Project Management in the Digital Era The impact of agile project management

Production Control Progress Chasing Production Planning Problem Solving

The Digital Era What are the features of Projects?

What’s the difference for Project Management?

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From managing processes A Switch To Managing Value

Why value is important Viability Prioritisation Minimum viable product

When things get complicated! Agile was designed for small teams producing small increments in functionality in short cycles known as Sprints. For complex business change projects this is too simplistic. The result is that larger activities require a number of small teams to act in concert. Giving rise to a co-ordination and planning role: The Agile Project Manager In this simplistic view of an Agile Release Plan. We have four feature teams working together. Team 1 and Team 4 are working on the same feature: Team 1 has is working with a 1 week sprint cycle Team 2 a 3 week cycle Teams 3 and 4 are working on 2 weeks. This is not uncommon as the sprint cycle time would depend upon the complexity of the work required.

This could spell the end of the Gant Chart! This situation gives rise to a complex dependency management task. In fact Agile projects have a greater challenge with dependency management than traditional projects. Because in traditional projects the phases take care of some dependencies.

Why agile metrics? Three uses Agile without metrics is anarchy – collecting metrics is the only sure way to quantitatively validate performance and success. Three uses Planning Analysis Reporting

Collaboration v directing Servant leader Facilitating self- managing teams Responsibility for resolving blockers Engaging stakeholders Creating a team of teams

Features of agile projects Teams Perpetual and temporary. Self-managing – encouraged inconsistency. Continuously improving. Process Just enough documentation. Agile ceremonies. Agile Not anarchy. Metrics Planning based on metrics. Status reporting linked to Sprints or Releases. New terminology, e.g. cadence, velocity; all involving mathematics!

The role of the Digital PM 1. Orchestration 2. Stakeholder engagement 3. Issues or impediments 4. Risk Management 5. Change Management

Project Management in the Digital Era

For further information contact: Jonathan Ward Director Beneficial Consulting Limited Dashwood House, 69 Old Broad Street London EC2M 1QS Jonathan.ward@beneficialconsulting.co.uk Mobile: +44 (0) 7802 884598 www.beneficialconsulting.co.uk

Room for a Project Manager? Primary Agile Roles Architecture Owner Product Owner Team Member Team Lead or Scrum Master Stakeholder Secondary Roles (for Scaling) Independent Tester Agile Coach Technical Expert Specialist Integrator Adapted from © Disciplined Agile Consortium 17

The Agile Project Manager Delivery of value over Rigid requirements Control of dependencies Management of timelines Application of metrics Production of estimates Collaboration Directing That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more