Agile project management : #1 Choose 2 principles (list the principle number) th
ID: 349624 • Letter: A
Question
Agile project management :
#1
Choose 2 principles (list the principle number) that you feel are currently embraced at your company. Explain how they are embraced.
#2
Choose 2 principles (list the principle number) that you feel are not embraced and explain why you think they are not embraced and/or why you think they would be beneficial.
#3
What do you think is the most important distinction between a manager working under the PMI and PMBOK philosophy versus the Agile philosophy? Is this good or bad? Why or why not?
Explanation / Answer
#1 Currently Embraced at the company
Principle 6: Committment to having maximum Face to face communication is one of the driving factors behind sucessful projects in the company. When there is an issue, just walk to that person and discuss it with a solution approach. The real issue and message can get lost in e-mails and more impersonal forms of communication. While it may feel that this is more time consuming, in real terms face to face comminication saves a lot of time through first time right. Even when teams are not co-located face to face comminications can be easily made possible by the use of technology.
Principle 1: The aim of the company is to make profits and that will only happen when the customer is satisfied. It is easy to lose sight of what customer wants while being engrossed in delivering an excellent product/software and making eveything perfect. It may seem that the above two things go hand in hand but in reality that is not always the case. Our company identifies factors that are Critical to the Customer and continuously works to achieve them. For this reason, there is continuous two-way communication i.e. Capturing requirements of the customer and at the same time reviewing progress with customer to ensure that things are in line with her/his expectations. This ensures that efforts and resources are only directed towards what a customer pays for.
#2 Not Embraced
Principle 12: The company works on projects with very small turn-around times (3-4 weeks). Thus the idea is to adopt a way of working and follow it till the end of the project. It is important to not confuse this with refusal to change. Accomodating change in requirements is the very basis of Agile. However Principle 12 refers more to the behavioural aspect of the project team. Frequent reflections and course corrections will lead to loss of focus and unnecessary delays. Thus that is reserved for the end of the project. Once the project is signed-off, the learnings from reflections are captured objectively to be incorporated in future projects. However, in projects that last over significatnly longer durations Principle 12 is an absolute must.
Principle 10: Simplicity is the mark of a genius solution. However this is not encourgaed consciously in the organisation. This is because there is a fine line between simplicity and a short-cut that provides a quick fix. Reliabile project deliverables generate repeat orders. In the quest for simplicity there is a real danger of cultivating a make-do mind-set. This puts principle 1 in danger and is thus avoided.
#3
In the first reading traditional PMBOK philosophy seems better suited for applications where the scope and expectations are well known at the beginning of the project. A detailed and well thought-out plan is worked out at the very beginning and should be followed as closely as possible. The project manager knows that scope cannot be compromised on. Time and cost are the levers she/he can use.
Agile as the name suggests is suited to projects that need continuous change management. The company quotes for the project based on the initial requirement given by the customer. However, it is almost certain that once the project begins, the understanding of the needs will evolve and so will the scope of the project. The Project manager will try to deliver as much of the scope as possible without touching timelines or cost. Thus estimations of timeline and cost before quoting have to factor the possible changes. (Of course if the final requirements go beyond the buffer taken during quotation, the company and the customer we renegotiate cost & timelines).
Thus it would seem that PMBOK philosophy or Agile philosophy each have their own merits and should be followed depending on the type of project to be worked on. However, experienced project managers believe that the fundamentals of Project Management remain unchanged be it PMBOK or Agile. One who is able to grasp those fundamentals can apply them to any kind of project.