Uncertain Times, Resilient Teams

Bart has been in ecommerce for over 20 years, and can't imagine a better job to have. He is interested in all things agile, or anything new to learn.

  Agile   Risk Management  

Today’s project manager is tasked with building a project plan that not only succeeds in the face of change, but manages to create and deliver value no matter what obstacles or impediments may materialize. When things go wrong in a project, it isn’t enough to merely not fail; a high-performing project leader needs to steer the project through uncertainty and still achieve outsized results. This level of resiliency is as critical to instill in the team and the organization as it is to build into the project

As it happens, the steps to creating a resilient project plan are generally already known to project managers. They know to identify, manage and mitigate risks, and should be constantly monitoring for new and better solutions to current problems. What may not be obvious is how to use these same steps to create a resilient team.

Agile practitioners know not to be surprised or dismayed when things change; new requirements enter the backlog often, through feedback from customers, reviews with stakeholders, and constantly shifting market forces. In fact, changed or additional requirements aren’t even properly viewed as change in many organizations, Agile is meant to not only expect things to change, but to welcome and encourage it. This attitude is meant not just for projects, it is meant for the team, as well.

While handling changing requirements is …

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