Traditional And Agile Project Management

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The success or failure of a project all depends on how it is being managed and this is call project management. It ensures a smooth running of the different part of the project life cycle. It consists of many phases namely; initiation, planning, execution, monitor and control and closing. The two approaches that are mainly used nowadays, they are the traditional project management (TPM) and the agile project management (APM). They are both efficient types of project management but it depends on the project, its requirements and where it is being used. TPM has been a major approach since long time back and it has proven that it is still as useful as it was previously. This approach uses a method where a goal and a solution that is clearly (Wysocki, 2009) set to be achieve within a time frame. On the other hand, AGM is more recent approach which is the complete opposite of the traditional approach written as agile manifesto (Fowler & Highsmith, August 2001) by team of software developers. It is an iterative method where is has a clear set of goals to be achieved but the output is not clearly defined. These are two different approaches can be applied to a planning stage using various tools. Planning phase is where all schedules of the projects are identified.

Overview of Traditional Project Management Approach

Traditional project management is the basic approach that can be used in project management. The goals and scope of the project is already set at the start and it is assumed that it will remain constant throughout the whole process until the completion. The team will work toward this solution with a time limit. There are different types of TPM such as waterfall model, spiral model and V-process model. The water fall model is the main methodology that represents the TPM. It provides a linear execution of phases during the project. The earliest delivery is at the implementation stage that is the client can see the product during the end of the project and at this stage is difficult to amend project scope to suite client purpose.

There are some advantages of using TPM, mainly all tasks that need to be achieved during the projects is already identified and broken down into milestones and deliverables. Another important one is about risk management, where most risks are effectively predictable to be managed with a complex and detailed inception and planning process. And finally it provides a rigid procedure to prevent changes to project scope defined in the early stages.

The negative side of this approach is the lack of client involvement during the whole process until the last stage where they see the final product. There are poor requirements as it is not checked again if it is to the client expectation.

Overview of Agile Project Management Approach

Agile project management is based on an iterative and incremental method, where project scope and result evolve throughout the process with close communication between cross functional teams. According to Jim Highsmith, "Agility is the ability to adapt and respond to change… agile organisations view change as an opportunity, not a threat." (Highsmith, 1999). It promotes adaptive planning, an iterative process, and encourages fast response to change management. APM is one which requires regular feedback as a guide toward the direction the project is moving. Some methodologies to this type of management are Scrum, XP (Extreme Programming), Lean, Agile Unified Process and Feature Driven Development. Scrum is a methodology which is based on communication and collaboration among the team. The team can choose which part they want to develop first and requirement cannot change during iteration. There is no hierarchy, in case of failure or success; it is the responsibility of the whole team and not one individual only. XP is similar to scrum in terms of iterative and process but it does contain some difference such as, requirements can change anytime even during iteration. Team should work in a specific order according to the project charter. Lean is one which involves more the stakeholders to the project. It is often due to which requirements changes regularly but on the other hand it ensures that the project up to the client’s level of expectation. This increases success rate

APM advantages are; it seeks regular and early feedback from client since the first stage itself and it needs smaller development team but with high competence. It has been suitable for projects that have unclear or rapidly changing scopes. It encourages more communication (face to face as they are usually in same location) and close interaction with clients (Highsmith, 2004).

Some disadvantages of agile project management are that is recues the amount of documentation in a project and hence if there is someone else who plan to take over, it will be complex to understand without required document. The fact that there is regular contact and feedback from clients, these increases criticism and may affect team attitude. (Highsmith, 2004)

Critical Analysis of Traditional and Agile

Analysing traditional and agile project management is all about the difference between these two main types of management. The critical analysis will be base of the impact of these two approaches in the planning process stage. The planning process is where the scope of the project, milestone and deliverables, risk and risk control, resource plan, quality plan and financial plan are defined (Eve Mitchell, 22 March 2012).

The first step of planning is to define project scope. In TPM, it is assumed that the project is set with a predefined start date and finishing date (Rad & Anantatmula, 2005). The client and the team will define the requirements of the project during this planning phase and finalise it. Once the stage is passed, the will not be changed and the client will only see the first prototype at the implementation stage. Compared to APM, it is a more flexible methodology, where the scope of the project is defined and is constantly reviews by the client on and iterative basis. It encourages the scope to be reviewed constantly to suite the client expectation. APM has a finish date but the solution of the final product is not defined. It evolves with feedback obtain from client. APM can be chosen as the best method for scope planning as it is keeps requirements project updated. It can contribute to the success of the project as the client is always aware of the changes.

As mentioned previously, milestone and deliverables need to be identified. In TPM once the scope is set, the process of defining milestones and deliverable start. With the inflexibility to change, the project can now be broken down in smaller one using the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and these smaller tasks are then used in a Gantt chart which defines the time schedules for all the milestones and deliverables. The team will have to abide by these date. APM also will have a WBS for the project which will defined all these milestones that need to be achieved, but the main difference to TPM is that it does not has a fixed date when to deliver. Since they are always in regular contact with the client, every particular updates are sent to them and when a satisfactory task is reached it is delivered.

For a proper running of a project, there should be enough resources to reach a successful end product. Depending on the size of the project, In TPM we have a large team which will work on the task defined by the WBS to ensure that they respect delivery dates. The team has a limited flexibility that is they cannot be creative in finding solution in the project as all scope has already been set and they have to follow it closely. Compared to APM, their resources need is small but not limited. They require small team with high competency and collaboration. They work as a real team where they find solution together and work on it together. They are able to use their creativity and own experience to find solution. They work is done in close collaboration with the stakeholders.

In terms of quality management, APM has an advantage over TPM. This is because firstly there are regular updates given by the client about the project milestones and the quality of the project output increases each time a feedback is obtained. Secondly the quality remains high because there is early defect detection and correction (Pace, 2011). Cost management is very important for running of a project, TPM has a fixed budget which is determined during the planning process and once confirmed and paid, they will have to manage with is cost until the end of project. APM is completely different where the budget is set during the project development. The cost may vary from low to high depending on the requirement evolution. Another major part of planning is the risk management. In TPM a list of possible risk are identified and alternatives solutions are proposed. There is always a way out when a problem occur. APM does not focus on risk and instead of guessing the risk, they work on real working parts which are delivered and when any risk occurs they have to work on it as a time to overcome it. (Galen, 2010)

It can now clearly be compared that TPM is a more structured way of proceeding with a clearly defined scope, cost and time management. Whereas APM is more clients centric and since there is regular communication with client, the quality of the project increases together with the success rate. There is also early delivery of products compared to TPM where the first delivery is at the implementation stage.

Tools Used in Project Management

Having identify the major steps of the planning process, for both APM and TPM, there are several tools that are use to ease the task of managers for the planning stage. These main tools are the Gantt chart, PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Techniques), WBS (Work Breakdown Structure), Critical Path Method and Burn down chart (used mainly in scrum)

The first tool is Project Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT) which is a graphical representation of schedules for the whole project. It contains a sequence of task that need to be completed, their durations and it also identifies which task can be done simultaneously. A critical path of all tasks is identified so that the completion deadline of the project can be met. PERT can be used for either small or bigger projects. It will be broken into smaller Pert is to complex. This method was chose because it is one of the most graphical tools used in project management and also the fact that is provides the critical path in the diagram. Critical path is in itself a tool in project management.

Second tool is the Burn down chart. It is mainly used in APM and it is one of the most efficient tools in scrum. It is a chart of team workload against time of the project for one iteration. It used to track development on the project; the timeline will decrease when parts are being delivered. It monitors how much effort the team is using for the project and how much resources are left for project. (Sutherland’s, 2010). This tool was chosen because it is not one which is taught during lectures. It was found during the research and has some interesting key feature in the agile methodology such as monitoring workload because in APM the workload is not clearly defined at the start of the project.

Conclusion

To conclude we can say that TPM is known problem-known solution approach whereas APM is a known problem-unknown solution approach. Both of these methods has got their advantages and disadvantages but is being effectively applied to real projects, depending on their complexity and demand. Since APM is the most recent approach and that it has got more preference as it has some more advantages mainly in terms of cost. There are many tools that are use in project management and those discussed are the major and most effective ones. APM will continues its rise to overtake the TPM in project management field but it will not be the end for TPM as despite being created and used since long time back, it still has it importance in project management.

Word Count (Introduction to conclusion): 2072 words

Keywords

Traditional Project Management, Agile project management, PERT, Waterfall model, XP extreme programming, Lean process, Scrum,

Referencing

Eve Mitchell, P., 22 March 2012. Are ‘waterfall’ and ‘agile’ project management techniques mutually exclusive?. Project Manager Today, pp. 23-24.

Fowler, M. & Highsmith, J., August 2001. The Agile Manifesto. Software Development-The lifecycle starts here, pp. 3-7.

Galen, R., 2010. Agile Risk Management—Viewed Through a Different Lens. Project Times.

Highsmith, J., 2004. Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products. 2nd ed. s.l.:Addison-Wesley Professional.

Highsmith, J. A., 1999. Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems. 1st ed. s.l.:Dorset House.

Larman, C., August 11, 2003. Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide. s.l.:Addison-Wesley Professional.

Pace, C., 2011. Agile Project Management. Fairfax,Virginia, USA: s.n.

Rad, P. F. & Anantatmula, V. S., 2005. Project Planning Techniques. s.l.:Management Concepts.

Sutherland’s, J., 2010. Scrum Handbook. 1st ed. s.l.:Scrum Training Institute.

Wysocki, R. K., 2009. Effective Project Management—Traditional, Agile, Extreme. s.l.:John Wiley & Sons, Inc. .