Agile Project Management

"Project management methodology is usually defined as a set of methods, techniques, procedures, rules, templates, and best practices used on a project. It is commonly based on a specific project management approach, that defines a set of principles and guidelines which define the way a project is managed. With the growing trend of usage of agile project management on different projects, it is clear that two opposite sides exist – traditional and agile project management approach, and that there exists a need to combine both approaches. So, the question is if it is and how it is possible to combine both approaches in a single project management methodology?

The paper covers thorough literature review and starts with the definition of the project management approach and of the project management methodology. It provides overview of different project management approaches and defines project management methodologies. The literature review shows what is considered as part of project management methodology in a wider or narrower sense, and what the main characteristics of a methodology are. The need for combining project management approaches is shown on the case of software development project.

The paper provides basis for further research on application of different project management approaches and methodologies. Further research could build on an idea of creating unique methodology for project, based on different project management approaches. In that way it is possible to create project management methodologies that have high possibility of customization to projects and to project environments."

"This paper shows more advanced approach in the project management
that combines traditional methodologies with agile methodologies. This approach
is implemented on one of the largest software projects in the region – Health
Information System of Ministry of Defence of Republic of Serbia. The paper gives
the owerview of these two completely different methodologies and how they are
combined on this software projects. Furthermore, paper try to answer why this
approach was choosen, what problems it adresses and what was the outcome –
what were the key benefits of the used approach and what problems are solved or
escaped with this kind of project management.
"

""Abstract
The rapidly increasing rate of adoption of value based, Agile approaches, amongst organisations
involved in the commercial development of software, has resulted in the emergence of new models of
software development governance. But the rate of awareness and adoption of APM (Agile program
management) by organisations has lagged behind the adoption of the methodology. Whilst
organisations have embraced the concepts of lower project failure rates and reduced times to
market, they have struggled to integrate the changes to organisational cultures and governance
models that Agile demands. Whilst some organisations have adopted Agile methodologies at an
organisational level, most have not, leading to significant challenges for those tasked with delivering
Agile projects. This paper identifies some of reasons why this is so difficult and proposes one possible
approach to gaining a better understanding of the problem.""

Projects routinely require procurement of materials, equipment, consultants, training, and many other products and services. Procurement by definition is acquisition of the appropriate goods and/or services that meet the needs of the purchaser in terms of quality, quantity, time and location at the best possible total cost of ownership. Project procurement management is the process of procuring what’s necessary for meeting the needs of the project scope and includes planning, choosing supply sources and administering vendor contracts amongst other things.

Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings contains the seminal articles from the growing body of research on megaproject planning and management along with an original introduction by the editor, Bent Flyvbjerg. The leading and most cited authority in the field, Flyvbjerg has used crowdsourcing and 25 years of experience to cherry-pick from several hundred articles and books the writings that define the field. This volume will be an indispensable source for those wishing to speak with authority about how megaprojects are prepared, delivered, and fought over. The target audience is students, academics, practitioners, and media pundits alike, as well as communities affected by megaprojects.

People make projects work  and problems with them can hurt any project, causing delays, eroding quality, increasing costs, and resulting in high levels of stress for everyone on the team. As a project manager, you should do your utmost to make sure that the people selected for the project team have innate project delivery capability and a clear understanding of what generates project success in the widest context possible. Having done that, your responsibility then becomes to build a professional relationship with them through a clear vision, specific objectives, periodic performance assessments underpinned by continuously unambiguous communications.  Whilst these actions in and of themselves will not guarantee the projects success, they will put you well on the road to it.

Many projects fail because quality management was never planned into the project from the beginning.  Often times in the planning of projects basic stakeholder identification is not carried out and so their specific quality requirements (i.e. what quality means to them) are not documented.  Even in cases where there is such documentation, the project tends to focus more on complying with the cost and resource utilisation constraints than meeting the quality expectations of the stakeholders. For an unequivocally successful outcome, project quality should be treated on equal level with scope, time and cost because even when delivered to scope, on time and to budget the project may still be seen as a failure by stakeholders if it’s output is not to to their quality expectation.

I take a look at the third member of the critical constraints triumvirate that Project Managers must stay on top of throughout the project life-cycle - the project budget.  Budget is from the old French word bougette which means “little bag or purse”, the reservoir in which the limited funding for the project are kept and from which they are dispensed as and when required. It comprises of all planned expenditure (and revenues if applicable) associated with the delivery of the project from inception to completion.  It is a detailed description of how the project team and any other project stakeholder engaged in the projects activities intend to expend the funding allocated to or made available for the project. In some cases (when applicable), the budget also includes how and when any revenues expected from the project will be derived. 

Empresas de desenvolvimento de software que adotam modelo Lean em suas inicializações podem se beneficiar de inúmeras práticas e resultados como rápida reação ao mercado, competitividade, e sustentabilidade para novas iniciativas. Este estudo tem como objetivo compilar algumas destas práticas demonstradas por inúmeros autores, apresentando elos entre o Lean e os métodos ágeis aplicados em empresas de tecnologia de software.