Course Summary
The following is a brief summary of the material in this course on Hybrid Agile Project Management:
1. Learn to See Agile and Waterfall in a fresh new perspecttve as complementary to each other rather than competitive
Many businesses and project managers are faced with a choice of choosing a traditional plan-driven approach (or what is sometimes called “Waterfall”) or a more Agile approach for critical projects which can be a very important decision with significant business impact. However, there are many stereotypes and misconceptions that exist about both “Agile” and “Waterfall” that can be very confusing and misleading. As an example, many people see this as a binary and mutually-exclusive choice between two extremes and attempt to force-fit projects to one of these two approaches when the right solution is to go in the other direction and fit the approach to the project.
- Since this is such a critical decision that has such a big impact, it’s very important to get past these stereotypes and misconceptions and:
- Develop a clear objective understanding of what it means (or doesn’t mean) when people talk about “Agile versus Waterfall”.
- See these two approaches in a fresh new perspective as complementary to each other rather than competitive
2. Learn how to blend the two approaches in the right proportions to fit any given situation to get the best of both worlds
Rather than force-fitting a project to one of these extremes, a much better approach is to fit the methodology to the nature of the project. Sometimes that requires blending the two approaches together in the right proportions to fit the situation to get the best of both worlds. It takes more skill to do that but it definitely can be done.
Intended Audience
The intended audience for this course is anyone who is involved in an Agile project from a business perspective and needs to learn how to blend Agile and traditional plan-driven project management in the right proportions to fit any given situation.
Student Reviews
- “Very well done! A refreshingly pragmatic approach which takes the stress out of the thought of turning one’s organization upside down to transform it. A lot of material covered in a little bit of time in a very concise but fulfilling manner.”
- “Chuck Cobb’s presentation Agile Project Management Overview for Executives was informative. I found the course helped reveal misconceptions and stereotypes regarding Agile Project Management. In his instructional course, he helps break down key differences between agile and waterfall project management. He outlines the benefits of agile project management. He once again clearly and concisely communicates in a way that is easy to follow. I look forward to following additional courses in the future.”
- “As a senior project manager that deals with executives and their project management “likes and dislikes” on a daily basis I found this overview spot-on. From lecture 1 through 7 Chuck addresses most of the issues that I quite often experience in getting executive to understand the “symbiotic” relationship between Agile and Plan-driven project management.””This course is for project managers and executives alike, and after completion you’ll have a clear understanding of how Agile and traditional plan-driven approaches can be complementary rather than competitive.”
- ” This was an excellent course, as I was looking to gain knowledge on applying Agile processes at the Enterprise level. I especially liked the sections on project governance, choosing the right approach, developing and implementaton plan, and the case studies.”
Overall Curriculum
This course is part of an overall Agile Business Management curriculum consisting of the following courses
- Agile BM 101 – Hybrid Agile Project Management
- Agile PM 201 – Mastering Agile Project Management
- Agile PM 301 – Enterprise-level Agile Business Management
Please refer to Agile Training for Business Managers for more information on this overall curriculum.