Which PM methodology should be used when there is no time for a formal PM methodology?

Agile

Ryan Havers Business Owner| Ears With Eyes Beacon, Ny, United States

Which methodology would you choose when team calendars are full, which means very little time for planning. Would Agile work best here? This is coming from a guy who manages a 24/7 operation as well as projects.

thanks,
RH

Posted: Dec 7, 2017 6:24 PM

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Dinah Young Project Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William County Springfield, Va, United States

If you continue on the path of not using any PM methodology that you are just being reactionary. You need to take control of the project and work with your stakeholders to incorporate the necessary Project Management processes.
And as others have said, you need to find a way to manage the needed resources. Either you clear some of the existing team calendars by bringing in external resources or you bring in external resources for this project.
Maybe the first thing you can do is to identify the risks involved with continuing along your current path. Review these risks with the customer and your management. Then discuss how to mitigate these risks. If the customer and management are involved in managing the risks they may be more open to doing more planning, etc.

By the way, If you are looking at Agile there is still a lot of planning involved. The benefit of Agile is that the planning is spread out more and the customer will see results quicker.

Posted: Dec 8, 2017 9:39 AM

Peter Ambrosy Weinheim, Germany

Ryan, every project needs an agreed framework how to do the project journey. It can be simple. Planning is a continuos excercise in a project. If your stakeholders do not understand this, they put the project team on a journey to nowhere-land. Explain the risks of not having such an baseline in place and if the stakeholders do not agree but still demand a successful project execution, walk away from the project.

Posted: Dec 8, 2017 10:53 AM

Mansoor Mustafa Senior PM| Government Department Rawalpindi Punjab, Pakistan

Agree with Eric

Posted: Dec 8, 2017 11:20 AM

Ryan Havers Business Owner| Ears With Eyes Beacon, Ny, United States

Dec 07, 2017 7:32 PM

Replying to Ryan Havers

...

Well, to be honest, I am doing the planning in my own time. I was told that there is no time for a methodology, so "throw the book out". Meaning, that in some stakeholder's minds, we don't have time for long detailed meetings (this particular requirements meeting was only one hour long) and paperwork (project charter, etc). I'm building a project plan because I can't guarantee success without it. I think my issue was that I showed people how the sausage was made and it was overwhelming. At the same time, I'm told that I can't miss any details. There is an art to knowing who your audience is and what information they need. I miscalculated that.

Excellent point! Thank you. Many projects happening and no official PMs or methodology. I'm trying to sell them on us all adhering to a method.

Posted: Dec 8, 2017 4:54 PM

Which PM methodology should be used when there is no time for a formal PM methodology?

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