Effective Software Project Management

Traditional Versus Agile Project Managers

Traditional project managers manage against the budget, schedule, and scope. To the traditionalist, the metrics follow directly from the project plan. A budget and a timeline have been established, and the work needed to deliver against the scope has been determined. The natural approach is to manage against that plan. That means establishing metrics that measure variance from budget and/or timeline, establish trip wires that define out-of-control situations or the presence of distressed projects, initiate the necessary root cause analyses, and implement the necessary corrective action. None of this has anything to do with meeting client needs or the delivery of business value to the customer. It would not be unusual to complete a project that finished within the time frame and budgetary limitations only to find that the customer is not satisfied.

Agile project managers manage against the deliverables and business value. The focus is entirely different. While the budget and timeline are certainly important, they are not the most important. Would you rather satisfy the customer but be a week late or 5 percent over budget. Or would you rather be within budget and timeline but have an unsatisfied customer? Where is the real business value? Probably in the former situation, but definitely not in the latter.

What does all of this say about the project managers of traditional versus agile projects? The traditional project manager is trained to ...