Janis is an award-winning journalist and editor who has covered many industries beyond project management, including health care, financial services, higher education and retail sales.
The worlds of classic project management and contemporary agile development are not as far apart as some practitioners might believe. In this two-part series, two devoted agilists share practical strategies for building understanding among project leaders and moving teams and organizations toward realizing Agile’s benefits.
By now, most project managers have heard about the advantages of the agile approach to software development. Data show that agile methods can deliver better results faster and less expensively than the traditional waterfall approach. Smaller teams work to meet the needs of a fully engaged customer, who may be involved almost daily to provide feedback as the developers roll out working software.
In the past decade or so, the agile community has grown rapidly, with published reports noting that 60 percent or more of software organizations now use some agile methods in their work. Given its success, the agile approach is beginning to be applied outside the software field, in product development and marketing for example, industry observers say. And interest in agile shows no signs of slowing.
Historically, however, there has been a strong theoretical divide separating the agilists and the PMP-certified crowd. Some even call it animosity. But bridge building has begun as experts are working to clarify some of the