Effective Software Project Management

Traditional Versus Extreme Project Managers

You have already read about the fact that Traditional project managers manage against the budget, schedule, and scope so I won’t repeat that discussion here. Simply recall that their approach is formal and based on status meetings, performance reviews, reports, and metric tracking.

Extreme project managers manage against goal and solution discovery. Again, think of their projects as research and development projects, and you will not be far off the mark at understanding this unique and challenging management environment. Formality has no place in their world. They view it as a nuisance. And indeed they have a point. Creativity and risk-taking are the hallmark of their world. Unfortunately, formality and creativity are not compatible. The more you have of formality, the less room there will be for creativity. And so it is important that the Extreme project manager not be fettered with producing an endless stream of reports and attending meetings that do not add value to the team’s efforts. The best thing a project manager’s supervisor can do is keep the rest of the organization off the project manager’s back. Let them be free to manage and lead the Extreme project in ways that make sense to them. They are in a high-risk situation, and all of the help and support they can get from their management will go a long way toward a successful outcome.