Project Management and Process
Project Management – Traditional Waterfall versus Other Methodologies and Processes
Perhaps your organization long ago began utilizing Six Sigma. Perhaps your software team is considering the adoption of an Agile approach. Why would the Project Success MethodSM provide additional benefit?
The answer is the flexibility in its utility.
Six Sigma, Lean and other Process Improvement processes/methodologies provide a framework for analyzing and solving problems. These tools typically are used to focus on an element of an existing scenario and make it better…reducing cost, improving quality, shortening lead time, etc. Individual project durations are typically short (a few weeks or months) under these Process Improvement initiatives, and the projects are planned/executed using a typical Waterfall approach.
The Project Success Method (PSM) has been used to plan a countless number of Process Improvement initiatives. All the Process Improvement methodologies and analytical/statistical tools are captured as the plan is developed and executed.
In reality, these Process Improvement initiatives are simply a very specific application of PSM. However, the Project Success Method delivers results in the countless project situations where the Process Improvement tools and techniques are less useful, or simply do not apply.
What about an Agile approach for development? How does that fit with PSM?
Like The Process Improvement methodologies, Agile is best applied in specific types of project scenarios. Agile methods provide numerous iterations of development and evaluation that build toward the desired end result. Agile techniques are most commonly associated with software development although there are other application scenarios where short-duration development and evaluation “sprints” make sense.
Clients of Project Success, Inc. that are involved with product development typically have some Agile-appropriate development requirements (software and firmware) but also have others (electrical and mechanical) where constant iterations are less practical. For example, mechanical development may include tooling, fixture, and prototype requirements that do not lend themselves to many iterations.
In cases such as these, the Project Success Method is used to understand the time elements of the different “development streams” (mechanical, electrical, software, etc.) and the integration requirements between streams. This allows understanding of the overall, comprehensive development schedule.
This approach allows individual development teams to utilize an Agile approach if that is their preference. The overriding concern is that each development team understands what is needed by the other development teams, and when it is needed. PSM facilitates this understanding while leaving the individual teams to follow the development process that best applies to their specific situation.
In summary, the Project Success Method can be used along with other processes and methodologies where the others have utility, and PSM can be used in the project scenarios where the others do not apply.
