Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products, Second Edition

Chapter 6. The Envision Phase

It’s the vision thing again! Visioning and goal setting have been identified time after time as key ingredients of project success.

“It is rare to discover anything in the realm of human behavior that occurs with great consistency....Therefore, it was surprising to find that in every case, without exception, when an effectively functioning team was identified, it was described by the respondent as having a clear understanding of its objective” (Larson and LaFasto 1989).

But how does this need for a clear vision jibe with the exploratory nature of product development, which we have just gone to great lengths to describe as volatile and fuzzy? This apparent dichotomy is resolved when you consider that although the ...