Does the process of scaling Agile in large organizations destroy its value? What can be done when its principles clash with corporate culture? Applying simple rules that reinforce Agile values can sow seeds of change and produce far-reaching results. Let’s explore, including suggestions from Diana Larsen and Esther Derby.
While it’s true that agile teams are cross-functional as well as self-organizing and self-managing, it is not true that there is no role for the PMO in an agile organization.
When making the jump from project manager to ScrumMaster, behaviors and techniques that worked well before may work against you in the new paradigm. Here, two experienced project managers and Scrum trainers share their experiences and insights on navigating this challenging transition.
Despite this global recession, the competitive landscape keeps becoming more urgent and faster paced. You will be expected to keep managing new projects to keep your organization competitive--but will do so with less (and exhausted) resources, tight budgets and more scrutiny for success. How does one meet such challenges and succeed? One of the agile practices tailor made for such an environment is the Lean method.
There is a huge difference between using Agile practices and being Agile. Here, a chief engineer discusses his organization’s strides in creating an Agile mindset and a customized approach to producing high-quality work in short time frames. The journey offers practical advice and techniques to those getting started or struggling with Agile transformation.
Agile adoption outside of software is nothing new--it dates back very close to the origin of today’s agile methods, predating the term “agile”. However, what is new and noteworthy is the rate and scale of non-software agile adoption being witnessed today. Now--as more companies than ever are exposed to agile methods in their IT practices--these methods are being employed beyond the regular IT domain.
A new agile procurement process--one that can operate in conjunction with and alongside an agile software development methodology--should significantly improve both the procurement of software vendor’s services and and successful delivery of software projects. This article will explore the underlying principles as well as map the reconciliation points required to harmonize agile development and procurement methods.
International Institute of Business Analysis and Agile Alliance seek feedback from users of new Agile Extension to BABOK Guide.
No longer dismissed as "lightweight" or exclusive to software development teams, agile principles have taken hold in many organizations and are beginning to extend beyond the project trenches into the high-level strategic areas of portfolio management and IT governance, even influencing how project management offices are defined and run.
This will be the first in a series of articles that will look to provide the background of issues involved with managing an agile software development project under a traditionally linear and sequential project procurement process. Software development has been deliberately chosen for the example industry since that’s the domain for which agile is most typically used, but for those using agile in other industry domains, the general issues and proposed solution should work equally well within your industry.
Some managers are not accustomed to the management transparency that agile requires--it can push managers past their comfort zone. When that happens, the product and the project team’s process is at risk. Who better to fight for the team than an agile project manager?
Agile methods deliver many benefits in terms of their flexibility to cope with changing requirements and priorities. However, this adaptability and reluctance to be tied down on scope can create contract problems when trying to form supplier agreements or outsource work. Part 1 of our two-part series covers the challenges of agile contracting and offers some of the packaged solutions created so far.
As agile methods continue to gain in popularity and Project Management Institute events offer more and more agile content, the demand for agile-related offerings has increased substantially. Is this new certification offering a good idea, and what does it mean for you?
There is lots of great information available on how to use agile methods for custom software development projects, but less so for package implementations. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf solutions make up a large percentage of the IT projects undertaken by companies each year, and many organizations are missing out on benefits that an agile package approach can bring.
QA in an Agile environment is very different…are your teams ready? Here we look at how QA needs to evolve in order to best support Agile development practices.
Agile practices are not intrinsically “value-adding” — they must be aligned to business needs and goals in order to provide true value. By measuring their agility based on compliance with a particular method, organizations may prevent their teams from adapting practices to suit projects with different characteristics and needs.
Agile and earned value are inherently different approaches to managing projects, but they can complement each other in support of flexibility and bottom-line value. Here are three practical tips to help you bridge the gap between an agile approach and the earned value reports and measurements many organizations require.
Does the use of agile project management require new contract models in order to be successful? Can agile project management be used with traditional fixed-price contracts? Does agile project management require a new type of contract (and if so, what kinds)? Furthermore, wouldn’t a new type of contract discourage the use of agile PM?
Adult children. Jumbo shrimp. Seriously funny. I’m sure you recognize these expressions as oxymorons — self-contradictory phrases, often with an ironic meaning. Should we add “agile requirements” to the list? Does agile development fit in with traditional requirements practices? And if so, how?
Agile methods are powerful approaches that bring many benefits to how we undertake project work. However, they are not immune to misuse or failure. The following list of five common pitfalls is often seen in organizations switching to agile.
As a manger or coach, if you don’t change a pacesetter’s behavior you run a high risk of being held hostage by one person’s abilities--and pay a cost in team productivity. This article is about a pacesetter as a team member on an agile software development team. We will explain what a pacesetter is, why it’s a problem and the effect that a pacesetter has on agile software development.
The worlds of classic project management and contemporary agile development are not as far apart as some seem to believe. Whether you are new to project management or a traditionally trained, PMP-certified project leader with years of experience, these five questions should help you evaluate what you can do to become more comfortable with Agile approaches. In turn, Agile methods could start paying dividends on your projects.
Agile says less is almost always better — less documentation, less process, less intrusion from management. So how can a “less is more” approach be applied to complex projects with larger teams? By creating sub-teams that still work independently, but do much more of one thing: collaboration.
Choosing an Agile certification presents a number of complications, including the fact that there are different approaches and frameworks to consider and the fact that most are still evolving and changing. To help get your search started, here is an Excel-based roundup of Agile certifications.
Although the role of the business stakeholder has evolved using agile as a methodology, the business need or pesky constraint typically remains for delivering functionality by a particular date. Hence, project success many times is still measured by delivering functionality by a pre-defined date to meet business goals. Here we offer some suggestions to try if your organization is using an agile methodology--yet expected to deliver a large-scale project that has the same constraints that have existed over time.
There’s plenty of pressure to try to finish projects faster. Sometimes that pressure comes from outside the team, from our managers. When it does, the team can succumb to two common agile schedule games: “Double Your Velocity” and “Everyone Start Your Own Story.” If you face these games, you do have options before they destroy your project.
Just being an expert on agile and focusing on delivery of “working software” doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. This article shows tips and techniques for those of you struggling with getting your team and your company to adopt agile.
The Critical Chain approach to executing projects has been compared to Lean, which also shares common ground with Agile-related techniques such as Kanban. Is there untapped synergy between Critical Chain and Agile methods? A recent conference helped to shine light on their similarities and key differences.
Ever stop to ponder all the different PM frameworks that have been developed over the years and which one you should be using in your organization? Is there really one best framework out there? The options are dizzying, so here we take a look at four of them in depth. What can they do for you? Remember, one size does not fit all...
At the heart of agile methods is the key tenet that teams and teamwork are better than individual contributions and effort. Here we explore the key factors and attributes of teams and teamwork for agile project management.
Some love 'em. Some loathe 'em. But these frameworks and schools of PM thought are here to stay. What benefits and challenges do they present? Read on for both sides of the alternative equation...
The new PMI Agile Community is set to launch soon. To some people this may seem an unlikely alliance, but it will bring useful connections to many.
As businesses enter the "new normal" era of economic uncertainty, program and portfolio management offices that remain tactically and administratively-focused will struggle. Successful PMOs in 2012 will move towards a strageic, holistic view that embraces agile methods and increases visibility for executives.
Part 1 of this two-part series introduces the agile engineering principles and practices that, when implemented, enable some teams and their respective organizations to build high-quality software very quickly that will please customers. Organizations embracing these practices--when used in conjunction with agile and lean management practices--can gain delivery advantages on their competitors while managing lower maintenance and support costs in the long term.
To meet growing demand for application of Agile practices, Project Management Institute will introduce a pilot Agile certification for project management practitioners, with exams starting later this year.
Does your PMO Produce Multiple Obstacles for your project or Promote Many Opportunities for success? PMOs often get a bad reputation on agile teams, but it need not be that way--they can also add tremendous support and be a great help.
As a manger or coach, if you don’t change a pacesetter’s behavior you run a high risk of being held hostage by one person’s abilities--and pay a cost in team productivity. This article is about a pacesetter as a team member on an agile software development team. In this installment, we discuss useful approaches to dealing with these sometimes problematic people.
Agile methods are all about delivering value. We work on the high-value items first and prioritize the backlog based on business value. Everything is value driven, aiming to maximize value delivered. Risks, on the other hand, are like anti-value--they have potential for value-robbing down time, rework and even project failures. Here we look at how to use Risk-Adjusted Backlogs and Risk Burndowns to illustrate and prioritize risk within agile projects.
With less emphasis on upfront specs and higher rates of change, how are agile projects contracted? Part 2 of this article outlines building blocks for creating agile contracts.
The project management blogosphere is weighing in on the upcoming Agile certification from PMI. Here’s a recent sampling along with an interview with PMI vice president of IT Frank Schettini, who discusses the development of the certification and what it can offer the profession.
Agile methods emphasize and encourage the creation of empowered teams, but is empowerment enough? No...but the good news is that agile teams are halfway there. The stepping stone to autonomy that empowered teams have is a huge leg up on those people caught in command-and-control hierarchies.
The first step in scaling agile is to move from partial methods to a full-fledged, disciplined delivery process. The second step is to understand eight scaling factors and determine which are applicable to the range of complexities your project teams face. Here, agile thought leader Scott Ambler presents his scaling model.
Agile Leadership Network board president Rob Mac Iver summarizes his highlights at the recent Agile2011 Conference in Salt Lake City, including the event's first Executive Forum.
How do we get team members to a state of wanting to proactively pull work from a backlog of features at a high pace? If they are not there already (and many might be closer than you think), then it will likely require some coaching and a little team motivation.
What are hyper-productive teams doing differently to achieve such extraordinary results? This article introduces you to the key practices used by Scrum teams around the world to achieve hyper-productive results--practices your team can apply right now.
The agile experiment has been a failure for many people. Is agile PM just a bad idea? An agile approach to executing a project can be extremely successful and can deliver benefits to customers, team members and the organization as a whole--but it needs to be conducted in the right environment.
An agile methodology can help bring about intrinsic changes in an organization--especially when an organization figures out the right “flavor” of agile that works best for them. Here are few things that an agile project can foster.
Organizations and teams must come to understand why they need agile before choosing a methodology or tool to implement it. A mandate alone will not work. It is the overarching goals, values and principles of Agile that must ultimately guide teams in the adoption and adaptation of its practices.
Managers can play an even more valuable role in organizations as teams become self-organizing and take on more responsibility. But if managers want teams to take more self-responsibility, they need to shift their focus from monitoring the day-to-day work of individuals and let teams grow up. Here are three common areas of confusion as managers and teams negotiate their new relationships.
We all want Subject Matter Experts, but what happens if we get Subject Matter Zeros? How does that impact your schedule, and what about team members who have “other project commitments”? Before you know it, that six-month schedule that looked pretty comfortable is looking like a fairy tale.
