This document provides an overview of agile project management practices for traditional project managers. It discusses how the context for management has changed in an age of accelerating change, rendering traditional management tools and mindsets less effective. Agile principles emphasize problem-solution co-evolution, solution co-creation, and simplicity. Common agile practices like iterations in sprints and emphasis on working software aim to increase learning and reduce the cost of change. The roles of product owner, scrum master, and self-organizing teams are described. Information radiators like burn-up charts and team boards promote transparency.

1. ProjectManagement
intheAgeofAcceleratingChange
An Agile overview for traditional Project Managers

2. LUCA.MINUDEL@SMHARTER.COM
HTTPS://WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/LUCAMINUDEL/
LUCA MINUDEL
@SMHARTERLTD
@LUKADOTNET

3. Today’s focus
• Digital Product delivery effort (software development/evolution)
• Single team
Today focus is not on:
• Non-IT projects
• Multi-Team effort
• Programme
• Portfolio

4. WHYAGILE,WHYNOW?

5. HISTORY OF TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT
Main traditional management tools invented before 1920
from people born around 1850
during the second industrial revolution

6. HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL MANGEMENT
• Workforce: mainly unschooled, illiterate
• Companies, functions, requirements: Loosely connected, mostly independent
• Info to process: Moderate amount, no time-pressure to process it
• Rate of change: Slow, with minor consequences
• Uncertainty/Unknowns: High degree of certainty, very few unknowns

7. MANAGEMENT CONTEXT IN
THE AGE OF ACCELERATING CHANGE
• Workforce: Unschooled, illiterate
Well trained, motivated knowledge-workers
• Companies, departments, requirements: Loosely connected, mostly independent
Highly connected, inter-dependent, with frequent interactions
• Info to process: Moderate amount, moderate time pressure to process it
Large amount, insufficient time to process it, ambiguity
• Rate of change: Slow, with minor consequences
Fast, with unpredictable consequences and limited control
• Uncertainty/Unknowns: High degree of certainty, very few unknowns
High degree of uncertainty, many unknowns, diminished capacity to predict

8. IMPACT OF TRADITIONAL MANGEMENT’S TOOLS
IN THE AGE OF ACCELERATING CHANGE
• Defined, all-inclusive, prescriptive processes
→Separation of Thinkers vs Doers, Heavy-weight slow blind processes
• Capital budgeting
→Up-front planning, slow/late reaction-time, rigidity or chaos
• Task Design
→Outcome/end-goal fragmentation, loss of meaning and feedback

9. • Divisionalisation
→ Ineffective cross-function collaboration, late integration, defects, re-work, delays
• Pay for performance
→Teamwork and collaboration discouraged, bad news ceiling / watermelon reporting
IMPACT OF TRADITIONAL MANGEMENT’S TOOLS
IN THE AGE OF ACCELERATING CHANGE

10. ELEMENTS OF TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT
MINDSET
Unschooled, illiterate
workforce
If you are smart enough,
experienced enough,
and work hard enough,
you can plan everything upfront

11. ELEMENTS OF TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT
MINDSET
Unschooled, illiterate
workforce
If you are smart enough,
experienced enough,
and work hard enough,
you can plan everything upfront
The tyranny of the
omniscient designer
Thinkers Vs Doers

12. THE AGE OF ACCELERATING CHANGE

13. ELEMENTS OF THE AGILE MINDSET
Video Link: https://youtu.be/y885_5tE170

14. The understanding of the
problem and the discovery
of a solution gradually
evolve together, in concert.
ELEMENTS OF THE AGILE MINDSET
Well trained, motivated
knowledge-workers,
and problems that require
multiple points of view

15. The understanding of the
problem and the discovery
of a solution gradually
evolve together, in concert.
ELEMENTS OF THE AGILE MINDSET
Well trained, motivated
knowledge-workers,
and problems that require
multiple points of view
Thinkers Vs Doers
The tyranny of the
omniscient designer
Co-evolution
Co-creation

16. PMI: embracing adaptive management
Source: Improving Performance: The PMI/IEEE Computer Society Software Development Extension, 2013
Modern PM
Knowledge-work
Traditional PM
Task-work
User Story
Product Backlog
Co-evolution
Product Owner
Backlog refinement
Sprint Review
Co-creation

17. THEAGILEPRINCIPLES

18. AGILE AS UMBRELLA TERM
Scrum Kanban
Extreme Programming (XP) Lean Software Development
Crystal Clear Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
Adaptive Software Development Feature Driven Development (FDD)

19. THE AGILE MANIFESTO
OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.
www.agilemanifesto.org

20. LEAN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES
1. Energise Teams Members
2. Enhance Learning
3. Deliver as Fast as Possible
4. Decide as Late as Possible
5. Optimize the whole
6. Build quality in
7. Eliminate waste

21. STACEY MATRIX
RALPH STACEY, U. of HERTFORDSHIRE, UK

22. AGILITY DEFINITION (Complexity Science)
Agility is:
- a new way of thinking about and preparing for the unanticipated
- the ability to successfully effect, cope with, and exploit changes in
circumstances.
Meta-Agility is:
- the ability to recognise the approach appropriate for the
circumstances, and to transition in a timely manner to this approach.

23. AGILITY PILLARS (Social Complexity)
1) PROBLEM-SOLUTION CO-EVOLUTION
PROBLEM SPACE
SOLUTION SPACE

24. Business
Product
Customer
Delivery
Technology
AGILITY (Social Complexity)
1) PROBLEM-SOLUTION CO-EVOLUTION
2) SOLUTION CO-CREATION

25. AGILITY (Social Complexity)
1) PROBLEM-SOLUTION CO-EVOLUTION
2) SOLUTION CO-CREATION
- HOLISTIC END-TO-END APPROACH -
Busines
s
Product
Vision
Requirements
Specification
Design
& Dev
Test
PROBLEM SPACE
SOLUTION SPACE

26. AGILITY (Social Complexity)
1) PROBLEM-SOLUTION CO-EVOLUTION
2) SOLUTION CO-CREATION
Video Link: https://youtu.be/Oe8VTi3m8U8?t=282

27. AGILITY (Social Complexity)
1) PROBLEM-SOLUTION CO-EVOLUTION
2) SOLUTION CO-CREATION
3) SEMPLICITY

28. THEAGILEWAYOFWORKING:
AGILEPRODUCTDEVELOPMENT
PRACTICES

29. AGILE PROD DEV PRACTICES - GOALS
A. Increase the speed of learning
B. Reduce the cost of change
C. Make decisions and mistakes easy, fast, and cheap to reverse

30. AGILE PROD DEV PRACTICES – IRREVERSIBILITY
Video Link: https://youtu.be/EufUAres_-o

31. AGILE PROD DEV PRACTICES – IRREVERSIBILITY
Irreversibility is
one of the prime drivers of complexity
and so of costs & risks.
Professor of Economics and Management Enrico Zaninotto, 2002
Quoted by Kent Beck & Martin Fowler

32. AGILE PROD DEV PRACTICES - GUIDELINES
1. Search specific solutions (not general)
2. Search local solutions (not global)
3. Start simple (not all-inclusive)
4. Be just-good-enough just-in-time (not perfect upfront)
5. Focus on one thing at the time (no multi-tasking)
6. If something is hard, do it more often (not less often)

33. THEAGILEWAYOFWORKING:INCEPTION

34. DIFFERENT ”INCEPTIONS”
• ThoughtWorks (Agile) Inception (about 1÷4 weeks, 1 week x 3 months delivery)
• ThoughtWorks Lean Inception (1 week)
• Google Design Sprint (1 week)
• No Inceptions
• Lean Value Tree
• Directly into Scrum Sprint Planning (2 hours x 1 week of work)

35. WHAT IS AN AGILE/LEAN INCEPTON
THERE IS AN INNOVATIVE
IDEA WORTH PURSUING
(OR A PROBLEM
WORTH SOLVING)
THERE IS BUDGET FOR
EXPLORING THE IDEA, AND
BUDGET POTENTIALLY AVAILABLE
FOR REALISING THE IDEA
WE WANT TO KNOW
IF THE IDEA IS …
Technically
Feasible
Businesswise
Viable
Userswise
Desirable

36. WHAT IS AN AGILE/LEAN INCEPTON
Vision of
Goals, Product,
Success
High level
Scope
discovery
Technical
envisioning and
sizing
Prioritization,
and roadmap
The idea is to spend the minimal amount of time to establish :
- the vision of the delivery initiative,
- a feeling for the amount of work to be done,
- an alignment between everyone in the team, the sponsors, and all
the stakeholders
½ day 2 ½ days 1 day ½ day

37. WHAT IS AN AGILE/LEAN INCEPTON
Vision of
Goals, Product,
Success
High level
Scope
discovery
Technical
envisioning and
sizing
Prioritization,
and roadmap
½ day 2 ½ days 1 day ½ day

38. WHAT IS AN AGILE/LEAN INCEPTON
Technology
Delivery
Product Tech
estimates
Delivery
roadmap
Product/Business
priorities
Co-Create
Co-Evolve
Technically
Feasible
Businesswise
Viable
Userswise
Desirable

39. THEAGILEWAYOFWORKING:ITERATION
BEWARE, AFTER ITERATIONS COMES FLOW

40. AN EXAMPLE OF AGILE ITERATIONS:
SCRUM SPRINTS

41. AN EXAMPLE OF AGILE ITERATIONS:
SCRUM SPRINTS
1-2 Weeks
Sprint Planning

42. AN EXAMPLE OF AGILE ITERATIONS:
SCRUM SPRINTS
1-2 Weeks
Sprint Planning

43. AN EXAMPLE OF AGILE ITERATIONS:
SCRUM SPRINTS
1-2 Weeks
Sprint Planning Backlog refinement

44. AN EXAMPLE OF AGILE ITERATIONS:
SCRUM SPRINTS
1-2 Weeks
Sprint Planning Backlog refinement
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective

45. TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE
• Continuous design & refactoring
• Continuous Integration
• Test Automation
• Automated deploy
• Automated remediation plans

46. THEAGILEWAYOFWORKING:
SOMEKEYDIFFERENCES
BEWARE, AFTER ITERATIONS COMES FLOW

47. THE AGILE TRIANGLE
cost
scopeschedule
value
constraints
cost,
schedule,
scope
quality
TRADITIONALTRIANGLE
AGILE TRIANGLE

48. AGILE GOALS ARE OBLIQUE
• Pursue ways of working efficiency over resources mobilization & efficiency
• Manage the workflow over managing tasks schedule and maximizing utilization
• Focus on speed and frequency of delivery over reducing costs of delivery
• Align authority to responsibility over aligning authority to the orgchart
• Move authority to the information over moving information to authority

49. TEAM&ROLES

50. T-SHAPED SKILLS – DYNAMIC RACI

51. SHARED & DYNAMIC RESPONSIBILITIES
ROLE A ROLE B
PRIMARY
RESPONSIBILITIES
PRIMARY
RESPONSIBILITIES
SECONDARY/SHARED
RESPONSIBILITIES

52. EXAMPLE OF AN INDICATIVE TEAM COMPOSITION
Agile Team
Product Owner
Tech Lead
Developer
Tester
Scrum Master
Business
Analyst
CX/UX Designer
IT Ops

53. FIRSTS AMONG EQUALS
The three areas equally accountable, in the team:
Tech
Way of
Working/
Delivery
Product/
Business
Agile
Leadership
Agile
Leadership
Agile
Leadership

54. FIRSTS AMONG EQUALS
Leaders promotes self-organisation instead of command & control:
Facilitates
Collective sense-making
Facilitates
Continuous Improvement
& Personal development Promotes
Autonomy and accountability,
Delegation & Empowerment
Nurtures
Interpersonal &
Communication skills
Facilitates
Conflict resolution and
Consensus building
Facilitates
Participatory decision-making

55. THE PRODUCT OWNER
• Provides the vision for the product
• Is responsible for maximising the commercial &
financial success of the product
• Is responsible for ensuring customers and users
satisfaction about the product
• Has the final call on the items in the Product Backlog
and in their ordering
• Is responsible for keeping the Product Backlog
updated, ordered, clear, visible, transparent

56. THE SCRUM MASTER
• Supports the team and the PO understanding and
adoption of modern ways of working, and
continuously improving their way of working
• Supports good team’s dynamic and collaboration,
and facilitates team’s ceremonies/rituals/events
• Facilitates the collaboration between the agile team
and the rest of the organisation and helps the rest
of the organisation’s understanding of agile
• Facilitates transparency, visualisation and
communication of progress of the delivery effort

57. THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM
• They are collectively accountable for the delivery of
high-quality, running, and tested product increments
delivered at the end of each Sprint
• They are collectively responsible for technical
excellence, reliability and functionality of the Product
• They are cross-functional and self-organising, full-time
long-standing team’s members
• They are responsible for and have the freedom to
decide and improve their way of working

58. THEAGILEWAYOFWORKING:REPORTING
INFORMATION RADIATORS

59. “Working software is the primary measure of progress”
–7th principle of the Agile Manifesto
~
“Don’t move information to authority, move authority to the information”
- David Marquet

60. VITAL SIGNS: PMBOK Project Levers + 1

61. ProjectVital Signs
1) Scope Burn Up
2) Current State of Delivery
(teams boards)
3) Budget Burn Down
4) Delivery Quality
5) Team Dynamics

62. SCOPE + SCHEDULE: BURN-UP CHART
1
Total scope
Completion
forecast
Scope
(size)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Actuals

63. SCHEDULE: TEAM BOARD

64. SCHEDULE: TEAM DAILY STAND-UP

65. DELIVERY QUALITY: BUGS TRACKER BOARD

66. BUDGET: BUDGET BURN-DOWN

67. TEAM: DYNAMIC

68. FROMPROJECTTOPRODUCT

69. PROJECTS OR PRODUCT
Project Product
End Predefined When retired
Outcome/result Predefined Refined overtime
Scope Prevalently predefined Refined overtime
Constraints (Scope, Schedule, Cost) Predefined May change overtime inside ranges
Organization (people, teams) Temporary, people who don’t
normally work together
Long-lived, mainly dedicated and
permanent, people that usually work
together
Focus Delivery End-to-end: Ideation, delivery,
operation, support, maintenance,
evolution
Driven by Plan Business outcome and value

70. AGILECAREEROPTIONSFORTHEPM

71. You
traditional PM
1) You are comfortable with
uncertainty & ambiguity
2) You like to work in
team among equals
3) You like to be flexible,
adaptable, resilient and
responsive
OPTIONS FOR THE PM’S AGILE CAREER, A HEURISTIC

72. 1) You are a people person,
and love to facilitate,
coach, mentor and teach others
2) You love continuous improvement
and modern ways of working
3) You understand Digital Products
delivery & support
1) You love Digital Products
2) You love to delight Users
3) You understand Marketing,
Business models, Financing,
and P&L
OPTIONS FOR THE PM’S AGILE CAREER, A HEURISTIC
You may start the
journey to become a
Product Owner
You may start the
journey to become a
Scrum Master

73. ADDITIONAL TIPS
• Agile Training
• Lot of practice (pairing, shadowing)
• Reading
• Community involvement

74. SUGGESTEDREADINGS

75. COMPANY CULTURE,
WORK/WORLD PARADIGM,
INDIVIDUAL MINDSET
VALUES
PRINCIPLES
SKILLS
PRACTICES
More powerful
Intangible
Less powerful
Tangible
TOOLS &
PROCESS
ES

76. SUGGESTED READINGS
THOSE WITH A SCIENTIFIC
BACKGROUND MAY LIKE THIS
(SEARCH ONLINE CHAPTER 1
ON WICKED PROBLEMS)
THOSE WITH
A HUMANISTIC BACKGROUND
MAY LIKE THIS

77. SUGGESTED READINGS

78. GETINTOUCH:
LUCA.MINUDEL@SMHARTER.COM