Description
Please review this week’s Introduction and Lesson and Appendix B and answer the following questions.
What are a few ways in which the agile methodology differs from the traditional methodology?
What are a few ways in which the two methodologies are similar?
- Hints: Read the following sections.
- Contemporary Project Management textbook, Chapter 14, Section 14-2b relates to the Monitor and Control Project Work process used in traditional project management
Appendix B: Agile Differences Covered, Chapter 14, covers the differences in the agile methodology for determining project progress and results (i.e., monitoring and control)
POST
Self-directed teams are largely empowered to decide what work to do and when to do it, consistent with the prioritizing of deliverables by the product owner.Change is expected, and the only part that is planned in detail at the outset is the first iteration.Subsequent iterations are planned in a rolling wave fashion.Within an iteration, there is great reluctance to change.Risk is reduced due to frequent and specific communication, demonstration of working product at each iteration, and use of a visible, monitored, prioritized risk list.Simple directional indicators updated frequently guide project teams.Progress report meetings as stated above are held every morning as brief (15 minutes) stand-up meetings.Each team member discusses yesterday as the past time period and today as the current time period.Documentation becomes more complete.Working product is the primary measure of progress. Agile projects often use a burndown chart to show the amount of work remaining.People doing the work should be able to maintain a sustainable pace, and cadence is monitored.Maintain highly visible information registers.
Monitoring and controlling project work includes a series of activities such as identifying work packages for tracking, reviewing, and documenting the progress to ensure that the project execution meets performance objectives as defined in the project plan. The term monitor refers to reviewing the progress and capturing project performance data with reference to the project plan; developing performance measures; and communicating performance information. Control means assessing actual performance obtained from monitoring a work element and comparing it with planned performance, determining variances, analyzing trends to identify and implement process improvements, evaluating possible alternatives, and finally, recommending appropriate corrective action as needed.A variance is a measurable departure from a planned baseline or expected value. Variance is often measured in quantitative terms, but qualitative measures cannot be ruled out. Monitoring and controlling activities allow a project manager to keep an eye on many project activities that can indicate how well the project performance is progressing. This prepares her to act if necessary to get the project back on track. The most difficult part of monitoring and controlling is figuring out what metrics to keep, what to measure, and how to report the results to various decision makers as necessary.Monitoring and controlling are not activities that are done only once. Monitoring and controlling activities occur along with project execution. Monitoring and controlling are a continuous, overarching part of an entire projects life cycle, from project initiation through project closing. Since the purpose of monitoring and controlling project work is to be able to take corrective action, these activities need to be timely. In fact, the reverse of an old adage is in order. Instead of shooting the messenger when there is bad news, reward the messenger if the message is delivered quickly enough to bring the project back into control and at low cost.To the extent possible, letting people self-control their work adds to their enthusiasm. In other words, make them responsible and accountable by empowering people and delegating the work. That said, the project manager is ultimately accountable for all of the project results and needs to develop a sense for how much control is necessary, given the work and the person performing it.TYPES OF PROJECT CONTROLWhile this section deals with monitoring and controlling project work, the remainder of this chapter deals with monitoring and controlling each of the other project management knowledge areas. Two types of control are used extensively on projects and both compare actual performance against the project plan. One type is steering control, in which the work is compared to the plan on a continual basis to see if progress is equal to, better than, or worse than the project plan. Adjustments can be made as often as necessary. The second type of control is go/no-go control. Go/no-go control requires a project manager to receive approval to continue. This control is often used at milestones (such as those developed in the project charter) or when someone needs to determine if a key deliverable is acceptable or not. If it is acceptable, the project continues as planned. If not, either the work needs to be redone or the project could even be cancelled. For both types of control, resulting change requests can include corrective actions, preventive actions, or defect repair.The results of monitoring and controlling project work, schedule, budget, risks, or anything else can range from minor to major, depending on how close the actual progress is to the plan. This can be seen in Exhibit 14.4.Exhibit 14.4Results of Monitoring and Controlling a ProjectDepending on the extent to which actual progress performance varies from planned performance, the results of monitoring and controlling activities can suggest anything from modifying the charter to transferring project deliverables as planned. Some of the monitoring and controlling decisions are listed below:If the actual progress is very different from the original intent, perhaps the project charter needs to be revisited to ensure that the project still makes sense.If progress is somewhat different from what was planned but the charter is still a good guide, perhaps the project plan needs to be adjusted.If the project plan is still a useful guide, perhaps minor adjustments need to be made in day-to-day instructions within the project executing stage.Finally, if the results indicate the customer is ready to accept the project deliverables, perhaps it is time to proceed into the project closing stage.PERFORM INTEGRATED CHANGE CONTROLGeorge and John are new project managers fresh out of college. Both are approached by internal customers of their projects (managers of departments where the project deliverables will be used). Their customers tell them what a fantastic job the two of them are doing. The customers then say, This is great! Could you add these couple of little improvements to it? Then it would be even more valuable to me. George, wanting to please his customer, says, Yes, we can add that little bit. Johns immediate answer is, Lets see what impact that might have on the schedule, budget, quality, and project team. I will be happy to consider it, but I want to be sure to deliver the project results we promised on time and on budget. George, in his eagerness to please the customer, made a classic mistake. Many great projects have been derailed because someone stroked the ego of a project manager who then agreed to changes without understanding their impact.Perform integrated change control is reviewing all change proposals, estimating their impact on project goals wherever appropriate, approving or declining changes, and managing changes to deliverables, schedules, budgets, and the project management plan. Change control is a process wherein change proposals to various project planning elements are acknowledged, formally documented, and either approved or declined after review. Change control includes considering the impact of any change, deciding whether to agree to the change, and then documenting and managing that change. An observant project manager will ensure that changes that were not approved are not somehow slipped in anyway by a stakeholder who does not take no for an answer. Proposed changes are documented in a change request such as the one shown in Exhibit 7.14.The decision to approve the proposed change needs to be made by the appropriate person or group responsible for it. Generally, if the proposed change requires a modification to the project charter (or contract for an external project), then the sponsor and/or customer would decide. If the change does not rise to that level, often a project manager is empowered to make the decision. Some organizations use a change control board, which consists of a formal group authorized and responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, delaying, or rejecting any changes to any aspect of the project plan by following a formal communication method of documenting the decision process. The change control board often consists of the project manager, sponsor, project core team, and perhaps other key stakeholders. Since some changes have far-reaching impacts, it is often wise to include people with diverse knowledge and skills on the change review board.Change is a reality on virtually all projects. While we cannot predict or plan what changes will occur, we can plan for how we will deal with those changes. Some projects are easier than others to plan, especially the later phases of the project. If the planning team can plan most details at the outset, change control may be the primary method they use for handling change. On other projects, where it is difficult to plan the later phases or parts in detail until results from the early parts of the project are known, change control is still used, but it is not enough. What is also used in these cases is the rolling wave planning described in Chapter 9. The early parts of the project are planned in detail, and the later parts are planned in less detail until later when additional detail is added. Often, a detailed plan for the following section of the project is required before being allowed to proceed. Agile projects are planned in a rolling wave fashion.
