Speaker Notes
Slide 2 – Agile project management
- Some tools of agile project management include project management software and pivotal tracker for stage-by-stage documentation and tracking of deliverables
- The evolution of the agile project management method considered workflow boards and borrowed from lean and SCRUM methods to become a hybrid method.
Characteristics
- Agile gives faster results at a lower cost.
- Requires preparation: the project manager will need to have documented and categorized all the clients’ purchases in the last months (or years)
- The agile method is uncomfortable because it shows the truth too soon and does not leave much room for self-deception (Hoda & Murugesan, 2016).
- Agile project management requires organizational changes rather than psychological change.
Slide 3 – Distinction between Agile and Waterfall project management
- In Agile, the project manager asks his client of the service or product in terms of what improvements they would apply or if they would buy into it. Projects are offered different prices to see what price elicits the best response. When the manager is clear what price they would pay and what product they want, the project manager proposes the cost to the clients/sponsors. After project approval, samples are made available for the sponsor or client for feedback (Layton & Ostermiller, 2017).
- Using the waterfall allows one to start a project at any time; the manager only needs the resources (mostly economic and human).
- Waterfall projects are easy to execute. Getting an Agile project done overnight is not easy.
- With the waterfall method, the manager must wait for the entire number of stages to drop to the next level before launching it to the next stage. The project manager cannot go to the next level until all the resources from the previous stage have been transferred.
- With the waterfall method, the manager wants each stage to advance fast to accomplish an objective. In this way, they lead the way and provide you with information on how safe or confusing it appears. Once the manager knows the way, the rest of the stages go faster and have fewer problems for the overall goal (Ajam, 2018).
- With a Waterfall project, it is easier to work independently, complete the project, and then you go out to sell it. Waterfall allows the project manager to be hidden in the project without contact with clients. Agile project management forces the manager to sell from the first day, from the moment of the idea, to validate it before investing a single resource.
References
Layton, M. C., & Ostermiller, S. J. (2017). Agile project management for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
Hoda, R., & Murugesan, L. K. (2016). Multi-level agile project management challenges: A self-organizing team perspective. Journal of Systems and Software, 117, 245-257.
Ajam, M. (2018). Project management beyond waterfall and agile. CRC Press.