When the project management office is faced with
the business case of a project and needs to decide on which project methodology
is best to use, there are key areas that need to be evaluated in making this
recommendation and some of the key areas to review include:
Project Characteristics
o Requirements – how rigid and defined
are the requirements?
o Effort/duration – How long is the
planned project duration? >6 months, >12 months, >18 months?
o Interfacing systems – How many
interfacing systems are in scope? How complex are these interfaces?
o Regulatory compliance – Are there any
compliance requirements that provide restrictions or additional requirements
for the project team?
o Project inter-dependencies – How many
other projects are running concurrently? What is the impact to the key
decision-makers? Are they any overlaps with project resources?
Sponsor Characteristics
o Sponsor buy-in – Does the project have
the right level of sponsorship? Are they committed to the mission of the project?
o Sponsor time commitment – Is the
sponsor dedicated and willing to support the project as needed?
o Training for agile – Is there an
investment for training the team/organization in agile?
o Periodic validation – Will the sponsor
be available to participate in key validation sessions?
o Project Resources
o Team size – How large is the team? Can
it be broken down into teams of 8 to 12 people?
o Resource dedication – Are key
resources dedicated to the project? If not, can parameters around resource
availability be established and supported?
o Technology/business domain knowledge –
How well do team members know the product being delivered? Is their domain
expertise at the level that it will not impede the team's velocity?
o Collaboration – Does the project
environment foster collaboration? Are there tools in place to facilitate
project team collaboration (e.g., video conferencing, shared document
repositories, and so forth)
o Co-location – How many of the team
members are co-located? How many are distributed to different locations?
o Testing – automated – Are there any
automated testing capabilities?
Agile Awareness and Acceptance
o Training at all levels – Has the
organization committed to training the executive, project team, and subject matter
experts in agile?
o Ability to apply agile techniques for
all aspects of the project – Is the project management team committed to the
values of agile and to the techniques being used?
o Coaches are available – do not do it
alone – Are there agile coaches available to support the project team?
By answering these questions, you will be able to
choose the correct project management model. Project scope dictates the
conditions that the right methodology has to meet. Every model has its benefits
and downsides, and each can be more or less suitable for a certain type of
software projects.
Keep in mind the scope, risks, and obligations of
your project, and you will be able to choose what’s right exactly for you.
