Agile Project Management is a practical approach which can help us manage change consistently and effectively. It includes all the common sense ideas from a range of project management methods developed over many years but recognises that we have to be flexible, adaptable and ‘agile’.
Agile Project Management Self Directing Teams
Agile project teams are small and 'self-direct' (or manage themselves). "Small" is easy to achieve but "self-directed" is less easy, as project teams usually rely on the project manager to prepare plans, tell them what to do, track their status, and take corrective action. What is needed is an ‘agile workforce’ of staff with the ability (and willingness) to play any number of roles at any time.
This needs managers with skills and understanding of how to use matrix management and empowerment to get the best from staff that report elsewhere – even if they are in a different organisation. It also needs open communication to support rapid sharing of knowledge, a good understanding of what resources are available and how they can be mobilised at short notice. The move towards flexible working also helps, as this can allow staff to work from any location at times that suits the needs of the organisation.
Features of Self-Directing Agile Project Teams
An Agile team takes responsibility for their own work to ensure that the best possible result is delivered with the resources available. Any commitments to outcomes and timescales are agreed with their stakeholders and all members of the team have access to all the information needed to plan and manage their own work. Planning is done in informal workshops, with specialists participating when their skills and experience are needed but the team agrees what is achievable, where the risks are, and what can be done to make the project a success.
Features of effective ‘self-directing’ Agile project teams include:
- Participative Leadership - clear leadership role that is shared and enables different team members to take the lead according to task and builds shared norms and values which create a sense of team identity
- Aligned on Purpose and Vision - shared purpose with a shared vision with team goals that align with personal and organisation goals through an approach based on mutual trust and respect for ability
- Task Focused - tasks are challenging but there is individual accountability and ownership, an equality of workload and a focus on the quality of the outcomes.
- Shared Responsibility - and shared decision making, with the rewards linked to team, rather than individual performance, good co-operation with clear authority and responsibility.
- Innovative Problem Solving - creative solutions enabled through freedom to express ideas and share opinions, through respect for unusual ideas and suggestions from people who are likely to be working outside their normal ‘comfort zone’.
- Communicative - open communication channels supported by a common language and terminology, great external communications and purposeful meetings.
- Responsive - flexible and adaptive outward focus on stakeholders and a willingness to take calculated risks and welcome changing requirements.
The Agile Project Manager as Coach and Facilitator
Self-directing teams need a 'Coach' to keep them on track, which is the responsibility of the Project Manager. It is important for the team to plan and manage their own work but they also need to understand the 'bigger picture'. The Project Manager as 'Coach' acts as the facilitator of the team's planning and status meetings, encouraging and guiding them, as well as making sure the team recognise problems when they arise and agree how best to deal with them.
Agile project managers must work hard to not fall into the easy role of acting as a go-between, separating the stakeholder or business owner from the team. Project managers are needed and are important, but they facilitate and never decide or manage. The Agile approach needs project managers to keep the spotlight on the vision, inspiring the team and ‘championing’ the project. They must develop a strong team-oriented approach with the emphasis on collaboration.
This means establishing clear ownership of shared goals, dealing with anything which could prevent achieving those goals and introducing ‘enablers’ (awareness, resources, information) to support achieving them. Agile projects provide an opportunity to make a difference - so the Project Manager can help by getting the team develop a vision of what success would look like and feel like.
Comparison Between Agile and Traditional Project Management
The ‘traditional’ Project Manager supervises the team and makes sure they are working on the planned priorities and are doing the job right. The Agile project manager uses coaching and mentoring skills to inspire the team and support them in doing the right job.
The old approach is based around responding to client needs – but the Agile Project Manager has to anticipate client needs. This is challenging as it needs project managers to have a good understanding of the way the client is thinking – and how that thinking is likely to develop over time.
Conventional project managers tell the team to resist changes to the scope but Agile Project Managers welcome changes. The old way often resulted in delivering outputs and outcomes on time to the right level of cost and quality that were no longer fit for purpose. Project managers using the agile approach build in flexibility to adapt requirements and increase the chances of success.
Tony Riches - Based in west Wales in the UK, I am a published Author and full time writer Follow me on twitter @tonyriches and visit my blogs: The ...
