Being Agile

 

I hope you're ready for my soapbox speech.

Being agile is about more than just using the latest framework or methodology.  I like to think of it in terms of being responsive.  A business needs to be responsive to the changing needs of its customers, or in the case of the MLM where I work, the distributor sales force that consumes our services and products, in addition to selling them.

There can be several layers of people and process between customers/distributors and developers, and each layer has the potential to help the business be more responsive, or to be a bottleneck, including but not limited to IT.  Each layer should have the right people who are empowered to make decisions about how they contribute to the responsiveness of the company.  Each layer should understand the processes of the other layers and how they help the business be more responsive.  There should not be so many layers that it becomes impossible to be responsive.  Business 101, right?  But some companies still don't get it.

If IT decides to do Scrum, for example, and the business is not engaged and educated on how to participate and what to expect, neither the business nor IT  are going to have a pleasant experience. And yet, this happens, and people blame Scrum for not working.  

Have you noticed that there are no project managers mentioned in agile methodologies and frameworks?  Have you wondered if it was intentional?  Agile was developed by developers... Don't let this scare you or make you paranoid.  Before agile takes overs the world, we're going to see a transformation in how project management is approached.  It's already started, but we'll need to wait for the polarization between views about agile and waterfall to subside to recognize it.

What is this transformation?  It is the realization that the project manager and the organization need to know how to identify and use the right tool for the job.  Some projects will be more effective using an iterative approach, others will benefit from a more linear approach.  The successful and agile companies will be those that are set up to take advantage of the approaches that enable them to be flexible in how they respond to demand.

You, the project manager, need to be prepared to lead any type of project, and be a coach or mentor to those you work with.  Put another way, your job isn't to be just an expert in agile or waterfall; your job is to execute, using whatever approach is required to complete the project.  This is how you will become a truly agile project manager.

Okay, let's catch our breath for a moment.  That's enough agile for now, but I have a follow-up item before I go.  I haven't been able to find any information on the PDUs2GO website about their free 1 PDU webinars.  It looks like you'll have to go to their website and get on their mailing list to get notifications about the webinars.  I'll find a different provider of free PDUs to mention in my next post.