Jane had been a project manager for more than 15 years. All of her projects were executed using traditional project management practices. But now she was expected to manage projects using an agile approach rather than the traditional project management approach she was accustomed to. She was beginning to have reservations as to whether she could change how she worked as a project manager. This could have a serious impact on her career. THE TRIPLE CONSTRAINTS Jane believed that clear scope definition, sometimes on a microscopic level, had to be fully understood before a project could officially kick off. Sometimes as much as 30–35 percent of the project's labor dollars would be spent in scope definition and planning the project. Jane deemed the exorbitant amount of money spent planning the project a necessity to minimize downstream scope changes that could alter the cost and schedule baselines. Senior management was adamant that all of the scope had to be completed. This meant that, even though senior management had established a target budget and scheduled end date, the project manager could change the time and cost targets based on the detailed scope definition. Time and cost had flexibility in order to meet the scope requirements. With agile project management, Jane would have to work differently. Senior management was now establishing a budget and a scheduled completion date, neither of which were allowed to change, and management was now asking Jane how much scope she could deliver within the fixed budget and date. PLANNING AND SCOPE CHANGES Jane was accustomed to planning the entire project in detail. When scope changes were deemed necessary, senior management would more often than not allow the schedule to be extended and let the budget increase. This would now change. Planning was now just high‐level planning at the beginning of the project. The detailed planning was iterative and incremental on a stage‐by‐stage basis. At the end of each stage, detailed planning just for the next stage would begin. This made it quite clear to Jane that the expected outcome of the project would be an evolving solution. COMMAND AND CONTROL Over Jane's 15‐year career, as she became more knowledgeable in project management, she became more of a doer than a pure manager. She would actively participate in the planning process and provide constant direction to her team. On some projects, she would perform all of the planning by herself. With agile project management, Jane would participate in just the high‐level planning, and the details would be provided by the team. This meant that Jane no longer had complete command and control and had to work with teams that were empowered to make day‐to‐day decisions to find the solution needed at the end of each stage. This also impacted project staffing; Jane needed to staff her projects with employees whose functional managers felt they could work well in an empowered environment. Jane's primary role now would be working closely with the business manager and the client to validate that the solution was evolving. As project manager, Jane would get actively involved with the team only when exceptions happened that could require scope changes resulting in changes to the constraints. RISK MANAGEMENT With traditional project management that was reasonably predictable, risk management focused heavily on meeting the triple constraints of time, cost, and scope. But with agile project management, where the budget and schedule were fixed, the most critical risk was the creation of business value. However, since the work was being done iteratively and incrementally, business value was also measured iteratively and incrementally, thus lowering some of the risk on business value.
Critical Path Method
The critical path is the longest succession of tasks that has to be successfully completed to conclude a project entirely. The tasks involved in the sequence are called critical activities, as any task getting delayed will result in the whole project getting delayed. To determine the time duration of a project, the critical path has to be identified. The critical path method or CPM is used by project managers to evaluate the least amount of time required to finish each task with the least amount of delay.
Cost Analysis
The entire idea of cost of production or definition of production cost is applied corresponding or we can say that it is related to investment or money cost. Money cost or investment refers to any money expenditure which the firm or supplier or producer undertakes in purchasing or hiring factor of production or factor services.
Inventory Management
Inventory management is the process or system of handling all the goods that an organization owns. In simpler terms, inventory management deals with how a company orders, stores, and uses its goods.
Project Management
Project Management is all about management and optimum utilization of the resources in the best possible manner to develop the software as per the requirement of the client. Here the Project refers to the development of software to meet the end objective of the client by providing the required product or service within a specified Period of time and ensuring high quality. This can be done by managing all the available resources. In short, it can be defined as an application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the objective of the Project. It is the duty of a Project Manager to achieve the objective of the Project as per the specifications given by the client.
Jane had been a project manager for more than 15 years. All of her projects were executed using traditional project management practices. But now she was expected to manage projects using an agile approach rather than the traditional project management approach she was accustomed to. She was beginning to have reservations as to whether she could change how she worked as a project manager. This could have a serious impact on her career.
THE TRIPLE CONSTRAINTS
Jane believed that clear scope definition, sometimes on a microscopic level, had to be fully understood before a project could officially kick off. Sometimes as much as 30–35 percent of the project's labor dollars would be spent in scope definition and planning the project. Jane deemed the exorbitant amount of money spent planning the project a necessity to minimize downstream scope changes that could alter the cost and schedule baselines.
Senior management was adamant that all of the scope had to be completed. This meant that, even though senior management had established a target budget and scheduled end date, the project manager could change the time and cost targets based on the detailed scope definition. Time and cost had flexibility in order to meet the scope requirements.
With agile project management, Jane would have to work differently. Senior management was now establishing a budget and a scheduled completion date, neither of which were allowed to change, and management was now asking Jane how much scope she could deliver within the fixed budget and date.
PLANNING AND SCOPE CHANGES
Jane was accustomed to planning the entire project in detail. When scope changes were deemed necessary, senior management would more often than not allow the schedule to be extended and let the budget increase. This would now change.
Planning was now just high‐level planning at the beginning of the project. The detailed planning was iterative and incremental on a stage‐by‐stage basis. At the end of each stage, detailed planning just for the next stage would begin. This made it quite clear to Jane that the expected outcome of the project would be an evolving solution.
COMMAND AND CONTROL
Over Jane's 15‐year career, as she became more knowledgeable in project management, she became more of a doer than a pure manager. She would actively participate in the planning process and provide constant direction to her team. On some projects, she would perform all of the planning by herself.
With agile project management, Jane would participate in just the high‐level planning, and the details would be provided by the team. This meant that Jane no longer had complete command and control and had to work with teams that were empowered to make day‐to‐day decisions to find the solution needed at the end of each stage. This also impacted project staffing; Jane needed to staff her projects with employees whose functional managers felt they could work well in an empowered environment.
Jane's primary role now would be working closely with the business manager and the client to validate that the solution was evolving. As project manager, Jane would get actively involved with the team only when exceptions happened that could require scope changes resulting in changes to the constraints.
RISK MANAGEMENT
With traditional project management that was reasonably predictable, risk management focused heavily on meeting the triple constraints of time, cost, and scope. But with agile project management, where the budget and schedule were fixed, the most critical risk was the creation of business value. However, since the work was being done iteratively and incrementally, business value was also measured iteratively and incrementally, thus lowering some of the risk on business value.
QUESTIONS
How easy would it be for Jane to use an agile project management approach from this point forth?
If Jane could change, how long would it take?
Are there some projects where Jane would still be required to use traditional project management?
Empowerment of teams is always an issue. How does Jane know whether the team can be trusted with empowerment?
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