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About this lesson
Many projects are initiated with significant aspects of uncertainty. The adaptive approach is ideally suited to manage uncertainty during the project and the Agile methodology is the most common adaptive approach in use.
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Quick reference
Adaptive and Agile Approaches
Adaptive project lifecycles are iterative and incremental in nature. The Agile project lifecycle approach is a special case of adaptive projects that do frequent delivery of deliverables.
When to use
Adaptive and Agile projects are best suited for projects with high uncertainty or high risks. These projects will have flexible scope, but often have a fixed time period.
Instructions
Adaptive and Agile projects are gaining in acceptance. These approaches easily accommodate change – in fact they are designed for projects with high uncertainty where requirements are often changing. These projects often work to a set of prioritized requirements or deliverables that are maintained on a list known as the backlog. This list is reprioritized regularly and the requirements are progressively elaborated as the project unfolds. These methodologies embrace change as a constant in the project and therefore plan for regular changes and modifications.
The adaptive and Agile methodologies are in sharp contrast to the traditional or predictive approach to project management.
Agile
Agile project management methods were developed in the software industry, but the principles have widespread applicability. The Agile method relies on using time box estimates to set a time for the project. The project is normally divided into multiple releases. Each of those releases will be of a minimally viable product that can be evaluated by customers and stakeholders. The releases are usually divided into a set of several sprints. Each sprint is normally two to three weeks in duration. The sprint is comprised of daily scrum activities. Several key characteristics of the Agile method is that the teams are 100% dedicated for the duration of a sprint. Also, the team is working a backlog list that is updated and reprioritized at the end of each sprint.
Project Risk with Adaptive Projects
Adaptive project lifecycles are well suited to high risk projects. It is very difficult to accurately forecast all risks. Adaptive projects allow for regular updates to project requirements and plans that can respond to risk threats and opportunities without requiring a major change to detailed project plans. Instead, the adaptive project has pre-planned reviews where the risks responses are incorporated. The iterative nature of the project leads to a periodic exercise of the project initiation actions. When doing these, deliverables are updated. The project plan is only a detailed plan for the current phase which allows the project to progressively elaborate each phase at the start of the phase. The adaptive project lifecycle relies on a very interactive project manager and project core team to regularly review and reprioritize activities.
Hints & tips
- Don’t try to use traditional predictive methods when an adaptive approach is appropriate. Using predictive methods will just set the project up for failure to meet goals or objectives.
- If you need to know more about Agile methods, take the GoSkills course in Agile Scrum.
- 00:01 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
- 00:05 There's been a recent shift in project management thinking, and
- 00:09 it's based upon Adaptive and Agile project management approaches.
- 00:13 Let's look at these.
- 00:15 Let me first describe Adaptive and Agile.
- 00:18 I will start with adaptive, which is the broader and more inclusive term.
- 00:22 The adaptive lifecycle is incremental or iterative.
- 00:25 That means that it occurs in waves or phases.
- 00:28 That also means it can easily accommodate changes,
- 00:31 because it stops at the end of each wave or phase, so
- 00:34 an update can be incorporated at that time with minimal impact.
- 00:38 Another way of putting this is that the adaptive lifecycle
- 00:41 relies on progressive elaboration.
- 00:44 That means details for
- 00:45 a phase are not planned until the previous phase completes.
- 00:48 So insights and changes from the previous phase can be incorporated
- 00:52 incrementally at the start of the next phase, when the details are developed.
- 00:56 While this provides great flexibility and opportunity for
- 01:00 continuous improvement, it also means that there's a need for
- 01:03 a lot of project management integration activity.
- 01:06 Essentially, each phase of the project is its own mini project.
- 01:10 Agile is a special case of adaptive projects,
- 01:13 particularly the variety Agile known as Agile Scrum, which is the most popular.
- 01:18 Since it is adaptive, it is iterative and incremental.
- 01:21 But Agile will create a release at the end of one or more phases or sprints, and
- 01:26 that capability and features of that release are expanded with each new sprint.
- 01:31 The deliverable is not a one and
- 01:33 done, instead it continually grows in features in performance.
- 01:38 This is becoming the most common method for implementing the adaptive approach,
- 01:43 with standard methodology and tools becoming commercially available.
- 01:47 A critical success factor for Agile that is different from traditional project
- 01:51 management and other adaptive approaches is that the Agile team is 100% dedicated
- 01:56 to the project for the short duration of the sprint, usually only several weeks.
- 02:02 At that time the sprint ends the deliverables are evaluated and
- 02:05 the remaining work required to fully complete the deliverable is identified.
- 02:09 This becomes the outline of the scope for the next sprint.
- 02:14 In case you are still a little confused about what adaptive is and
- 02:17 why it's different, let's look at this chart from the PMBOK,
- 02:21 which compares predictive and adaptive.
- 02:24 The left side is the predictive or traditional project management,
- 02:27 the right side is the Agile or Adaptive project management.
- 02:31 Iterative, which is mid left, implies phases, and incremental, which is mid
- 02:35 right on the continuum, implies the progressive elaboration of those phases.
- 02:40 On the predictive side,
- 02:42 the requirements are fully specified before the project starts.
- 02:45 On the Agile side the requirements are frequently elaborated or
- 02:49 changed after each sprint.
- 02:51 And that change is not a change order type of change, it's just the elaboration or
- 02:55 clarification of the requirements.
- 02:58 In the middle the requirements are elaborated at major change points,
- 03:02 such as the end of a phase.
- 03:04 Next, a predictive approach creates plans for
- 03:06 deliverables to be completed by the end of the project.
- 03:09 On the Agile side, the deliverables are delivered
- 03:12 incrementally throughout the lifecycle of the project.
- 03:15 First in a preliminary or minimal form,
- 03:17 and then with more features and attributes, and improved performance.
- 03:21 In the middle, the deliverable is broken up into major subsets
- 03:25 that are completed at different times in the project.
- 03:28 In a predictive project, changes in the project plan is bad,
- 03:32 and is avoided if possible.
- 03:34 In an Agile project, change is being implemented daily at scrum meetings and
- 03:38 is part of the sprint planning process.
- 03:40 In the middle, changes are expected but
- 03:43 are normally only occurring at major gates or phases.
- 03:46 In predictive projects key stakeholders are engaged for
- 03:50 a prescribed task or a defined point in the project.
- 03:54 An Agile project, key stakeholders are also engaged, but
- 03:57 they're conducting regular reviews and their input is sought after.
- 04:01 In the middle, the stakeholders are involved periodically,
- 04:04 usually at the end of each phase.
- 04:06 Finally, in predictive projects risk and cost are controlled by detailed plans and
- 04:11 estimates for known or expected problems and issues.
- 04:15 In Agile projects risk and cost are established upfront as requirements and
- 04:20 the project is changed to stay within the constraints.
- 04:24 In the middle, it's a bit of a hybrid, risk and
- 04:27 cost are controlled by the way the tasks are progressively elaborated, and
- 04:31 that occurs when new information is available.
- 04:34 Let's look at how an Agile Scrum project works.
- 04:37 We start by setting a time box schedule for the sprints and the scrums.
- 04:42 Now, time boxes represent the total time for the project or
- 04:47 a piece of the work to be done.
- 04:48 We set the time box and we let the work expand or
- 04:51 contract to fit within that time box.
- 04:55 Let me illustrate by setting a total project time box duration
- 04:59 that is equal to the length of this bar.
- 05:01 Since this is an Agile project,
- 05:03 we'll divide it into several releases, which will have a project deliverable that
- 05:07 we will expose to a select group of customers in order to get their feedback.
- 05:11 The contents of that first deliverable is known as the minimally viable product,
- 05:15 and may only be a mock up, but it can be used to get feedback from customers.
- 05:20 Each release is divided into one or
- 05:22 more sprints, that usually are several weeks in duration.
- 05:26 I prefer two weeks, but I've seen them as long as four weeks.
- 05:30 A sprint will organize the work from a list of tasks or
- 05:33 deliverables known as the sprint backlog.
- 05:36 The sprint is comprised of a number of scrums.
- 05:39 Usually each day represents one scrum.
- 05:42 And the team has a daily scrum meeting to track progress, identify issues, and
- 05:47 assign tasks to team members for the next day.
- 05:50 The work is done in the scrum.
- 05:52 The scrums combine to create a sprint and results of several sprints is a release
- 05:57 with a minimally viable product to be evaluated by external customers.
- 06:01 If you want to more about how to run an Agile Scrum project,
- 06:04 let me suggest the GoSkills course on that topic.
- 06:08 Let's wrap this up with a quick review of how risk is managed in an adaptive or
- 06:13 Agile project.
- 06:14 First, when there are many risks and unknowns,
- 06:17 an adaptive approach is preferred over the predictive approach.
- 06:21 With many risks, I don't know which ones to predict will occur.
- 06:25 And I can go crazy trying to come up with all the possible contingency plans
- 06:30 at the beginning of the project.
- 06:32 In fact, trying to compensate for all those risk and possibilities and
- 06:35 implement all those plans could increase the overall project risk.
- 06:39 Instead, an adaptive project focuses on the risks
- 06:42 that are present at the upcoming phase or spread of the project.
- 06:46 Once these are resolved, some of the possible risks for
- 06:49 the rest of the project will have been eliminated.
- 06:52 And you may be able to identify some new risks that you had
- 06:55 never even contemplated, as they become much clearer.
- 06:59 Adaptive an Agile projects hold regular reviews with stakeholders,
- 07:03 which will help to identify new or emerging risks.
- 07:07 Adaptive projects practice some of the project initiation processes at
- 07:10 the beginning of each phase or
- 07:12 sprint, which helps to identify risks to deliverables that
- 07:16 may have been overlooked at the time that the project was originally started.
- 07:20 Since the project plans are only for a phase or
- 07:23 a sprint, the impact of a planning error is reduced.
- 07:26 That error can be identified, and a correction implemented in the next phase
- 07:30 or sprint, so the impact does continue all the way till the end of the project.
- 07:35 Generally, adaptive projects will have more team interaction,
- 07:39 such as daily scrum meetings.
- 07:41 So misunderstandings and miscommunication is resolved quickly,
- 07:44 which reduces the impact of that type of risk.
- 07:48 And most adaptive projects work from a prioritized backlog list of tasks and
- 07:53 deliverables that is updated after each phase or sprint.
- 07:58 That way the highest priority task for that phase or sprint are always clear.
- 08:02 In fact, the list is often shown on a project dashboard, providing for
- 08:06 visual control of the project.
- 08:08 There is less likelihood that the team will waste time on unimportant tasks and
- 08:14 miss a critical task that must be accomplished.
- 08:17 When projects have high uncertainty or high risk, the adaptive and
- 08:23 Agile approaches are usually the best methodology for project management.
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