Beyond the alphabet soup of PRINCE2, MSP, PMBOK, ITIL, Agile
We are living in an age of social media. One where opinions are best expressed in 140 characters or less, hashtags galore and needs need to be met instantly. There is a level of agility required to work well in this environment. If an organization rigidly sticks to how business used to be done, more than likely they will be left behind by others that are willing to alter course. However, can one get into the habit of altering so much that they go around in circles? There are many misconceptions about Agile. Let us explore some of those.
| Aglie is NOT | Agile IS |
| A methodology | Agile is a set of principles.
People have created methodologies around these principles – namely Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP) etc. |
| License to dive straight into code | All Agile methodologies have a significant emphasis on continually solidifying user stories. A successful delivery is judged by how closely the delivery met the user stories. |
| License to develop without scope | User stories are the definition of scope. User stories must contain enough information for the developers to quantify a particular story “done”. |
| License to change your mind daily | User stories are worked on continuously. More imminent a story is to be worked on; more time is spent detailing it. Adjustments to requirements are accommodated during sprint planning and treated as any other requirement, which it is being prioritised against. |
| License to leave half finished work floating around | Most agile methodologies will restrict the number of in-flight tasks. If some of the team complete their work before others, it is their role to help others complete tasks at hand. |
| License to continually chop and change the team | Most efficiency is gained when you arrive at a team that gels well. The sum of the capability of the team dictates the velocity at which it can operate at. Constant swapping of resources makes it near impossible to measure progress through burn-rate. One area where you expect change is in the role of the subject matter expert, based on tasks at hand. |
| License to pull resources mid assignment | Once the sprint starts, resources are committed to getting the sprint ‘done’. It is acceptable to commit a resource to part of the sprint or a portion of the resources availability. But once committed, they see it through. |
| Something that only works on its own | Agile is perfectly paced to be used in conjunction with other project management methodologies. For example, one can use PRINCE2 and manage by stages, where the stage boundaries represent iterations in an Agile methodology. Agile requires complete software at the end of iterations. PRINCE2 requires the ability to close a project if the business case can no longer be satisfied. Using the two together allows for tangible benefits to remain with the customer even if a project has to be cancelled. |
To avoid chaos, you need a level of planning. When planning is impossible, chaos is the more likely outcome than agility.
Senior Project Manager at Eagle Technology, APMG Accredited ITIL, MSP + PRINCE2 Practitioner, governance expert, cricket fanatic, squash pretender. Opinions expressed are purely from my experience of leading teams and running projects, and in no way claims to represent those of my employers or customers.
Another great post and example of how two minds can think alike, even on the other side of the globe. I recently posted my own article on the subject that includes reference to PMBOK(c). http://project-pro.us/2012/04/14/agile_not_pm_framework/
Thanks for your comment Vicki. Just read your article. Very similar to my sentiments. The fact remains adopting Agile can only be successful by adopting the principles and tailoring the processes to suit the organization.
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