Does 'Agile & Waterfall' Still Really Exist?

Following 20 years at a large Canadian telecommunications firm, Bruce established the project management consulting firm Solutions Management Inc (SMI). Since 1999, he has provided contract project/program management services, been a source for project management support personnel and created/delivered courses to over 7,000 participants in Canada, the United States and England.

  Agile  

I’ve been an active project manager for more than three decades. My career has spanned working in a large corporate environment, independent contract services and the corporate and university training world. My reputation has primarily been built around project success in the waterfall project management methodology. Perhaps that makes me a dinosaur.

My son is a full stack developer and has earned the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification from PMI. You can imagine the conversations when we are together and he talks about the approach of the company he works for. He never seems to be able to answer a simple question: “When will that project be complete?”

I chuckle when I ask if it’s really a project if it doesn’t have a defined beginning and end. Of course, his response is that I don’t understand the world of agile project management. I suppose he is right.

Most recently, while updating some project cost management course content I own, a client asked that I include a reference to agile. When I asked what they were trying to achieve, he responded with needing to better forecast cash flow. He couldn’t answer a follow-up question regarding what exactly it was they were developing and how the product was to be used. The dinosaur in me stood on its back legs and put its little arms in the air in frustration.…

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