project managers
Agile quickly became a “must have” methodology that many project managers demand. In the case of a pure approach, the ultimate factor is trust: the senior stakeholders need to trust that the Scrum Masters will lead the teams of developers effectively to deliver the product as scoped and on time; that the budget spent remains within the financial parameters agreed upon, etc.
15-minutes stand up meetings is key
No need for long meetings nor highlighted reports. As project progress is updated to everyone verbally at a 15-minute daily stand-up meeting. No need for detailed project plans: the very essence of Agile is that progress is dynamic.
However, anyone who has run projects within the traditional “waterfall” way will recognize. What an enormous task it’s to hunt such trust from senior stakeholders. And how can we convince them of abandoning the normal governance model which they (like you) have come to expect.
What is the answer? What has worked rather well for so many successful leaders is running a project employing a hybrid model — combining the advantages of Agile with a well-established and widely-used framework like PRINCE2.
Here are some suggestions:
- Set up the software development process consistent with Agile principles and structure, led by a properly-trained Scrum Master.
- Create the high-level project plan like you would during a standard “waterfall” project, but don’t be scared of using Sprints. Using Agile shouldn’t mean that other critical project activities, like stakeholder communications, aren’t planned to an honest level of detail.
- Schedule often standard governance board meetings for your senior stakeholders and prepare a highlight report — but aim to limit yourself just to maximum one page. The key is to use these board meetings to reassure the stakeholders that you keep an eye fixed on budget spent. The Earned Value Analysis can be a useful number thanks to the evidence for these assurances.
- Finally, be prepared to manage the Scrum Masters and their product owners: the self-managing principle of Agile is excellent in theory, but everyone needs regular senior motivation and out of doors challenge to perform at their best.
To sum it up
Be prepared to line manage the Scrum Masters and their product owners: the self-managing principle of Agile is great in theory, but everyone needs regular senior motivation and outside challenge to perform at their best.