I´m a PMP and PM practitioner moving into Agile. The more I step into agile and talk to peers and colleagues the more I hear "traditional PM and Agile are mutually exclusive", "traditional PM is stiff, an unflexible methodology".
I, however, do not see it like that. I believe in tailoring project management processes and methodologies and even including "unorthodox" activities according to the needs of the project.
I would like to know what your opinion on this is. Are traditional PM and Agile really mutually exclusive?, what has your experience been so far?, any stories? Saving Changes...
There are very, very few projects which are 100% predictive or 100% adaptive. Most lie somewhere in the continuum between those two extremes.
It is important to distinguish agile approaches & an agile mindset from an adaptive lifecycle. We can run a project using a predictive lifecycle but apply an agile mindset to the delivery work and leverage agile techniques where they will add value.
Kiron
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Jul 08, 2019 9:45 AM
Stéphane Parent
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There is a lot of valuable feedback in this answer.
The one thing I would be careful is to put predictive and adaptive at opposite ends of a spectrum. That seems to imply that one reduces the other.
I tend to treat them as different dimensions, rather than opposite ends of the same dimension.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
In my actual work place we have 5 project life cycles defined some based on agile and some in not agile. In agile based it includes the use of Scrum for example. The same person is assigned as project manager at the same time for initiatives based on agile and non agile. In fact, I am program manager, and inside the programs under my supervision I have project based in agile and non agile based. So, I think it could help to answer your question. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
I agree with Kiron’s feedback. In Construction we mostly use hybrid Traditional - Agile Approach. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
I second was has been said here by Kiron, Rami and Sergio, who all are seasoned PMs with both agile and wider project management backgrounds.
There is no traditional project management in itself, there are different product development life cycles or value delivery methods, which may be agile/adaptice, iterative, predictive etc.
Here is an article about that, if anything, project management is iterative and incremental: linkedin.com/pulse/pmis-pmbok-process-flow-iterative-incremental-walenta-pmi-fellow/
Don't let yourself drawn into a religious fight. Project management is about making ideas a reality and reducing insecurity and helping clients, sponsors and teams feel well supported in their particular situation. Saving Changes...
Dr. Paul GillespieRegional Information Systems Security Officer| Social Security AdministrationPleasant Prairie, Wi, United States
I agree with all of the above. The life cycles are mutually exclusive only if you make them so. I ran a PMO at an extremely conservative government agency that was steeped in CMMI based predictive lifecycles with slow performance and deliveries. We needed some agile mindset infused for flexibility. It was rough but I made quite a bit of headway. There are many purists that say that you have to do Scrum a certain way, or Predictive needs to contain certain elements but the bottom line is to use what works for the organization. Saving Changes...
Complexity and uncertainty are the key factors to drive the needed degree of agile practices to apply within a project (framework). There is no exclusivity as pointed out in above comments. Check out Prince2 Agile. Saving Changes...
One project could be done mainly using one approach. It should not exclude for some part to use an other approach that is more suitable. Each context required an adapted approach. Saving Changes...
Thank you very much for your comments.
I am happy to know that traditional PM and agile are not mutually exclusive but maybe even complement each other.
It is still somewhat annoying and confusing listening in seminars, webinars or reading in book comments that point toward the antagonism of traditional pm and agile.
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Jul 08, 2019 8:22 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
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One of the biggest problemas outside there is the general confusion including the PMI has contributed to it (I have discussed it when I was part of the standards creation and revision). Unfortunatelly for people like me that was part of the genesis of agile and work with it from 1995 today all people is talking about agile without know about what it realy is. It is simple: go to the basement. Everything is there. Talking about things related to project manager two pieces that will help you a lot (not matter they was created focused on software) are Mike Cohn´s book "Agile Estimaring and Planning" and Jim Highsmith´s book "Agile Project Management"
Saving Changes...
Anton OosthuizenSenior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self EmployedPretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
No they are not Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Jul 07, 2019 1:50 PM
Replying to Daniela Villarroel de Rose
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Thank you very much for your comments.
I am happy to know that traditional PM and agile are not mutually exclusive but maybe even complement each other.
It is still somewhat annoying and confusing listening in seminars, webinars or reading in book comments that point toward the antagonism of traditional pm and agile.
One of the biggest problemas outside there is the general confusion including the PMI has contributed to it (I have discussed it when I was part of the standards creation and revision). Unfortunatelly for people like me that was part of the genesis of agile and work with it from 1995 today all people is talking about agile without know about what it realy is. It is simple: go to the basement. Everything is there. Talking about things related to project manager two pieces that will help you a lot (not matter they was created focused on software) are Mike Cohn´s book "Agile Estimaring and Planning" and Jim Highsmith´s book "Agile Project Management" Saving Changes...
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