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What are the biggest differences between managing a
traditional project and managing an agile project? Is it management of
change, how people are managed, or something else?
Project management practitioners commenting on this question in the PMI Career Central LinkedIn Group had numerous answers.
“In my opinion, the main difference between the two is how you
approach the project,” said Israr Shaikh, PMI-RMP, PMP, of Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, who has managed projects for 13 years. With
agile, one has to be more open and acceptable to challenges of changes,
whereas with traditional project management, though changes are
acceptable, they are first tested under the scanner of ‘scope creep.’”
In traditional project management, the project manager
"manages" the projects (he or she is overall and ultimately responsible
for
the success or failure of the project), noted Shailesh Sahasrabuddhe,
MS, CSM, PMP, of Silicon Valley, California, USA, who has 10 years of
experience in program and project management. But, “In agile, either no
one or everyone ‘manages.’ There is no single person in charge or
responsible, it’s a collective (product owner, Scrum Master, team)
ownership.
“Both approaches/methodologies have their own pros and cons,
challenges and sweet spots,” continued Mr. Sahasrabuddhe. “‘Horses for
the courses’ is the way to go!”
Limited to the Delivery Aspect
Kaushik Das, CSM, PMP, of Bangalore, India, who has been leading
software projects for more than six years, had a different
perspective. “The project is a larger entity. Deliverables form a
smaller part of it,” he said. “Agile techniques like Scrum are limited
to the delivery aspect. The project still has to manage its cost, its
overall scope, its resources, its people, its communications, any
vendors involved, its risks, any issues.
“The project manager really has a lot of work to do. That's
why, if you're agile, [allow] the team, the Scrum Master and the
product owner to do its delivery-related management.”
Differing Time Perspectives
Muhammad Bilal, PMP, of Karachi, Pakistan, who has been managing
software development projects for four years, said that in
traditional waterfall methodology you have a bigger time spectrum, so
the time to manage changes and mitigate risks is comparatively more
than that of an agile project, where there is
a limited timebox for sprints, and the team needs to respond back
quickly.
“On the other hand, agile allows you to do things, evaluate
them and move on,” he said. “[Traditional] has got bigger risk in terms
of end product. There is more risk involved,
because any change in later stages will directly impact product, not
at that point but at the end of that development cycle.”
Team Psychology
“What about from a team psychology aspect?” asked Patrick Riley,
MSEE, PMP, of Chicago, Illinois, USA, a product and project manager in
telecom and IT for more than 15 years. “I have always found teams
using waterfall to be less accepting of scope change, but also less
willing to miss their delivery dates — whereas agile teams seem the
opposite.”
Terry A. Dexter, of Hillsboro, Texas, USA, who has been
managing projects in information sciences and IT for 12 years, said
“Whether waterfall…or agile, the best method is to ‘trust but verify.’
Everyone associated with the project must know
his or her job, role and contribution to the project.”
There are many potential aspects of difference between the two
methodologies: When it is used, how it is used and how it affects the
way project teams work. Glenn Williamson, MBA, PMP, of Chandler,
Arizona, USA, a 10-year project management veteran in the semiconductor
industry, said “From my standpoint as well as others, the biggest
difference is in adapting to change, and the execution of the program
plan.”
If there is one somewhat common view, it is that both approaches
have their pros and cons.
What do you think the differences are between managing a traditional
project and managing an agile project? Join the ongoing discussion with
the PMI Career Central Group on LinkedIn. |
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