Endless sprints, minimum viable everything, poor resource management, limited to no formal accountability, and a budget black hole. Recognise your project?

I can recall working with a client that was keen to improve on the perceived failings of more traditional project management methods (being structured, direct accountability, and more investment in up-front scoping and design). They chose to implement an agile focused approach and at the same time they also chose to move to ‘devops’ for ongoing management of the service/product. Unfortunately it did not end well with a large body of customer data being exposed to the public cloud for an extended period of time. Post go-live their clients were also having to complete weekly updates just to enable basic features which should have been delivered at initial launch. It was neither viewed as positive or as ‘delivering value’ by the client. In this case, Agile and the implementation method were just not a good choice for that regulated industry with the company’s organisational maturity at the time also compounding the issue.

The old adage of choosing the right tool for the job was particularly apt in this instance. No matter which project management methodology leaders choose to promote and endorse within their organisation it is rarely a one size fits all solution that delivers success. Flexibility, maturity, and pragmatism in defining how projects are delivered rather than zealotry around a particular methodology or approach, frequently ensures the best result for both the organisation and the client. And this is especially true in the current resource and budget constrained business environment where organisations cannot readily absorb the financial costs and lost opportunity of failed projects.

If you are having problems running cost effective and successful projects that really deliver for clients, then please reach out to us. We can assist you in specifying a project management methodology or a project governance framework that best suits your organisation and your industry. If you are struggling with a problem project we can also help triage that project and put it back on the rails.