Are Your Projects Agile?
Or, are you confusing Poor Planning with Agility?
I regularly hear from potential Clients that are having problems with their Agile Projects. Or, that they are on their second or third attempt to (and I quote) “make Agile work for us”.
I suggest that all successful Project Management Methods are a balanced combination of Leadership Arts, Process Science, and Excellent Communication Skills. If any one of those three elements is missing or broken, then the likeliest outcome is:
1. Projects that don’t really deliver… but never really end
2. Projects without a defined measure of value… and a near-endless pit of despair-driven costs.
Of course, the Cult of Personal Project Management Heroism dictates that, by sheer personal willpower, Good Project Managers, with aligned Champions & Stakeholders, will generally drag something vaguely useful from that Pit of Despair. At the 11th hour. At the inflection point between looming crisis and maximum stress.
My Perspective? Don’t be like my little squirrel friend, who found out (at the 11th hour, at the inflection point of looming crisis and maximum stress) that it’s best to have a simple, sound Plan, before attempting an Agile Raid Project on my bird feeders.
Help everyone engage in Your Project. Facilitate the drafting, multi-perspective modeling, and formal agreement of a Project Concept, that can be Initiated, Planned, and Executed by ALL the Stakeholders needed, to a measurable, achievable Close. Identify, polish, tune, and test your Leadership Arts. Ensure regular, realistic, relevant Communication Skills are employed & effective throughout the Project lifecycle.
Once you have that outline of the “Why, Who, When, How Much?, & How Will We Measure The Value?” of your Project, then it’s likely that one or more Project Method Methods will be useful. Including Agility.
