In today’s fast-paced and unpredictable business landscape, organizations are continually seeking ways to enhance efficiency, flexibility, and adaptability in their project management processes. As a result, many businesses that traditionally used the Waterfall model are now considering making a significant shift towards Agile Project Management. This transition, however, can be challenging, as it necessitates a radical change in mindset, processes, and organizational culture. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through some crucial steps for a smooth transition from Waterfall to Agile.
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Project Management and Innovation
How can we innovate if we stick to project management processes? Can we really plan innovation? How would it feel if a project manager created a Gantt chart with milestones that define when innovation has to be delivered? It sounds weird, doesn’t it According to Eric Ries’ Lean Startup philosophy. we don’t need a fully-fledged new product or service to test if the market actually wants it. All we need is to find a way to test if there is an appetite in the market, even if the product or service doesn’t exist already.
[Read more…] about Project Management and InnovationData Science and Project Management II
A few years ago, I wrote my first article about data science and project management. Since then, I have done several data science projects, mostly as the data scientist myself, but as it happens, as a data scientist, you cannot just spend your time building models. In fact, you will spend most of your time to understand the business requirements.
[Read more…] about Data Science and Project Management IIDevelop Team
High performing teams are a key element in the success of project performance. It can reduce costs, reduce wastage and provide better quality products. The Develop Team process aims to improve the competency of team members and their integration with each other within the project environment.
There are many aspects of Developing Teams within a project that start with a proficient project leader who can assess the current performance of the team. Tools such as assessments and structured interviews can be used as well as previous performance history for an individual. This type of engagement with a team member is beneficial in other ways as the individual feels valued.
Any assessments of team members should be aligned with the skills and knowledge required for the project tasks assigned to them. Where gaps are identified, mentoring, training or knowledge sharing can be used to reduce the gap, making the team member more effective in the assigned role.
The next steps in Developing Teams involve facilitating a working environment that encourages teamwork and motivation. Using clear objectives and open communications can promote the correct behaviours within teams and help them work cohesively towards a common goal whilst understanding their individual importance within the team.
Using team building exercises outside of the project environment can be useful to help a team get to know each other and how to communicate and work with each other. This can also help the team build trust and openness with each other.
Project managers should also be conscious of the motivation levels of the team and individuals and respond to this by providing challenges and opportunities that provide interest. Giving feedback on the performance of a team member is a vital part of this process, rewarding successes or providing support where performance falls below what is expected.
Some of the key techniques in the Develop Team process include:
- Clear and open communications
- Allowing time out for team building opportunities
- Responding to conflicts in a positive manner
- Encouraging team members to work together in decision making and problem-solving
- Providing variety in work where skills and knowledge allow
Change Management Plan
The Change Management Plan is a part of the Change Management Process. The Change Management Plan is used to describe the process for dealing with changes within the project.
The Change Management plan will specify how changes are requested, usually via a Change Request form. The plan will specify what information will be captured by the Change Request and who can generate such a request.
Following this, the plan will detail who the Change Request is submitted to and the process that will follow upon submission. The plan will specify the process for the Change Control Board that will be required to evaluate the change. It will contain the roles and responsibilities of the membership of the Change Control Board along with the agenda or process for evaluating and decision making.
The Change Management Plan will provide guidance for the Change Control Board on how to deal with Change Requests and what criteria to use to assess each Change Request. It is expected the Change Control Board will meet regularly during the project lifecycle, however, for urgent changes the plan may provide a fast track process to allow the decision making to be made quickly.
The process of considering a Change Request will usually consider how the change impacts the project budget, schedule and quality of the final products. Changes can be approved if they are considered to support or enhance the project objectives or avoid a problem that may affect the outcomes of the project.
It may be that the Change Request is beneficial for a project, but the impacts to the schedule may cause the decision to be deferred to a later date. Changes that don’t have a benefit to the project will usually be rejected.
The process will then record the outcomes of the consideration of the change request. There are usually three outcomes, approved, rejected or deferred. Each decision will be recorded in the Change Log.
The final part of the Change Control Plan will outline the process for incorporating an approved change in the delivery of the project. This will involve communicating the change request to the appropriate project team members in order for the change to be undertaken. The project plan will then be altered to accommodate the change and any impacts to resources, budget and deliverables will be reflected in the appropriate project documentation.