How can we blend SCRUM and traditional waterfall in Industries who are not IT/software?
Jaya NagireddiProject Manager| H2O SYSTEMS, INCWalpole, Ma, United States
Currently, all the high-tech industries have switched the project management style to SCRUM or Agile but based on my experience, there are still other industries such as Engineering - Civil/Mechanical/Hardware/Pharma/Oil and Gas that find it difficult to apply Agile/SCRUM as it has become a challenge. Although, the business model and product deliverables make it hard to apply SCRUM, sometimes, some firms in those industrial areas are excited to adopt agile methodologies. There are typical challenges while adapting SCRUM to a core engineering project like constructing a building where there are construction management principles that the teams/firms have been working on for years and now they find it hard to completely hard to understand SCRUM and then adapt to the existing structure. They don't have examples from other companies to learn from like the IT/tech companies learn from each other. I believe project managers here should come up with solutions for such scenarios. What are your thoughts?? Saving Changes...
I wouldn't generalize that all high-tech industries have switched to a specific type of adaptive delivery, but most are seeing the benefits of using adaptive approaches where they fit the context of a project.
You also need to remember that Scrum is a product development framework originally created for building software and similarly other agile methodologies or frameworks are likely to be specific to a given set of use cases.
Rami Kaibni can certainly provide insights about the use of adaptive approaches in construction but there is definitely a good fit during the pre-construction design or architecture stages to using adaptive approaches through virtual/augmented reality environments to enable stakeholders to "walk through" and interact with potential designs before those get finalized and permits sought for construction purposes.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Jaya, Scrum is just one framework, amongst many, that falls under the Agile Umbrella and Scrum itself is used mainly for software development and you can't implement Scrum on a construction project.
On our construction projects, we use a Hybrid Approach starting with an Agile Approach during initiation and design then shifting to a more Predictive Approach as we move into execution while maintaining some agility for certain activities and utilizing Lean Construction. For example, using Just In Time Procurement.
Many organizations are adopting a Hybrid Approach now and the recent Pulse of the Profession report released by PMI does indicate so. You might want to review this report as it can help answer other questions you might have: https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/pulse
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