Agile project management

COURSE OUTLINE
 Week 01 – Introduction
 Week 02 – Basic concepts and foundational elements
 Week 03 – Assignment, The environment in which projects operate
 Week 04 – The role of project manager
 Week 05 – Agile project management
o Week 06 – Quiz, Discussion & revision
o Week 07 – Project Presentation
o Week 08 - Mid-term Examination
o Week 09 –Project Integration Management
o Week 10 - Project triple constraints
o Week 11 - Assignment, Project quality & resource management
o Week 12 - Project risk & procurement management
o Week 13 - Project communication & stakeholder Mgt.
o Week 14 – Quiz, Discussion & revision
o Week 15 – Project Presentation
o Week 16 - Final Examination
AN INTRODUCTION TO AGILE

• Project work ranges from definable work to high-uncertainty work.

Definable work projects are characterized by clear procedures that
have proved successful on similar projects in the past

• New design, problem solving, and not-done-before work is exploratory.

It requires subject matter experts to collaborate and solve problems to
create a solution

• High-uncertainty projects have high rates of change, complexity, and

risk. These characteristics can present problems for traditional
predictive approaches that aim to determine the bulk of the
requirements upfront and control changes through a change request
process. Instead, agile approaches were created to explore feasibility in
short cycles and quickly adapt based on evaluation and feedback
THE FOUR VALUES OF THE AGILE MANIFESTO

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

THE TWELVE PRINCIPLES BEHIND THE AGILE MANIFESTO

• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and

continuous delivery of valuable software

• Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile

processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage

• Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple

of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale

• Business people and developers must work together daily throughout

the project

• Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the

environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done
THE TWELVE PRINCIPLES BEHIND THE AGILE MANIFESTO

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

• Working software is the primary measure of progress

• Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers,

and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely

• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility

• Simplicity, the art of maximizing the amount of work not done is essential

• The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing

teams

• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then
tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly
LEAN AND THE KANBAN METHOD

• Lean is an approach to running an organization that supports the

concept of continuous improvement, a long-term approach to work
that systematically seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in
processes in order to improve efficiency and quality

• Kanban is a lean method to manage and improve work across human

systems. This approach aims to manage work by balancing the
demands with available capacity, and improving the handling of
system level bottlenecks

• One way to think about the relationship between lean, agile, and the
Kanban Method is to consider agile and the Kanban Method as
descendants of lean thinking. In other words, lean thinking is a
superset, sharing attributes with agile and Kanban
UNCERTAINTY, RISK, AND LIFE CYCLE SELECTION

• Some projects have considerable uncertainty around project

requirements and how to fulfill those requirements using current
knowledge and technology. These uncertainties can contribute to high
rates of change and project complexity

• As project uncertainty increases, so too does the risk of rework and the
need to use a different approach. To mitigate the impact of these risks,
teams select life cycles that allow them to tackle projects with high
amounts of uncertainty via small increments of work

• Teams can verify their work when they use small increments and can
change what they do next. When teams deliver small increments, they
are better able to understand the true customer requirements faster
and more accurately than with a static written specification
STEPS TO AGILE MANAGEMENT

• Life Cycle Selection

This introduces the various life cycles and also addresses suitability filters,
tailoring guidelines, and common combinations of approaches
• Implementing Agile : Creating an Agile Environment
This discusses critical factors to consider when creating an agile environment
such as servant leadership and team composition
• Implementing Agile: Delivering in an Agile Environment
This includes information on how to organize teams and common practices
teams can use for delivering value on a regular basis. It provides examples of
empirical measurements for teams and for reporting status
• Organizational Considerations for Project Agility
This explores organizational factors that impact the use of agile approaches,
such as culture, readiness, business practices, and the role of a PMO
• A Call to Action
The call to action requests input for continuous improvement of this practice