Pragmatic project management is common sense plus Agile philosophy plus experience.

Neither Scrum nor Agile are Project Management

If we hypothesize that neither Scrum nor Agile are project management, then what are they and what is their relationship to project management? Answering these questions requires defining several terms. I have previously defined Agile as sets of values and principles governing software product development methods given in a document called the Agile Manifesto.  The manifesto provides a list of value statements or preferences about how to conduct software product development but does not provide Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago

Scrum applicability by project characteristics

Both basic Scrum and 2nd generation approaches like SAFe and Smith/Sidky[1] make a number of assumptions about the type of work, team composition, location and stability, project governance and other factors.  Examples include the expectation of a stable, experienced, co-located team of about 7 members, daily availability of a single product owner, etc.  The expectation is that you should conform your environment to these ideal conditions to assure Scrum success.  However, in making those assumptions, Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago

A Misleading Agile Metaphor

In the canon of Agile metaphors, we find this model of minimum viable product (MVP) and incremental development in solving transportation needs. The model suggests that it is better to create more quickly achieved products that meet minimal elements of the overall need than it is to build directly toward a fully functional product and delivering it later.  As the cartoon illustrates, the not-so-smiley faced customer is unsatisfied with the product of the car until Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago

Pro forma rituals vs. deep understanding

When Scrum rituals are used without a deep understanding of their purpose, they can degenerate into hollow activities done for the purpose of following the form, but without creating their expected benefits. For example, I have seen many sprint retrospectives following the form precisely that produced nothing more substantive than “the team communicated really well this sprint” or “we rolled over too many tasks from this sprint to the next [AGAIN].”  The issue was that Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago

Agile vs. Scrum

It is often true that the common understanding of the terms “Agile” and “Scrum” are conflated leaving the impression that the terms vaguely synonymous and can be used interchangeably as in the pictured web article below. This is unfortunate as it obscures the important differences between the practices and can lead to confusion about how to apply them in real-world situations. To ensure clarity in using the terms in this forum, I’ll provide definitions of Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago

The Myth of Conversations: Why Agile Projects Still Need Documentation

There is a lot to agree with in Leon Tranter’s Myths of agile: “there’s no documentation in agile”.  And yet there is a new myth inside the debunking of the original myth.  Among the many fine arguments supporting the use of documentation in Agile projects and advocating using Agile philosophy to determine how much documentation to do, when to do it, and other key questions, the article makes what appears to be a significant error Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago

An Agile Approach to System Documentation

While a popular conception is that Agile methodology opposes the creation of documentation, most mature Agilists disagree, including the originator of the Scrum approach.  In Sutherland’s OOPSLA ’95 paper, the first to define Scrum, he describes a robust design and documentation phase called the ‘pre-game’ occurring prior to the beginning of sprints and additional documentation at the conclusion of sprints prior to release.  Scott Ambler, author of Disciplined Agile Delivery makes an exhaustive case for Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago

Principles of Purpose and Value – An example using Charters

I often use the process of chartering projects as an example of the application of pragmatic project management.  Project charters are a commonly used tool for initiating a project that capture critical information needed to gain sponsorship for a project and to begin work.  There is some variation in the information included in project charters based on the needs of their target audiences and standards set within organizations using them.  Determining what to include in Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago

Why Pragmatic Project Management?

“Project management is simply the application and execution of structured, organized, common sense.” James T. Brown, PhD, PMP in The Handbook of Program Management While Dr. Brown captures the core of how I view project management and its associated methodologies, more specifically I think that project management methodologies are just tools – you should have an assortment of them, clearly and deeply understand their intended purposes, strengths and weaknesses, and apply them where and when Read more…

By Chris Powell, ago