On Thursday 30th July, p3m global hosted PRINCE2 Agile: Empowering the Agile Business. The event was held in partnership with AXELOS and explored PRINCE2 Agile and Organisational Agility.
It was an interesting and insightful evening, which started with p3m global Consultant Drake Gearheart presenting “Empowering the Agile Business through Organisational Agility”. Drake explained how accelerated market demand and increased pressure on organisations to get products and services out the door in near real-time is driving them to be more adaptable.
This agility demands flexibility and needs to flow through the veins of the entire organisation, as a way of being or doing business and relies on its people, processes and technology to be synchronised and optimised to support the mission.
Guest speaker, Keith Richards lead author of PRINCE2 Agile, went on to explain that organisations using structured project delivery methods such as PRINCE2, can quickly develop their talent to be most effective in this agile world by adopting methods such as PRINCE2 Agile.
The team at p3m global, an AXELOS strategic partner, are well positioned to help todays organisations adapt their ways of working to meet this agile demand, and train and accredit their teams in PRINCE2 Agile.
For further information about Organisational Agility please contact us today or visit p3mtraining.com to book a PRINCE2 Agile training course.
If you have any thoughts on Agile you would like to share, please visit our LinkedIn group where there is an Organisational Agility discussion.
p3m global will be hosting further events similar to this one, if you are interested in attending please contact hannah.burgess@p3mglobal.com
Drake Gearheart presenting – Empowering the Agile Business through Organisational Agility
Guest Speaker, Keith Richards discussing PRINCE2 Agile
Members of the p3m global team – Stewart Ball, Oana Pop, Ray Mead, Drake Gearheart, Hannah Burgess, Emma Dewar & Glenn Jones
Guests from AXELOS and EE, with the p3m global team
Hannah Burgess, p3m global and Susan Lin, AXELOS
Guest Speaker and PRINCE2 Lead Author, Keith Richards and p3m global, CEO, Ray Mead
Agile, the Dark Ages, and maintaining appreciation for project delivery as a method agnostic goal.
Agile methods have emerged and become popular over last few years as a response to perceived shortcomings of waterfall delivery model. We have seen agile proponents take an almost evangelistic approach, claiming that agile methods should be used in all cases and that those who don’t agree with them are living in the Dark Ages. Conversely, the agile approach is stomped on by some as being akin to chaos, and anyone who evangelises agile is a developer who has simply never seen a project managed properly.
Just as when you choose a courier, delivery can’t be ignored in project management, whether your agile, waterfall or agnostic in delivery. Image courtesy snaillad @Flickr, re-used with permission.
There is some truth in both arguments, but devotees of the “either or” position show a fundamental lack of understanding of delivery. In truth, there is a continuum – a spectrum of project delivery, in fact, there always has been. It is simple, basic, good practice. On the one hand you have the pure adaptive approach. Welcoming change, this approach is perfect in circumstances where there’s an advantage to get something partial out now rather than everything later. Or, maybe the sponsor isn’t entirely sure what they want – ok, so give it to them in bits so everyone can be sure the right approach is being taken. Or, maybe new technology is involved and we want to reduce risk by delivering iteratively. Conversely, the culture of the environment may not be conducive to the flexibility required when delivering using an agile method – governance may be very rigid, and empowering a team maybe as likely as jumping over a house. Maybe there are very restrictive regulatory requirements that remove any chance of flexibility – or maybe the sponsor just isn’t interested in a flexible approach. In truth, it is very rarely a case of “either or”. Agile practices can (and often should) be adapted in traditionally waterfall approaches, and vice-versa. For example, having weekly stand-ups in an infrastructure project where the sponsor has definite requirements and is not interested in flexibility. Or including a risk management plan to keep those overseeing regulatory aspects of delivery where an agile approach is chosen. Or delivering an individual work package in a purely agile way, where the rest of the project is waterfall. So in practice, delivery methods form a continuum, with purely adaptive methods at one end and purely prescriptive methods at the other. As delivery professionals, we must lose the temptation to evangelise about one or other of these extremes and understand that we need to learn the skills to place our project or work package at the appropriate position in the delivery continuum, based on aspects such as what we are delivering, the nature of the team, who we are delivering to and where we are delivering it.
Steve Butler is Head of Delivery at p3m global. Steve served as co-author of the PMI Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd Edition, and has been a key contributor to other recent PMI publications, including OPM3, 3rd Ed., and Software Extension to the PMBOK® Guide Fifth Edition, earning special distinction as the only co-author based in the UK.
Image courtesy snaillad @Flickr, re-used with permission.
Steve Butler PMP lays out what Project Management means to him (and PM-Partners) in conjunction with the exciting Shim Marom-inspired #pmflashblog initiative. In short, Steve feels that project management requires a lot of planning, and some common sense, too.
Project management is all about change. Strip out all the latest fads, standards and gimmicks and at its heart all project management really boils down to is a risk mitigation exercise when you are trying to effect change – be it deliver a product or a service or an update. Keep that thought at the front of your mind when managing a project, and everything becomes common sense. You are changing something, and you want to get it right. So what do you need to consider? Well, you need to make sure “it” is the right thing…so some sort of requirements gathering exercise and scoping exercise is needed so you can hit the target. To do that you need to make sure you are talking to the right people to find out the right information, and to make sure you are keeping the right people up to speed with what you are doing – so some sort of communications management and stakeholder happiness plan needs to be in place. Obviously when you gather the requirements and define the scope, a budget and a timeline needs to be defined and managed, and how they progress needs to be communicated (hence having a communications plan). Within the timeline will be milestones and deliverables and some sort of mechanism for delivering them and reviewing the milestones. Part of making sure you hit the target is making sure the quality of what you are doing is acceptable, so some sort of plan to manage that is necessary. You can think about assembling the team, and keeping them happy and efficient. If you’re not sure exactly what you’re doing, maybe deliver in bits and make sure you are heading in the right direction by regularly reviewing with someone who knows what is required. Maybe regularly review with the team to make sure they are doing the right thing and have no blockers you don’t know about. We could call that basic concept, oh I don’t know, Agile? A concept that has been around for decades, but now has a name! Project Management – an exercise in common sense.
So why is there yet another “agile” course, and what is the point of it? Well, in just the 12 months from mid-2010, the number of PMI members using agile practices rose from 12% to a staggering 27% (according to a PMI survey of its membership). In response to this increase, PMI assembled a working group of industry thought leaders and authors (not just PMI folks) to study how and if PMI should respond.
During the first few meetings, only one of the group felt that the PMI should have a certification, and over the months it became clear that there wasn’t a common understanding across organisations of what agile means anyway. In some organisations, agile simply meant Scrum, in others it was XP, in others it was Scrum with a bit of XP or with kanban thrown in. It was clear that a certification was needed that clarified the core of what agile means and created a common language and understanding of principles across organisations. The PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner) was developed.
There are other agile certifications of course, such as DSDM, plus all of the specific certifications for agile developers, such as Certified Scrum Master etc. Where the PMI-ACP differs is that it demonstrates to colleagues, organisations or even potential employers an awareness of all aspects of agile – not just in, for example, Scrum. It is a globally recognised certification that demonstrates that practitioners are able to use agile techniques and most crucially apply them in the correct circumstances – at the time of writing it is also the fastest growing PMI certification out there.
The PM-Partners course is intended for teams and project managers at varying stages of agile adoption who need an immersion session in the how to manage an agile project. It explores a wide range of agile techniques while also preparing the participants to sit for the PMI-ACP exam. Certified practitioners will then be able to demonstrate to their organisations and colleagues when and how best to use agile techniques, and not just focus on Scrum in all circumstances.
