Plan to Adjust

  Estimating   Stakeholder Management   ProjectsAtWork  

In managing thousands of professional services projects, Geoff McQueen was frustrated by the “structured fantasy” of Gantt charts and rigid planning. But many clients were uncomfortable in agile environments and felt like they were writing blank checks. McQueen favored a hybrid approach and created a collaborative online platform to support it.

Geoff McQueen has managed thousands of professional services projects, for clients ranging from a small business across town to a Prime Minister across the world. His frustrations with the limits of top-down project management and disillusionment with the promise of bottom-up agile approaches led him to develop a hybrid” way of managing and delivering professional service projects, which he and his team have now turned into a fast-growing online platform called AffinityLive.

Here McQueen shares his thoughts on the state of project management, including why so many clients don’t like agile-run projects, the benefits of a hybrid approach and the role of technology in empowering teams.

What is wrong with project management planning approaches?

The most traditional approach to project management is the “top-down” strategy. With this strategy, managers put together a strict plan and timeline for how they see the project being completed. This usually includes specific milestones and tasks with their own …

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