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Will Agile change the way Change is managed in Project Management

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Anju Ammini Senior Project Analyst| Conduent Alleppey, Kerala, India
Agile seems to be dynamic, so my question is how do we manage Changes in a project when it is bound to follow Agile methodology?
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Anju -

Are you referring to project change control or organization change management?

Kiron
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1 reply by Anju Ammini
May 19, 2018 1:13 AM
Anju Ammini
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Hello Kiron...yes I was referring to project change control.
As Sergio commented, the change control process will be specifically defined for Agile projects.
That answers my question..
However , would like to know your thoughts as well.

If my understanding is correct, Agile involves iterative lifecycles, and so if there is a change proposed, the PM can very well adopt that change in the next iteration.
In such cases, will we follow the Change control process to incorporate the change or will it be just like a scope requirement refined for the next iteration?
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
In the same way you manage changes into any other type of environments. Agile and Agile based methods have change control process defined.
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1 reply by Anju Ammini
May 19, 2018 1:00 AM
Anju Ammini
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Ok...Thank you Sergio!
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Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD Senior Project Manager| Infosys Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Yes Anju, Agile is more welcoming of change, prepared for it, and more adept at handling the change.
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Anju Ammini Senior Project Analyst| Conduent Alleppey, Kerala, India
May 18, 2018 10:24 AM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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In the same way you manage changes into any other type of environments. Agile and Agile based methods have change control process defined.
Ok...Thank you Sergio!
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Anju Ammini Senior Project Analyst| Conduent Alleppey, Kerala, India
May 18, 2018 10:23 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Anju -

Are you referring to project change control or organization change management?

Kiron
Hello Kiron...yes I was referring to project change control.
As Sergio commented, the change control process will be specifically defined for Agile projects.
That answers my question..
However , would like to know your thoughts as well.

If my understanding is correct, Agile involves iterative lifecycles, and so if there is a change proposed, the PM can very well adopt that change in the next iteration.
In such cases, will we follow the Change control process to incorporate the change or will it be just like a scope requirement refined for the next iteration?
avatar
Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
Anju, sorry for comment on your question to Kiron. In fact, I am very interesting to read Kiron comment. Just to add something. Agile is a practice. Is totally independent from the life cycle process you use. You can apply Agile with waterfall. In the field of Agile you can use some Agile based method. As you know, the most recognized methods belongs to software field but they can be used in other fields. One of them is Scrum. BUT Scrum is not a method, is a framework that you can fill up with best fits to your initiaitive and your environment. Scrum do not state "How" to do things. You have other methods like DSDM for example which is the most used in Europe mainly because all the development of the UK Goverment which integrates DSDM with PRINCE2, ITIL, MoV, MoP, etc. When you see the methods you will find the change process explicit defined into it or implicit (most of the times) defined into it. So, if you want to use Scrum, take the Scrum Guide (a simple document with 10 pages no more than that https://www.scrumguides.org) and you will see what it said about changes. Remember:most of the people really do not understand what "embrace the change mean". It does not mean "not changes" or "I can make changes when I want". Finally, the other source I fully recommended to read is all related to XP because as a reference not more than that (here, not in oher place: http://www.extremeprogramming.org)
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Anju -

a pure agile approach might imply that by fixing time & cost, you can allow scope to change as desired so long as you remain within those time & cost constraints.

However, that means you could be on a random walk to nowhere...

I prefer to say that scope as defined by your project vision and high-level features or capabilities remain fixed, but detailed requirements can change so long as you remain within time & cost constraints.

With my current client, change control is only enacted if more funding or sprints are required to deliver the same high-level features or capabilities or if you change the high-level features or underlying project vision.

Kiron
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1 reply by Anju Ammini
May 20, 2018 8:40 AM
Anju Ammini
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Very clear, Thank you Kiron.
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Drew Craig Sr. Agile & Product Coach| Vanguard Philadelphia, Pa, United States
When using Agile approaches, the 'scope' of the project is dictated by the 'vision' of the customer which will translate into the work to be done - backlog. The order in which work is taken in by the development team is based on prioritization activities to ready the stories in the backlog - grooming. As stories are completed, and the team demonstrates the value produced, there may be feedback from the customer - Inspect & Adapt. The feedback becomes a story and is placed into the backlog and prioritized according. The prioritization efforts are value-driven.
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1 reply by Anju Ammini
May 20, 2018 8:51 AM
Anju Ammini
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Thanks Andrew for explaining the phases that goes into Agile.

One question .. What does it mean by prioritization is value driven? Does it mean that the activities are carried out in a sequence , as required to complete each defined work in the backlog?
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Anju Ammini Senior Project Analyst| Conduent Alleppey, Kerala, India
May 19, 2018 6:56 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Anju -

a pure agile approach might imply that by fixing time & cost, you can allow scope to change as desired so long as you remain within those time & cost constraints.

However, that means you could be on a random walk to nowhere...

I prefer to say that scope as defined by your project vision and high-level features or capabilities remain fixed, but detailed requirements can change so long as you remain within time & cost constraints.

With my current client, change control is only enacted if more funding or sprints are required to deliver the same high-level features or capabilities or if you change the high-level features or underlying project vision.

Kiron
Very clear, Thank you Kiron.
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Anju Ammini Senior Project Analyst| Conduent Alleppey, Kerala, India
May 19, 2018 9:22 AM
Replying to Drew Craig
...
When using Agile approaches, the 'scope' of the project is dictated by the 'vision' of the customer which will translate into the work to be done - backlog. The order in which work is taken in by the development team is based on prioritization activities to ready the stories in the backlog - grooming. As stories are completed, and the team demonstrates the value produced, there may be feedback from the customer - Inspect & Adapt. The feedback becomes a story and is placed into the backlog and prioritized according. The prioritization efforts are value-driven.
Thanks Andrew for explaining the phases that goes into Agile.

One question .. What does it mean by prioritization is value driven? Does it mean that the activities are carried out in a sequence , as required to complete each defined work in the backlog?
...
1 reply by Drew Craig
May 20, 2018 9:30 AM
Drew Craig
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Sequence? Not necessarily. That promotes the wrong connotation.

The grooming of the product backlog is completed by the product owner. The items groomed to the top, and that are 'READY', can be brought forward to the sprint backlog.

All actions are to be value-driven, including not only the deliverables to complete the effort but even the actions of the team. The product owner prioritizes the work to be done by the amount of value it provides to the customer. Remember, in ideal standards, the intent is to continually produce MVP's. As the backlog is continually prioritized by value, it organically promotes valuable delivery while inhibiting the 'nice-to-haves'.

Does that help?
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