Project Management
J2 — what is the best way to get organized?
From Pert Waterfall to Agile
Today we looked at the various type of Project management methodology. We looked at the waterfall project management methodology. Waterfall used to be used for all stages of managing a project, it is also named PERT (read definition about PERT on Wikipedia)
PERT is very useful to structure logically the main steps. From all the identified tasks, you can See example below. In this interesting article from GANTTPRO , we get an overview of the waterfall principles.
Nowadays Waterfall is used to structure the flow and the logical sequence of the overall project. It helps to identify and evaluate the total estimated duration of the project. It also helps to identify a path and the risks along this path. This will allow the PM to communicate to the team and to the final client.
The Kanban was invented by the Japanese industry firm Toyota. Kanban is a very efficient and simple way to cut a long process in simple tasks that can be done individually. ( See Kanban on Wikipedia)
Back in the 1990, the software industry was getting in a race and an acceleration of the lifecycle product. Delivery time was too long with traditional methods and processes, and the software development teams had to go faster and get more agile. Read Agile definition
Then the Lean methodology came in the game and could help reduce the time cycle and improve the overall efficiency of the project management. Lean is to be taken in account systematically to reduce waste and help focus to the core issue to be resolved.
The Sprint Method is a five steps process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers.
With the key is efficiency, when sketching don’t focus on the beautiful drawing but focus on the concept and to quickly deliver the messages. Don’t worry it is ugly, better deliver an outcome imperfectly drawn rather than a nicely drawn incomplete solution. Interestingly Sprint planning is a sort of PERT diagram but at the highest level.
SCRUM is part of the Agile movement. Agile is a response to the failure of the dominant software development project management paradigms (including waterfall) and borrows many principles from lean manufacturing. The Agile Manifesto doesn’t provide concrete steps. Organizations usually seek more specific methods within the Agile movement.
Other free organization and management tools
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, to manage a project, you should be agile and pick the necessary tools matching the requirements of your project.
