Saturday, September 10, 2005

Agile Project Management vs. Winging It








Many who are unfamiliar with Agile Project Management confuse it with "winging it." They couldn't be farther from the truth.

While "winging it" is putting complete faith in chance, Agile Project Management relies on frequent prototypes and immediate adjustments. It's the ideal way to control a complex and/or uncertain project, without making the false assumption that everything can be planned up front.

Here's a good article from Agile Attitudes that explains more about the differences between Agile development and "winging it" ...


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posted by Jerry Manas @ 3:49 PM, Read More...  
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2 Comments:

At 6:39 PM, Anonymous Garry L. Booker said...

Jerry,

The great lesson from Agile Project Management, I think, is the incredible benefit of weekly and daily planning cycles. Even if your work is deterministic -- where the Triple Constraint can be defined well in advance -- it is very helpful to re-orient yourself every Monday to your most important goals, and plan acheivable steps each day and each week. In Agile PM, the short-interval planning cycle is absolutely essential, because the long-term Triple Constraint can never really be pinned down, nor should it be! In traditional project work, the weekly cycle can still be incredibly helpful, as long as it isn't "winging it" like so many weekly staff meetings are.

By now, Jerry, you won't be surprised to hear that I think a streamlined EVM system can be used to focus weekly and daily efforts. Imagine a weekly staff meeting where the primary purpose is to assign EV "points" that apply only to this week! This isn't the same as tracking EV at the project level, but it is still incredibly helpful in maintaining focus on weekly priorities.

Agile PM and EVM are not generally considered compatible (the former may be considered too loose or the latter is considered too rigid), but I think they go together beautifully.

/Garry

 
At 7:04 PM, Blogger Jerry Manas said...

Garry, that's great feedback. It's true, Agile PM and EVM have long been considered incompatible, but your streamlined EVM could be a good middle-ground for those who want better control over their deliverable status.

Some case studies would be interesting once you've had an opportunity to test it out on a larger scale. I'd be very interested in seeing the results.

 

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