Agility has been under discussion for years. The term seems to come from IT development – the manifesto on agility, among other things, was developed by the protagonists there.
One thing is clear: The basis of many successful projects is good project management. But what is “good project management”? What about projects whose goals, contents and milestones cannot be clearly defined in advance, such as new developments? There is often only a vague orientation, which is only specified in the process. Agile project management is, therefore, a better approach for these situations, because the process is in the foreground and the actual goal can only be defined in the process.
Another difference is that in contrast to classical project management, quick-wins is used. The all-encompassing 100% solution often takes far too long to emerge and implement. The fast solutions, which may not be perfect, but show the direction and bring the first concrete advantages for the situation, are considerably faster.
What to decide about agility?
This approach of agile project management thus differs significantly from classical project management. Both have their authorization in the application. It is up to you to distinguish what will bring you the most benefit for your situation now. Here are a few questions for orientation:
- Is it not now possible for you to describe a goal clearly?
- Is it not possible today, here and now to clearly define the timeframe?
- Are the resources and basic requirements you need for the project not yet definable?
- Is a sequence of process steps currently not recognizable?
If you answer the questions with YES, then Agile Project Management might fit your project better than classical project management. It does not only expect a different approach, but also a different basic attitude to the topic of project planning. Agile project management, for example, can use both quick-wins and short-runs, i.e. the development of partial solutions that are tested in a kind of experiment and iteratively further developed based on the results.
In a preliminary discussion (on-site or also by telephone/video conference) we would be happy to advise you on how the process could look like at your premises.
P.S. It may be that the principles of “agility” have already appeared before in management approaches. The honor of truth! Continuing contribution
