This category contains topics related to Agile Project Management. Agile has had a major influence on the project management profession that has caused us to completely re-think and redefine what “project management” is. Instead of a traditional plan-driven project management approach which is heavily focused on planning and control. An Agile approach recognizes that a different approach is needed in projects that have a high level of uncertainty and/or when creativity and innovation is important.
This is not a binary choice between “Agile” and “Waterfall” as many people seem to think. The right approach is to fit the methodology to the nature of the project and Agile Project Management is focused on learning how to blend Agile and traditional plan-driven project management principles and practices in the right proportions to fit any given situation.
Adopting this new approach requires a major shift in thinking for many project managers who have been deeply ingrained for year in a traditional plan-driven project management approach. It also requires some very new and different skills to be developed. This can be especially difficult because the role of a project manager in an Agile environment is not well-defined.
This is a very important evolution in the project management profession that will cause many project managers to re-think and redefine their career plans.
Please check the articles associated with this category for more detail:
I participated in a question-and-answer session on Quora in response to a question someone asked, “What happens to professors if no one signs up for his/her class?” I want to share my answer with you. My Early Start at Boston University I was originally hired as an Adjunct Professor at Boston University about (10) years …
What Happens to Professors If No One Signs Up for His/her Class? Read More »
One of my students asked me an interesting question about “Is there a Project Manager in Scrum?” If you read the official Scrum guide, the answer is very obvious; however, if you look at how Scrum is used in the real-world, the answer to that question is not as obvious as you might think. Is …
Have you ever thought about “When an agile project fails, who gets blamed”? I thought it was a very interesting question. How Does an Agile Project Fail? It’s actually difficult for an Agile project to fail. An Agile project typically does not have rigid cost and schedule goals that must be met and An Agile/Scrum …
What can Physics teach us about Agile Project Management? We can learn a lot from how the science of physics has evolved. I think there are a number of interesting similarities the way that Agile Project Management is evolving. How Has the Science of Physics Evolved? For many years until the late 1800’s and early …
What Is the Relationship of Physics and Agile Project Management? Read More »
I recently responded to a question “Are there project managers in Agile?” It’s a good question and it comes up often so I thought I would address it here in my blog. There’s actually a lot of “project management” going on in an Agile project, but it’s a different kind of “project management” and you …
There is a lot of confusion and controversy about what an Agile Project Manager is. It’s understandable why this confusion exists: There are many stereotypes and misconceptions about both Agile and traditional plan-driven project management and The role of an Agile Project Manager might play is not well-defined Popular Stereotypes and Misconceptions There are some …
What’s the difference between a project and a process? I have a very broad view of “project management” but there is a danger of broadening the definition too far. If the definition is broadened too far, almost anything could be “project management” and that would make it meaningless. For example: Is an effort to provide …
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What is a Project? What is a project? I recently wrote a blog post on “What is Project Management?” that has generated some good comments on LinkedIn. One of the comments was that “the change is not merely to redefine ‘project management’ but to redefine ‘project’”. That is absolutely correct. PMBOK defines a project as follows: …
There’s a lot of confusion on the subject of “What is Agile Project Management?” and how is it different? I’ve even heard some people in the Agile community say that “there is no such thing as Agile project management”; because officially, there is no defined role for a project manager in an Agile/Scrum environment. I …
What is Agile Project Management? How Is It Different? Read More »
Agile has been most widely used in “product” development environments and less widely used in “project” development environments. The difference between product development versus project development is not widely-recognized. Of course, this is not a totally universal, black-and-white distinction; but, in general, there are some key differences. Product Development versus Project Development General Characteristics AreaProduct …
