Project Management of PRINCE2 and Agile - Essay Example

Project Management Project Management Project management is the activity and process of planning, motivating, organizing and controlling resources with the purpose of achieving specified goals. A design can be described as a temporary endeavor aimed to produce a unique service, product or result with a well the outline well established at the beginning and end, done to meet unique goals and objectives which. This aims at bringing out a beneficial change. The major challenge in project management is to meet all the set goals and objectives for the project while dealing with the preconceived barriers. Key project obstacles include scope, quality, budget, and time. Other secondary obstacle would include more ambitious challenges like fairly allocating the necessary inputs and integrating them in order to achieve the set objectives and goals. There are various ways of approaching project management activities. Regardless of the methodology employed; project managers should put a lot of considerations on the overall project objective, time, cost, and also the responsibilities and duties to be played by members and stakeholders in the project. PRINCE2 and Agile project management methodology are examples of the methodologies available for project managers (Keith 2010). PRINCE2 PRINCE2 is a well-structured approach used in project management. It combines the original PROMPT methodology with IMB’s MITP methodology. PROMPT methodology had earlier evolved into the present day PRINCE2 methodology. PRINCE2 offers a platform for project management with clearly spelt out structure. It was developed by the United Kingdom government Office of Government Commerce (OGC). The United Kingdom expensively uses this methodology in its management duties of public projects in the country. PRINCE2 encompasses the control, organization and management of a given project. It puts a lot of focus on not only definition of products but also their delivery, especially the quality requirements (Gerard 2008). Because of this, it defines a successful project as being output oriented but not activity or action oriented. This is through creating products agreed upon as well as defining the intended scope of the project. It also helps provide a platform for control and planning. Project chiefs would be able to coordinate the project participants. Additionally, they will be able to know how to supervise and design product delivery and what to do if the project fails to meet the originally set goals. In the PRINCE2 methodology, all the different processes involved are clearly specified with their important inputs and outputs. The actual goals and activities to be carried out in order to achieve the project’s outcome have a clear stipulation by the Business Case. This aspect of PRINCE2 methodology allows project managers to make regular and necessary assessments and corrective adjustments if the project does not progress as originally planned. PRINCE2 also provides a common language to all the people who participate in the project. The roles and responsibilities, which are part of the methodology’s governance structure, obtain a clear definition. They need the project managers to tailor them so as to suit the specified project and the skill and abilities of the organization (Gerard 2008). Agile Project Management The agile project management approach majorly focuses on the concepts of human interaction management. These principles are found on the process view of human collaboration. It is an incremental and interactive process of designing, building and managing activities for information technology, engineering and new service or product development projects. This is in a highly flexible and also interactive way. It is mostly used in website, software, technology and marketing industries. It requires that the individuals who participate, in the project, to be highly capable and knowledgeable in the subject. This is in sharp contrast of the PRINCE2 approach. The Agile project management methodology views the project as a series of relatively small projects executed in an adaptive manner as the current situation dictates. This is unlike the PRINCE2 methodology where the activities are pre-planned with the purpose of achieving the goals and objectives set for the project. The people who prefer the Agile project management methodology over the others claim that it is the most consistent of all project management methods. This is because it involves regular testing of the projects under development. They also attribute it to be the only approach which enables the client to be actively involved in the project. However, the advocates of this approach claim that it has only one significant disadvantage, that is, it can only be useful if the client has sufficient time to be an active participant of the project from time to time (Frank, Elias and Kwak 2005). Some of the Agile project management techniques and tools include; Scrum which is an approach to the development focusing on the customer’s iterative goals and Extreme Programming a method that uses small groups as prescriptive test drive models. Other examples are extreme manufacturing, crystal clear (Software development), and Kanban. It is of the general knowledge that PRINCE2 is the most widely used project management tool in the United Kingdom. Job applicants in management projects are required to have PRINCE2 qualifications and PRINCE2 training are crucial to project managers. However, there has been increasing popularity of the Agile project management methodology. Managers aim to implement a more adaptive and flexible method in their business environments. This has led to managers being required to have adequate knowledge on the application of both methodologies so as to ensure the success of their projects (Gerard 2008). One of the significant differences between PRINCE2 and Agile methods is that PRINCE2 is a plan-based and predictive approach while the Agile method focuses on short-term achievements. These short-term achievements do not emphasize on a pre-planned goals and objectives. Agile methodology is an adaptive approach while PRINCE2 methodology centers on a well-planned way of achieving goals. This means that the PRINCE2 approach will remain focused on the set goals while the Agile projects would be more adaptive and responsive to change that might occur in the project environment and client requirements (Saya, Hassan and David 2009). The most used and recognized Agile software development program is Scrum. Scrum operates on the concept that the process of development is highly unpredictable hence it advocates for close collaboration, complete transparency, and frequent delivery of sub-products which are usable and eventually will contribute in the delivery of the product (Bert, Hans and Gabor 2009). The team members in the Scrum enjoy high levels of independence and self-organization. On the other hand, PRINCE2 methodology, which is a plan oriented program, requires project and team managers to plan, distribute, allocate and monitor tasks. The roles and responsibilities that a certain participant plays in the project are determined by his or her group membership. A person’s group membership is determined after going through critical analysis, but must be through the consideration of the individual’s strengths and skills on the subject matter (Frank, Elias and Kwak 2005). Within Agile methodology, all the tasks involved in the project are available and can be done by any of the partakers in the project. This is because, in an Agile based projects there is a platform that lists all the completed and uncompleted tasks during the cycle of product development. The developers have the freedom to choose from the list of the remaining tasks to work on based on their qualifications in terms of skill and the time limit. This presents a clear advantage in the Scrum program as it presents a greater degree of freedom which allows the participants to offer a higher level of personal investment in the project. This is not so in PRINCE2 oriented programs. The PRINCE2 approach only puts emphasis on meeting the earlier set goals and objective in an organized and efficient manner (Keith 2010). Another significant difference between the approaches gets presented by the churn requirements of the Scrum program. The term churn requirement is frequently used to describe the Scrum concept that the clients requirements. However, the conditions can change at any time. Therefore, this requires the Scrum program to adapt a more adaptive, responsive, and flexible measures in project management in collaboration to their clients. On the other hand, the PRINCE2 methodology requires that the accepted criteria to continue being applied throughout the project. Changes proposed should be filtered by a change control board and a previously agreed upon change control process. This provides an advantage as customers would have an idea of what they should expect at the end of the project. The developers, on the other hand, are assured protection from dealing with unconcerned and inconsistent client demands. However, this feature hinders the developers, clients and the project itself from having the opportunity of directly responding to changes in the project environment and the expected product functioning. Despite the operational difference of Agile and PRINCE2 project management methodology, the future of both the approaches is based on organizations combining both of them in the management of their programs. This is because neither does Agile nor PRINCE2 offer a step to step guidance that would ensure the success of the projects. The methodologies have been described as adaptive and flexible frameworks that provide set of practices, role description, and management artefacts. Many organizations have opted to combine both philosophies despite a number of challenges that arise in doing so. The Agile approach is best suited in projects that develop innovative and emergent products like consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals and software. In all these situations, the requirements are not well spelt out upfront. Steve Jobs, the leader of Apple once said that most of the times, the clients do not know what they require until it is shown to them. He also said that one cannot ask the clients what they need and give it to them. As before finishing its development, they will want something different. The adaptability and flexibility nature of Agile approach comes in hand in this situation. On the other hand, PRINCE2 approach has been adapted and made more generalized. This is unlike its early primary use in delivering government information systems. Organizations have also adopted the idea of tailoring the PRINCE2 methodology so as to suit the needs of the project at hand. This forms one of the core principles of the PRINCE2 approach. The future of these methodologies is also seen in the success stories from cases that utilized them. The British Council’s Global Information Systems Program Management team is one case where the PRINCE2 methodology has been used to great success. The program used PRINCE2 2009 to help it in delivering technical change in many nations around the globe. Communication between the United Kingdom and other nations is important to the organization. This is the reason they went for PRINCE2 is that, the methodology offers a robust structure that assist in delivering projects in challenging environments. Another case study is the successful application of the IMB RUP by Ford and Ford Financial Credit. Here, the motivation was based on the organizations’ need to have a unifying methodology for all the teams involved in their projects. As different teams used different methodological approaches, participants who moved to different teams had a hard time adapting. Also, the RUP approached solved the challenges of late involvement, architects being overburdened with process questions and late indication of project risks. The organization preferred using the RUP approach because it suited their needs. It was also easy to tailor it to fit in different aspects of the projects being undertaken by different teams. At the end, the approach was successful, and it is recommended to organizations such as Ford. References List Gerard, B., 2008. Prince2 100 Success Secretes. London: Macmillan. Bert, H. Hans, F. and Gabor, V.V., 2009. Project Management. London: Van Haren Publishers. Graham, N., 2008. PRINCE2 for Dummies. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited. John, G. K., 2010. Project Management in the Agile Way. New York: J. Ross Publishing. Ralph, H. 2009. Agile Data Warehousing. Chicago: Ceregenics Inc. Saya, S. Hassan, T. and David, F., 2009. Business Value for Agile Software Methods. New York: J. Ross Publishing. Robert, S., 2010. Agile Project and Service Management: Delivering IT Services Using PRINCE2. London: Rutledge Raul, P. Guy, T. Katzy, F. and Ricardo, C., 2012. Enterprise Interoperabilty V. London: Macmillan. Kelvin, A. 2005. Managing Agile Projects. Ontario: Multi-Media Publication Inc. James, A. C. and Shellie, A. F., 2013. System Engineering Agile Design Methodology. New York: Springer. Kieng, S. Rodger, B. and Hardgrave, C., 2011. System Analysis and Design. New York. M. E. Sharpe Inc. Marik, V. and Fujita, H., 2009. New Trends in Software Methodologies, Tools, and Techniques. Amsterdam: IOS Press BV. Keith, R., 2010. Agile Project Management: Running PRINCE2 Projects with DSDM Aten. Norwich: TSO. Frank, T. Elias, G. and Kwak, Y. 2005. The Story of Managing Projects. Chicago: Praeger Publisher. Andreas, A. Rory, O. and Richard, M. 2010. Systems, Software and Services Improvement . Berlin: Springer. Read More