress-Limits (WIP-Limits)
Osmotic communication
How to manage changing project requirements
Use Cases
User Stories / Epic
Persona
How to control an agile project
Planning Poker
Story Points
Timeboxing
Burn-Down-Charts
Definition of Done
Earned Value
Cumulative Flow and Kanban
Agile methods
Agile methods provide a framework where agile techniques are put in a bigger context. There are many different methods originating in software development, but one method was applied beyond IT boundaries: Scrum. Scrum is a method on a very high meta-level, allowing projects from different business areas to adapt scrum to their way of working. Some examples areiv
Scrum
Kanban
Lean (LN)
Dynamic System Development Model, (DSDM)
Extreme Programming (XP)
Crystal
Adaptive software development (ASD)
Agile Unified Process (AUP)
Crystal Clear methods
Disciplined agile delivery
Feature-driven development (FDD)
Scrumban
RAD(Rapid Application Development)
Self-organised teams
One of the most important principles in agile project management is that teams are self-organised. That means that processes and outcomes are organized in the team. The structure within scrum, for example, defines who has to decide in which case or situation. Moreover, meeting habits and the allocation of responsibilities are predefined. Instead of following a command-and-control chain everybody involved in an agile project team is taking responsibility and raising her/his voice to communicate important facts and details that are impacting the outcome or reconsidering requirements.
Sources
[1] Preußig, Jörg (2015): Agiles Projektmanagement – Scrum, Use Cases, Task Boards & Co., 1. Auflage 2015, Haufe-Lexware GmbH & Co. KG: Freiburg
[1] Taken from: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/agile-at-scale/agile-iron-triangle, 06.05.2018
[1] Preußig, Jörg (2015): Agiles Projektmanagement – Scrum, Use Cases, Task Boards & Co., 1. Auflage 2015, Haufe-Lexware GmbH & Co. KG: Freiburg
[1] Taken from: https://www.cio.com/article/3156998/agile-development/agile-project-management-a-beginners-guide.html, 06.05.2018
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