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Quick reference
Project Management Methodology
A project management methodology provides a set of tools and processes that can be used to organize and manage the project activities.
When to use
Companies use a project management methodology in order to improve the quality and predictability of projects. When there is only one project, the methodology may help on some tasks but its impact is minimal. When there are many projects at different stages with different teams and different goals, a methodology is needed to bring order to the chaos.
Instructions
A methodology is a set of procedures and tools for planning and managing projects within an organization. It includes the procedures and a definition of roles and responsibilities. Many times it includes mandatory reviews or the mandatory use of systems or tools in order to bring a level of cohesion to project management within the organization.
There are many different methodologies. Each has strengths and weaknesses. A company should carefully select the methodology that meets its project execution needs. If the project management methodology does not improve the execution of project activities, it is a waste of time and a detriment to the organization.
Sequential Projects
This is the traditional approach to project management and is often referred to as the Waterfall approach. The project is fully planned at the beginning of the project. All activities are scheduled and resources assigned. Often all the activities performed by a function are schedule together and then the project is passed to the next function. The functions focus on completing their assigned tasks with functional excellence. They fully resolve issues before moving the project to the next phase.
Concurrent Project
This approach will often accelerate a project as compared to the Sequential approach because of the overlap between activities. However, to manage this well, it requires a Cross-functional Core Team that manages the planning and integration. The team is balancing the requirements and issue resolution to find optimal solutions.
Adaptive Projects
Adaptive projects are broken into very short mini-phases or sprints that work on a few deliverables at one time. It is managed by a self-organizing inter-disciplinary team that is typically focused on the performance of the end system or product the project is developing. Issues and problems are immediately addressed by whoever uncovers the problem.
Hints & tips
- Many organizations maintain the flexibility to select the best methodology depending upon the characteristics of the project, rather than forcing all projects to use the same methodology.
- Be careful not to try and blend all three approaches into one methodology. Each methodology is optimized for a particular set of business conditions. There are features about the methodologies that are absolutely incompatible. They cannot be blended together effectively on the same project.
- I have occasionally managed a project where we intentionally started with one approach, but at a critical milestone within the project, we changed the approach that was used for the remainder of the work. As an example, we did a new product development project as Adaptive until we had a working prototype. Then we switched to sequential for the remainder of the project.
- 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
- 00:05 Let's talk about project management methodologies.
- 00:08 This will prepare us for an assessment of the strengths and
- 00:12 the limitations of these various methodologies.
- 00:15 So what are the elements of a project management methodology?
- 00:18 Well, I'll start by acknowledging that it is a standard process.
- 00:22 It is meant to improve communication and execution by ensuring that people
- 00:26 start doing the project activities in the same manner again and again.
- 00:30 The learning curve effect will improve the quality and efficiency.
- 00:34 This is usually documented through some procedures, templates, and checklists.
- 00:39 But most organizations realize that every project is unique, so
- 00:42 they allow some level of customization within the methodology to accommodate
- 00:47 the project uniqueness.
- 00:48 There ill often be variants for the size or
- 00:51 complexity of a project in addition to variants for different types of projects,
- 00:56 such as software projects, facility projects, or cost reduction projects.
- 01:01 A project approach becomes a methodology when everyone in the organization begins
- 01:06 to use it.
- 01:06 I know of several occasions where a wonderful new process and
- 01:10 checklists were issued to the organization but were then ignored.
- 01:14 This wasn't a methodology.
- 01:16 Another key attribute of the organizational methodology is that it
- 01:19 includes management involvement.
- 01:21 We don't have the project teams doing one thing and management doing something else.
- 01:26 Management does have oversight in the process.
- 01:30 And finally, I often see it now being implemented through an internal website or
- 01:34 some type of software that allows collaboration.
- 01:37 Remember that a key part of the methodology is communication.
- 01:41 Tools are used to improve and clarify communication.
- 01:45 Let's look at one of the very common types of methodologies,
- 01:49 known as the sequential or waterfall approach.
- 01:52 And for illustration, I will use a generic software development project.
- 01:56 As you can see,
- 01:57 someone from marketing or product management first gathers the requirements.
- 02:02 Then a product architect comes up with the concept.
- 02:06 When that concept is deemed acceptable, the project officially kicks off.
- 02:11 This concept is handed to the software engineers who create a product design.
- 02:15 There's a design review and design freeze.
- 02:18 And at that point, the coders start to write the code.
- 02:21 Eventually, all the code is written and
- 02:23 then there's a code review with a code freeze.
- 02:25 Now it's time for the testers to take over, testing and verification starts.
- 02:30 The critical bugs get fixed and the product gets launched.
- 02:33 Then the product moves to a sustaining support, and a whole different set of
- 02:38 people are involved responsible for keeping it working.
- 02:41 As you can see, each discipline does their work and passes the project along.
- 02:46 Each function focuses on technical excellence for their work.
- 02:49 Keep in mind that the goal is to reduce and eliminate risk.
- 02:53 And each function owns the problems in its area.
- 02:56 Issues have to be fully resolved before the project is passed to someone else.
- 03:00 Notice the project only flows one way.
- 03:03 So the functions must get everything done and do it right.
- 03:06 They will not have a second chance.
- 03:08 Again, this sequential or waterfall approach has been the traditional approach
- 03:13 used in many organizations.
- 03:15 Let's look at that same software development project that we used with
- 03:19 the sequential or traditional project, but
- 03:21 now we use it with a concurrent methodology.
- 03:24 As you can see, there is overlap between the activities of the different functions.
- 03:28 That is the reason for the name concurrent.
- 03:31 Requirements are gathered, but even before that activity is done,
- 03:34 concepts are being generated, which may lead to more detailed or
- 03:38 a deeper look at some of the customer requirements.
- 03:41 Once the concept is well underway, design starts.
- 03:44 This allows the designers to test some of the concept ideas and
- 03:48 feed those back to the product architect.
- 03:51 As a portion of the design comes into focus, the coding starts.
- 03:55 And as some of the software is developed, testing and integration is performed.
- 03:59 While there are still technical milestones like design freeze and code freeze,
- 04:04 they are softer milestones,
- 04:05 with open items that are not finalized until well after the milestone event.
- 04:10 This project is planned and managed by a multifunctional core team.
- 04:13 Each individual is a technical expert from their function and is responsible for
- 04:17 the overall success of the project, not just their functional success.
- 04:21 It's not a case of the project manager being king or queen,
- 04:25 rather they're a facilitator of the process.
- 04:28 This multifunctional team strives to meet all customer needs, both internal and
- 04:32 external.
- 04:33 Each core team member has a voice and a vote in the core team.
- 04:37 Issues are resolved by the team.
- 04:39 A problem in one function may be more easily accommodated in the work by another
- 04:44 function.
- 04:45 The team then constantly works to seek an optimal solution for the business.
- 04:50 So let's take this one step further and consider the adaptive methodology.
- 04:55 This methodology is most commonly used with agile projects.
- 04:59 One thing that you immediately see is that it is done in an iterative process or
- 05:03 with waves.
- 05:04 Instead of the fully integrated sequential or concurrent approach,
- 05:08 this approach takes a piece of the project work, completes that,
- 05:12 then goes and gets another piece and adds that into the original part.
- 05:15 In this example, I'm showing four iterations.
- 05:18 I've seen projects with as few as two and as many as 12.
- 05:22 During each of these iterations, multiple activities are done,
- 05:25 such as concept, design, coding, and testing.
- 05:28 This approach has grown out of the experience developed over years
- 05:32 by high tech startups.
- 05:33 A few people work to get a basic product ready to go, and
- 05:36 then they start adding features and functions in successive releases.
- 05:41 The approach relies upon a small interdisciplinary team
- 05:44 doing the work at each iteration.
- 05:46 By interdisciplinary I mean that each individual's able to do multiple tasks or
- 05:51 activities, they are not narrow specialists.
- 05:54 The approach is focused on performance, get this iteration to work,
- 05:58 and problems that are identified will be fixed on the next iteration.
- 06:03 And any issue can be resolved by anyone.
- 06:05 In fact, it's usually a case of you found it, you fix it.
- 06:09 If you have the knowledge and the capacity to work on a problem, work on it.
- 06:13 There is no such thing as that's not my job, that's his or her job.
- 06:18 So we've looked at several different methodologies.
- 06:20 Now in the next lesson, we'll compare them.
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