Five Changes that Project Managers Must Make in an Agile...

© 2017 agilityIRL, LLC—All Rights Reserved

Five Changes that

Project Managers

Must Make in an

Agile World

Mike Stuedemann, PMP, PMI-ACP, CST

Certified Scrum Trainer & Agile Coach

@StuedeSpeaks

www.agilityIRL.com

http://www.agilityirl.com/

Agenda

•Why Change?

•Being “Agile”

• Five Shifts that PMs Need to Make: • Driving Factor

• Impact

• Recommendations

• Development Actions

•Wrapping-Up

2 ©2017 agilityIRL, LLC

“I’ve Been Successful – Why Change?”

©2017 agilityIRL, LLC 3

Volatile Uncertain

Complex Ambiguity

VUCA

Source: Harvard Business Review, “What VUCA really means for you?: https://hbr.org/2014/01/what-vuca-really-means-for-you

https://hbr.org/2014/01/what-vuca-really-means-for-you












“What happens if we don’t change?”

“Half a century ago, the life expectancy of a firm in the Fortune 500 was around 75 years. Now it’s less than 15 years and declining even further.” – Stephen Denning


Source: Steve Denning, Forbes:“Peggy Noonan and Why Big Companies Die” https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/11/19/peggy-noonan-on-steve-jobs-and-why-big-companies-die

“Perish or Something Worse?”


YOUR

COMPANY

LOGO HERE?

“But the World will always need Project Managers, right?”


Source: Psychology Today, Ray Williams “Why Artificial Intelligence will replace Managers”: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201611/why-artificial-intelligence-will-replace-managers

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201611/why-artificial-intelligence-will-replace-managers














“Agile – You keep using that word…”


What is Agile?


What is Agile?


Agile Software Development Manifesto

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

What is Agile?


1 Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

2 Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.

3 Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

4 Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

5 Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

6 The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

7 Working software is the primary measure of progress.

8 Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

9 Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

10 Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.

11 The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

12 At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Five Shifts

• Shift #1: From Projects to Products

• Shift #2: From Management to Customers

• Shift #3: From Plans to Planning

• Shift #4: From “One-Size Fits All” to “The Right Tool for the Right Job”

• Shift #5: From “The Iron Triangle” to “Managing the Trade-Off”


Shift: From Projects to Products


Temporary Endeavors Long-Lived Efforts

Shift: From Projects to Products Impact:

• Inability to respond to customer requests

• Inability to focus

• Inability to reach high-performance state as Team

Development Actions:

1. Increase Team-building Skills

2. Educate Leadership on benefits of Standing Teams

3. Educate all stakeholders on need for focus


Driving Factor:

Project Focus creates: moral hazard, frustrates customers, doesn’t leverage power of the Team

PM Recommendations:

1. Avoid segregation of activities, emphasize team

2. Advocate for standing teams

3. Minimize multi-tasking

Shift: From Management to Customers


Source: Forbes, Stephen Denning “The Dumbest Idea In The World: Maximizing Shareholder Value”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/11/28/maximizing-shareholder-value-the-dumbest-idea-in-the-world/2/#425e8eff1e38

Meeting the Predicted Scoreboard

Maximizing Customer Value

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/11/28/maximizing-shareholder-value-the-dumbest-idea-in-the-world/2/#425e8eff1e38



















Shift: From Management To Customers Impact:

• Focus on conformance to plan

• Focus on management vs. team

• Lack of Transparency

• Poor long-term sustainability


1. Spend time with real customers in their native environment


Driving Factor:

Short-Term focus on meeting expectations

PM Recommendations:

1. Engage real customers in the development process

2. Focus on Use

3. Encourage simplicity

Shift: From Plans to Planning


“In preparing for

battle I have

always found that

plans are useless,

but planning is

indispensable.” –

Dwight D.

Eisenhower

SHIFT HAPPENS!

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower

Shift: From Plans to Planning Impact:

• Focus on conformance to plan

• Lack of Transparency


1. Understand Empirical Process Control

2. Understand adaptive, planning


Driving Factor:

Defined process thinking leads people to think that they can predict the future

PM Recommendations:

1. “If you can’t plan well, plan often” Plan at multiple-levels

2. Acknowledge the “Cone of Uncertainty”

Agile Planning

Vision

Roadmap

Release Planning

Sprint Planning

Daily Planning

(aka Daily Scrum)

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Multiple Levels of Planning within Agile

Responding to Change over Following a Plan

Shift: From “One-Size Fits All” to “The Right Tool for the Job”


Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_W._Royce


Impact:

• Agile methods are forced into situations where they are not a good “fit”

• “Agile” gets a bad name


1. Review and understand Stacey Matrix


Driving Factor:

Agile methods are seen as the solution to all product development issues

PM Recommendations:

1. Understand the problem

2. Select the right method for the right problem



Source :Ralph Stacey’s “Complexity and Creativity in

Organizations,” Copyright Ralph Stacey, 1996

Shift: From “Iron Triangle” to Managing the Trade-off


Scope

Schedule Cost

Quality

The Iron Triangle

“We need it on

time, under

budget, on

schedule, and

delivered with

quality”

Shift: From “Iron Triangle” to Managing the Trade-Off

Impact:

• Non-transparent trade-offs

• Decrease Quality

• Unsustainable Products


1. Review, understand and use the Trade-off Matrix


Driving Factor:

Stakeholders believe and are told that all of the project management parameters are fixed

PM Recommendations:

1. Acknowledge and communicate the trade-off

2. Re-visit the trade-off throughout product development to maximize value

Shift: From “Iron Triangle” to Managing the Trade-off

Scope Schedule Cost Quality

Fixed

Firm

Flexible

24 Source: “How to Plan Like an Agile Coach” Webinar, Rally Software

Product Trade-off Matrix

• Only one “X” can be placed in the “Fixed” Row

• Only one “X” can be placed in the “Firm” Row

• The remaining two parameters are “Flexible”

©2017 agilityIRL, LLC

Summary – Five Changes that PMs Must Make in Agile Word

• Why Change? – • A “VUCA” world challenges traditional companies and project

mangers

• Your company and/or role may not exist if it doesn’t shift toward an Agile mindset

• Being “Agile” means adhering to a set of values and principles

• Adherence to these values and principles asks Project Managers to make Five Shifts:

1. Shift from Projects to Products

2. Shift from Management to Customer

3. Shift from Plans to Planning

4. Shift from “One-size fits All” to “The Right Tool for the Right Job”

5. Shift from the Iron Triangle to “Managing the Trade-off”


In the end, making these shifts will allow you to…


Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_salute

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