Vivek BhatiaPrincipal| The Bhatia GroupOakland, Ca, United States
In doing research and external validation of a whitepaper i'm writing about integrating project & product management, I'm increasingly seeing articles like this one. It basically denounces the "command and control" portion of SAFe and the basic principles of project mgmt: https://svpg.com/revenge-of-the-pmo/
Makes me think that in 5-10 years, all of us are going to have to be FAR stronger in product & process mgmt than we are now. PMP, at least in its current state, has very little reference to anything like this. I even just scanned the PMBOK-Agile guide, pretty thin.
Or am I overreacting, and this is just a cyclical situation where the pendulum will swing back? Saving Changes...
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Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Vivek, a few personal thoughts on your question
1. as long as command and control is how our society works (companies, government), it will play a role also in project management. I observe this in many steering committees where executive culture meets servant leadership project culture. It is Yin-Yang anyhow.
2. I see project management as a method to reduce uncertainty. Sponsors ask PMs if they can give them more certainty about WHAT, WHEN, HOW and HOW MUCH, which is a plan.
3. because there is a PERCEPTION of increased complexity and speed of change (which I do not share, talk to your grandparents what they thought about the world 50 years ago), agile came up as an answer to create certainty about the HOW (backlog, sprints etc), not looking much at HOW MUCH, WHEN and WHAT (which is responsibility of the product manager).
4. SAFE tries to bring it together, as your article states it works for some but not for all.
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1 reply by Vivek Bhatia
Aug 20, 2018 12:19 AM
Vivek Bhatia
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Upon reflection, I think that first point truly resonates and something I overlooked. Our society is inherently a command-and-control environment, and as long as that's true we'll need strong project managers.
I think the PgMP material should cover some of this stuff, and they will probably beef up Agile components (in the way they tried to with the Agile guide) at some point, particularly regarding scaling. If not, they might even end up making a Product Management certification...
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1 reply by Vivek Bhatia
Aug 20, 2018 12:22 AM
Vivek Bhatia
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That would a nice. The current Agile guide, which i've read, seriously misses the mark. It focuses on tactics, not creating a customer-centric focus.
It is about team achievement, product, process, quality, as a PM you must comprehend their work, the reasons and help guide them towards the objective the organization striving for. Without this knowledge you can't be a project manager, at least that has been my experience. You don't need to be an expert of it all, but we must comprehend it all and be able to coach the BA, PO and other functions to reach decisions, and move forward otherwise there is no path to move along.
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1 reply by Vivek Bhatia
Aug 20, 2018 12:21 AM
Vivek Bhatia
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True, not disagreeing, only that for many years I didn't need to know much about true product management. I coincidentally started down that road a few years back and now know much more about it, and it seems I'll need to be just as strong in product mgmt as project mgmt and process re-engineering to keep afloat.
AKA, I need to know everything you just said, AND more, if I want to stay as a consultant.
Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
Mr. Thomas, Thanks for update Saving Changes...
Vivek BhatiaPrincipal| The Bhatia GroupOakland, Ca, United States
Aug 17, 2018 1:31 PM
Replying to Thomas Walenta
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Vivek, a few personal thoughts on your question
1. as long as command and control is how our society works (companies, government), it will play a role also in project management. I observe this in many steering committees where executive culture meets servant leadership project culture. It is Yin-Yang anyhow.
2. I see project management as a method to reduce uncertainty. Sponsors ask PMs if they can give them more certainty about WHAT, WHEN, HOW and HOW MUCH, which is a plan.
3. because there is a PERCEPTION of increased complexity and speed of change (which I do not share, talk to your grandparents what they thought about the world 50 years ago), agile came up as an answer to create certainty about the HOW (backlog, sprints etc), not looking much at HOW MUCH, WHEN and WHAT (which is responsibility of the product manager).
4. SAFE tries to bring it together, as your article states it works for some but not for all.
Upon reflection, I think that first point truly resonates and something I overlooked. Our society is inherently a command-and-control environment, and as long as that's true we'll need strong project managers.
Thanks! Saving Changes...
Vivek BhatiaPrincipal| The Bhatia GroupOakland, Ca, United States
Aug 17, 2018 3:01 PM
Replying to Betzabe Villarreal
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It is about team achievement, product, process, quality, as a PM you must comprehend their work, the reasons and help guide them towards the objective the organization striving for. Without this knowledge you can't be a project manager, at least that has been my experience. You don't need to be an expert of it all, but we must comprehend it all and be able to coach the BA, PO and other functions to reach decisions, and move forward otherwise there is no path to move along.
True, not disagreeing, only that for many years I didn't need to know much about true product management. I coincidentally started down that road a few years back and now know much more about it, and it seems I'll need to be just as strong in product mgmt as project mgmt and process re-engineering to keep afloat.
AKA, I need to know everything you just said, AND more, if I want to stay as a consultant. Saving Changes...
Vivek BhatiaPrincipal| The Bhatia GroupOakland, Ca, United States
Aug 17, 2018 1:53 PM
Replying to Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
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I think the PgMP material should cover some of this stuff, and they will probably beef up Agile components (in the way they tried to with the Agile guide) at some point, particularly regarding scaling. If not, they might even end up making a Product Management certification...
That would a nice. The current Agile guide, which i've read, seriously misses the mark. It focuses on tactics, not creating a customer-centric focus. Saving Changes...
