10 golden rules for successful Agile projects
Using agile management approaches such as AgilePM on projects has become very popular in recent years. There are many success stories from organisations who have embraced the new ethos.
However, some projects have been more successful than others. This newly updated presentation describes the ten golden rules you need to adopt to increase your chances of success.
These rules will help you turn your projects from being ‘ok’ into projects that are ‘excellent’.
Rules for successful agile projects
- On time. Every time.
- Collaborate. It’s a team game!
- Let ‘Inspect and Adapt’ become a mantra.
- Wear sensible shoes.
- Create a rich communication environment.
- Play with the SCOPE and nothing else.
- Measure it.
- Get appropriate ownership of your agile.
- Understand what self-organising is not.
- If it is complicated, treat it as complicated.
Video
Some of these topics are covered in an Agile Project Management course but for more details, we recommend you listen to the video by Keith Richards (Lead Author of AgilePM).ide
In the video, Keith identifies:
- How to get a project off to a good start.
- How to identify the important characteristics of the people involved on the project.
- What you need to look for so that you can read the vital signals coming from the project team.
- The importance of time and how it is being used to control the rest of the project.
- How to embrace the inevitability of change (but also making sure it is the right kind of change!).
- How to communicate in the right way most of the time and not just some of the time.
Watch the video by clicking the button below.
Further questions
When this webinar was recorded, there were several questions which couldn’t be answered in the webinar due to a lack of time. These can be found below.
What is your definition of SCOPE?
People have different interpretations of the word scope and this can vary quite a bit between different industries. The definition I would use in an agile context is that it is the features, functionality, or requirements that the product is trying to deliver/satisfy.
Any tips to get business to adapt to going agile?
The two most important things to do are firstly to engage with the business and secondly to listen to them to see how agile could help them. Do not try to sell them agile.
The best way is to listen to their problems, explain what agile is, and see where there are benefits in using agile.
Our company wants to adopt Scrum for the SDLC process and keep waterfall methods for other projects. Must project managers also be Scrum Masters and what is the best way to transition without a training budget?
Crikey that is a big question! Only using Scrum in your SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) is fine but then your agile is then limited to just the delivery level and software in particular. Wrapping this with a waterfall methodology can (and probably will) cause problems.
The secret is to blend the two together. agileKRC has a lot of experience of blending traditional approaches with agile and the trick is to get a good balance.
What is the minimum set of team member roles to make Agile work?
At agileKRC we see agile as being applicable to the smallest and quickest of tasks and to the largest and most complex of projects. Therefore, we do not see there being a minimum although if there is only one or two of you it is very difficult to see how you could call this a team.
Even so even if you are just an individual you are probably part of a bigger picture. Therefore, I think agile can work in any situation.
What is the role of a project manager in a Scrum project?
Well according to Scrum you don’t need a project manager and therefore you don’t have one! This to a certain extent is true if you are in a situation where there is one product owner and one product and one team.
At agileKRC we believe that as soon as you move into more complex situations such as multiple Scrum teams somebody needs to manage the situation, and this is where you need the role of the project manager.
We have a whole video and presentation about the difference between a Scrum Master and project manager.
Would setting up a proof of concept phase in a large-scale product development be agile?
Yes. You could run this phase in an agile way as well. Unfortunately, there are some messages out there in the agile community that the best way to build something is to start very quickly and let the solution and architecture emerge. I find that this thinking does work in many situations but from my experience this will not work in the majority of situations/organisations.
Download
To download a PDF version of the presentation used in this video, click the button below.