Agile is a mystery to many project managers. They are confused. That’s because they don’t understand how Agile fundamentally differs from traditional Project Management
Two concepts help clarify things, specification and discovery
SCRUM is misunderstood in the world of Project Management. The source of the misunderstanding is that SCRUM is a delivery method, not a Project Management method. SCRUM is good on delivery. The SCRUM guide is good on sprints and backlogs, but silent on Project Management. If you are a project manager, you need more than SCRUM.
In Project Management, the term “Best Practice” has become very popular. Too often, it is overused. At worst, it is pure marketing-speak….
What should “Best Practice” mean? It should be a reflection of current practice – techniques and ways of working which are widely and currently used with success. But too often today in Project Management, Best Practice is a long way from that ideal
In 2015, Axelos published their new “Prince2 Agile” guide with a great fanfare. This is a new companion to Prince2, designed to sit alongside Prince2. Unfortunately, the book is a major disappointment on all fronts. Rather than helping the Prince2 project manager to move forward, it adds to the confusion about Agile…
Fashions come and fashions go. For fashionistas, yesterday’s fashions are history. In the world of project management, Agile is the current fashion, particularly the Scrum variant of Agile. If you browse many project management websites, you’d think Scrum has become the only way to run projects. Some Agile fashionistas even suggest that everybody is moving […]
Are you fed up with boring Project Management meetings? Are you in an interminable cycle of weekly meetings? Are you overdosed by tedious Powerpoints? It could be that you are suffering from “management by meeting”. If the only way that your company can manage a project is to hold weekly meetings with everyone round the […]
If you are a project manager and you need to deliver quality, then go look at your car for inspiration. Your car is a high quality product which should inspire you in your project management… A modern car is long-lasting and useful. It’s high quality. The car manufacturers (Toyota, Renault, Ford, etc.) have worked hard […]
Do you know who said this? “I had six honest serving men. They taught me all I knew. Their names were: Where, What, When, Why, How and Who”? You probably don’t know – but you’ll recognise his name. It’s Rudyard Kipling, author of “The Jungle Book”, now famous as a Disney film. Rudyard Kipling’s saying […]
Would you buy a new car if it didn’t have airbags? Probably not. Would you drive without attaching your seat belt? Again, probably not. You don’t take risks with your cars. So why you take risks with your project? Most project managers don’t really bother about risk management. If you are one of those project […]
If you want to get things done, you need to prioritise. Not all things are equal. In this busy world, if you don’t prioritise, you won’t get the right things done. This simple truth applies at all levels. At the lowest level, it applies to your personal productivity. At the wider level, it applies to […]