Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
Let's talk about project management methodologies.
This will prepare us for an assessment of the strengths and
limitations of the Agile/Scrum methodology.
Let's start by considering why companies or organizations do projects.
No, it's not just to find ways to annoy the employees,
projects are done to create a competitive advantage.
A project changes something in the organization.
Maybe it is a new product, or a new system.
Maybe it's a special event or a new facility.
Whatever it is, the reason for doing that is to make the business better.
To give the organization a competitive advantage.
That is why project management is so often tied to strategy management.
The strategy is implemented through projects.
Well, it should be obvious that if we will implement our strategy with
projects we want to do it well.
So, by applying project management practices to the strategic
goals of the organization the strategy is implemented.
Let's consider two of the biggest challenges when implementing a strategy.
First is to recognize and manage the risk.
On the one hand, strategy is about taking advantage of opportunity risks.
The organization can enter a new market with an innovative product or service.
Where the organization can enhance its ability to interact with customers, and
to build closer relationships with new social media platforms.
By the same token, there are negative risks or threats.
The organization must become faster and more efficient, or it will go broke.
And that doesn't even include the risks associated with doing the project
activities to make them a reality.
Strategy management is risk management.
And then we add to this the communication of our strategic intent.
To effectively implement strategy, we must communicate it.
And then we must communicate the path that must be followed
to make that strategy come to life.
The path is the project.
That is why so much of project management is communication and
communication of actions.
We must both explain the path and help others know where we are on that path.
The project status.
So that takes us to the rationale for using a project management methodology.
Project management tools and techniques expose risk and
communicate that to the project team and stakeholders.
This allows them to proactively manage the risk and
improve the success of the strategy implementation.
So what are the elements of a project management methodology?
Well, start by acknowledging that it is a standard process.
It is meant to improve communication and execution by ensuring that
people are doing the project activities in the same manner again and again.
That learning curve effect will improve the quality and efficiency.
This is usually documented through some procedures, templates, and checklists.
But most organizations realize that every project is unique, so
they allow some level of customization within the methodology
to accommodate the project uniqueness.
There will often be variants for the size or
complexity of a project, in addition to variants for different types of projects
such as software projects, facility projects, or cost reduction projects.
A project approach becomes a methodology when everyone in the organization
begins to use it.
I've seen several occasions where a wonderful process and
checklist were issued by the organization, but they were ignored.
This wasn't a methodology.
Another key attribute of an organizational methodology
is it includes management involvement.
We don't have the project team doing one thing and management doing something else.
Management has oversight of the whole process.
Finally, I often see it now implemented through an internal website or
some type of software that allows for collaboration.
Remember that a key part of the methodology is communication.
Tools are used to improve and clarify that communication.
The last point I want to make is that the project management
methodology is comprehensive enough to address
all three of the constraints the project teams must balance.
There is scope, which is the type and
quality of the project deliverables that are desired.
There is schedule, which is the timeline and
milestones that the business wants the team to achieve.
And there is resources which is the money and
people which the project team has at their disposal.
Every project team faces the challenges of balancing these three constraints.
A good methodology will highlight the interplay between them.
So we've discussed the attributes of a project management methodology.
And in an upcoming session,
we'll look at how well the Agile/Scrum approach stacks up.