Good day! Currently, I am wrapping up my MBA curriculum which has been a great experience. I decided to take last summer off to focus on life balance which meant postponing a class until 2025. Now, I am in my last week of project management and I am curious to hear from an experienced PM and what strategies or methodologies they practice and why. Who would like to share? I am looking forward to hearing from you all. Thank you in advance.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
David, congratulations in advance on nearing the completion of your MBA journey. What an exciting milestone!
In my role within Real Estate Development, we typically adopt a hybrid project management approach. During the design and planning phases, we lean toward Agile principles to promote flexibility, collaboration, and iterative decision-making. Once we transition into the construction phase, we rely more heavily on the Waterfall approach to maintain structure and control over schedules, budgets, and deliverables. However, we still incorporate Agile elements where appropriate, such as in procurement, by applying Lean Construction principles to reduce waste and increase efficiency. This balance allows us to remain adaptive without compromising the rigor required for execution.
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Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
David,
Any project I work for depends heavily on stakeholder management: identifying, analysing, engaging, and influencing them, managing their expectations. Stakeholders have needs, wishes, individual characteristics, and habits, and ultimately determine the success of a project.
Good luck with finishing your class and degree and starting your first job applying your new knowledge. Remember that, in project management, knowledge is only a prerequisite of capability. Saving Changes...
Tailoring to the context of your organization and project is key. This means having the flexibility to alter your approach to fit what's needed and the humility to pivot to a different approach if feedback indicates that is advisable.
Congrats on reaching the final stretch of your MBA! and good call on prioritizing life balance, that’s a skill we often overlook in project management!
As someone who’s been in the field for a while, I’ve seen how much tools and methodologies have evolved. I’ve worked with traditional waterfall approaches (Gantt charts, dependencies, critical path analysis), but in recent years, I’ve learned more into hybrid methods, combining structured planning with Agile practices retrospectives, especially when working with cross-functional or remote teams.
As Kiron mentioned, tailoring the context to your organization or team is key!.
The strategy I stick to most is clarity and alignment: no matter the framework, if the team isn't clear on priorities, roles, and timelines, the best methodology won't save the project.
Program Manager| HARPER SRLSanto Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
For me, the “best” strategy depends on the project context. Agile works when flexibility and fast feedback are key, Waterfall helps in highly regulated or fixed-scope projects, and often a hybrid approach balances both. What matters most is keeping stakeholders aligned and treating risk management as an ongoing process, not a one-time exercise.
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