Tag Archive for Project

| May 9, 2020
Comments Off on Agile is Not for Everyone

Agile is Not for Everyone

Agile is Not for EveryoneThe agile manifesto was published almost 20 years ago. The publishers of the agile manifesto looked to overthrow previous project management methodologies. The agile manifesto authors cast away what they considered burdensome. They looked to eliminate contracts, plans, and documentation. Along the way, agile became the latest consultant-speak to solve any firm’s problems.

Agile has morphedOver the years Agile has morphed into CI/CD, DevOps,  Extreme Programming, Kanban, Lean, SAFe and more buzzwords. The top agile methods employed by organizations include scrum (54%), scrum/XP Hybrid (10%), custom hybrid (14%), scrumban (8%), and kanban (5%).

Agile is a blanket term for a set of methodologies that emphasize collaboration within tightly-knit teams, iterative development, early delivery, continuous improvement, and the ability to respond rapidly to changing requirements. Despite these lofty goals some argue that agile has become as dogmatic as the predecessors it sought to overthrow.

Backlash against agile

Agile is a blanket termRecent signs are pointing to a possible backlash against agile. California-based IT research firm Computer Economics reports that the growth in agile development is starting to taper off. Adoption was flat year over year, and we may be closing in on the ceiling for agile.

In their report, Agile Development Adoption and Best Practices, Computer Economics found that 60% of survey respondents practiced agile development in 2019, the same amount as practiced in 2018. In 2015, only 49% practiced agile, and that figure rose steadily until 2018.

David Wagner, senior director of research for Computer Economics concluded:

Most software developers will tell you that agile is the only way to develop software … However, when requirements are fairly stable and well-understood, a more traditional development approach may be best. Also, agile works best when developers can be assigned to single projects over a longer period of time which is not always possible, especially in smaller companies.

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agile might not be right for them.Computer Economics concludes that Agile is an important tool for organizations with high-level development needs, such as software and cloud providers. However, for most enterprises that do little custom development, agile might not be right for them.

Corporate IT organizations that have not already adopted Agile are expected to slow in adapting it in the future. KPMG found (PDF) that 63% of business leaders claim that the maturity of agile project management is lower than that of traditional project management.

I always like to follow the money because it leads to interesting places. Here are some factoids around Agile. The project management software market size is projected to reach $6.68 billion by 2026.

If we take these factoids together by 2026

  • MSFT is set to bring in $1.8B in project management software by 2026.
  • TEAM is set to bring in $1.7B in project management software by 2026.
    • Jira – set to bring in nearly $1.3B
    • Trello -will bring in nearly $380M

planned obsolescence trainSo following the money, it is very likely that intentional obfuscation on the part of corporate marketing machines at MSFT and TEAM to drive changes to PM methodologies in order to keep everyone on the planned obsolescence train and have to update PM and PPM software every year to match the latest agile methodology.

Stay safe out there!

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Project Management | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
| January 17, 2017
Comments Off on Should You Say Something in Meetings?

Should You Say Something in Meetings?

Should You Say Something in Meetings?Recently came across a post from Oisín Grogan, the “$200 Million Business Coach” about why people hate meetings. He says people hate meetings because:

  1. They don’t start on time.
  2. They don’t finish on time.
  3. What’s in the middle is a waste of time!

Should You Say Something?

He stresses the project manager running the meeting needs to keep people on point. Project team members should only talk about matters related to their roles. The sales manager should not talk about how production should be delivering. The team should talk about how to get tasks completed.

Coordination between different departments and roles is a vital function of meetings and Mr. Grogan says you’ll get more of your meetings if you keep people on point. To help address the issue, he developed a flow chart on how to decide when to and how to say something in a meeting.

WAIT infographic

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What do you think? Should this be handed out at project kickoff meetings to set the rules?

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Project Management | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| December 5, 2013
Comments Off on Project Managers Grow in Importance

Project Managers Grow in Importance

Project Managers Grow in ImportanceIn a recent post, Computer Economics has found that the slowdown in capital spending has been good for project managers. With fewer projects and thus fewer project managers, Project managers are growing in importance. Project managers with sound project management become even more important when projects are downsized, delayed, or outsourced.

Their study, Project Manager Staffing Ratios, finds that over a five-year period project managers have risen as a percentage of the IT staff. In 2011, project managers made up an average of 4.5% of the IT staff, up from 3.4% in 2008.

Project Managers Grow in Importance

The ratio rose sharply in 2009 to 4.3%, indicating the recession played a role. While IT organizations were reducing headcount, project managers fared better than most other IT job functions according to Computer Economics. The ratio has remained relatively steady over the past three years, peaking at 4.7% in 2010.

The author summarizes that IT organizations are relying more and more on professional project managers. The reasons for this growth are varied. They include new technology adoption, regulatory compliance issues, and outsourcing. There is also the ever-present mandate to do more with less. All of which contribute to the need for project management.

Perhaps the most pressing reason for the growth in project management staff is that many organizations have a poor record of bringing IT projects in on time and within budget according to the article. Much of the work in IT organizations today is project-based. IT managers are beginning to realize that project management is a critical element in delivering successful projects. And value—to the business.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Project Management | Tags: , , , , , ,
| November 19, 2013
Comments Off on Miami Pauses Tablet Project

Miami Pauses Tablet Project

Miami Pauses Tablet ProjectFinally some sanity in the rush to push iPads into schools. Miami-Dade school district Superintendent Alberto Carvalho decided to put a hold on the district’s $63 million 250,000+ tablet project. Mr. Carvalho cited problems in LA, Texas, and North Carolina as good reasons to slow down. “Those events put us in a position to say ‘we best pause and learn from their mistakes?” Superintendent Carvalho said according to the Miami Herald.

lack of planningThe article cites Leslie Wilson, CEO of the Michigan-based One-to-One Institute, which advocates successful digital convergence policies. She says that larger iPad efforts have seen a “high rate of failure,” which she blamed on a lack of planning.“We see precious little of that,” she said. (rb- I wrote how about the failure of leadership on these projects here and here.) Ms. Wilson applauded Mr. Carvalho’s decision to step back and look at others’ pitfalls. “When Miami-Dade’s superintendent says ‘I’m pushing the pause button,’ I say bravo. There’s no reason not to get this right,” Ms. Wilson said.

Troubled school tablet projects

Despite the troubled school tablet projects across the country, The Herald says board members push Superintendent Carvalho to move forward. “I hope we will not be delayed in terms of getting devices into kids’ hands as soon as possible,” said School Board Member Carlos Curbelo.

sticker shockLAUSD’s Apple iPad experiment still seems in shambles, costs have just jumped 14%. The LA Times reports that the Apple (AAPL) iPads will cost nearly $100 more apiece — or $770 per tablet. The earlier lower cost estimate for each iPad “preceded the actual procurement process,” the district said in response to questions from The LA Times. “The negotiated discount [i.e. $678] does not go into effect until the district has reached the $400-million spending threshold. “This sticker shock can be avoided, but only after the L.A. Unified School District has spent at least $400 million for the devices. In other words, the district would have to buy nearly 520,000 iPads before getting lower prices.

Other cost increases announced included classroom carts, that charge the iPads and keep them secure, cost rose for this first phase rose from $2.6 million to $3.2 million, according to the paper. The iPad curriculum from Pearson Education Inc. (PSO) is still being developed and not available to those schools that have received their iPads. It is unclear if LAUSD will receive a credit from Pearson for late delivery or if it will ever be available.

Project management failAnother topic at the same meeting was the progress in preparing the schools for iPads. The district reported less than half a percent (40 of the over 1,000 school network) of the schools’ Wi-Fi infrastructure was upgraded for the iPads – so far. (rb- I wonder if they have addressed the proprietary Apple Bonjour issue, and how they are going to limit the number of devices (Apple TVs, Printers, other iPads, Mac’s etc.) that can be selected.

LA parents also have expressed confusion about their responsibility for the devices. And officials have yet to purchase mechanical keyboards that will be necessary to use the iPads on new standardized tests.

Budget shifts

the board shifted iPad project costs to the general fundTo keep the overall budget in check the board shifted iPad project costs to the general fund, which is used for basic operations. That shift is relatively small, about $550,000 at this point, although it’s unclear whether more expenses would be transferred in the future. The price per device, higher than retail, includes a protective case, a limited three-year warranty, technical assistance and training, and one Apple TV setup per 20 students.

The LA Times also reports that these problems have prompted four LA schools to opt-out of the troubled program. Another LA Times article seems to show that the iPad debacle may cost controversial LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy his job.

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no plans or funds on how to sustain their projectsLike I said in my last post on this issue, the LA iPad debacle is driven by the politicians with no real sense of the work required, and I am sure not enough budget to do the work. When I spoke with educational “leaders” about what they were going to do with the iPads they wanted to implement them without solid articulated plans. As is always true in education, there were no plans or funds on how to sustain their projects, they spent all of their money to get the iPads in never mind a plan.

Despite doing the right thing in Miami, the politicians are pushing the Superintendent to just throw the expensive iDevices at the students without any planning.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Tablet computing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
| October 31, 2013
Comments Off on IT Departments Gone in 5 Years

IT Departments Gone in 5 Years

IT Departments Gone in 5 YearsIT departments will be done in the enterprise within the next five years according to a group of CEOs and VPs. They predict that consumerization of IT and self-service trends will lead to a restructuring of today’s IT shop, leaving behind a hybrid model consisting of tech consultants and integrators. Brandon Porco, chief technologist & solutions architect at Northrop Grumman recently told a group at the CITE Conference and Expo.

The business itself will be the IT department. [Technologists] will simply be the enabler

IT Departments are targetsComputerworld reports that Kathleen Schaub, VP of research firm IDCs CMO Advisory Practice, echoed Mr. Porco. She said many corporate IT organizations now report to the head of the business unit it is assigned to. “The premise is that wherever IT sits in an organization will dictate what they care about,” she said. “If they’re in finance, they’ll care about cost-cutting. If they’re in operations, they’ll care about process management. If [the company] decides it wants to focus on the customer, they’ll put it in marketing.”

John Mancini, CEO of the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), agreed with Mr. Porco, saying that in the consumer technology era, it’s the business side that has all the tools, so it will be able to trump IT’s desire to control who uses what and how.

functional business spending will outpace IT's spending.While the business can dictate the service or technology it wants, IT can influence the decision. Nathan McBride, VP of IT & chief cloud architect at AMAG Pharmaceuticals told Computerworld, “We’re not trying to be ahead of the technology curve and we don’t’ want to be behind, but we’re trying to maintain pace to know what they’re going to ask for next before they ask for it.”

Help Net Security points out a recent IDC study that found 61% of enterprise technology projects are now funded by the business and not the IT department. IDC says IT spending driven by the functional business areas will outpace IT’s own spending. Today’s business executives who are more tech-savvy, have easier access to technology through the Cloud, and are under pressure to quickly implement new technology initiatives are driving this change.  The Help Net Security article states that today’s line of business employees are looking more and more like an extension of the IT department as, on average, 8% are technical staff.

Center of the universeAnother concern raised is whether IT is losing control as consumer technology becomes part and parcel of everyone’s work in the enterprise, and the data center is left behind. AMAG’s McBride told the audience, that in five years, companies will have to make sure they’re matching their enabling technology to the demographic of that time. He said 75 Fortune 100 companies now use Google (GOOG) Apps along with most Ivy League schools, meaning that the next generation of workers won’t be users of Microsoft (MSFT) Exchange or Office.

While the CIO position will likely stay in an enterprise, his or her role will morph into a technology forecaster and strategist, and not a technology implementer, according to Northrop Grumman’s Porco.

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This sounds like a solid case for training technical staff in project principles and increasing the number of IT project managers. There have to be clear two-way communications between the business owner and the implementers.

Requirments ?Proper and detailed scope definition is one of the most critical steps for the success of any project. The business team, implementation team, and operations team must get together before the work starts to check the proposed solution and work through all the questions, concerns, and gotchas before the project even starts. This way problems can be discovered. Once the requirements are defined and the scope is complete and everyone agrees, then the project can be signed off and a formal kick-off meeting can be held.

In IT projects, it is important to look beyond the defined project to ensure success. Does the plan consider impacts on end-users?

  • Does the project need new policies or procedures? If something falls through the cracks, they blame your project.
  • Does the PC fleet meet requirements? Do they need more RAM? If they have to upgrade, they blame your project.
  • Does it work with your current server OS? If they have to upgrade, they blame your project.
  • What about the software? Are you locked into IE only? Do you need a specific level of .NET? Does it work on iOS and Android? If they don’t have the right software, they blame your project.
  • How much bandwidth does the new project require? Will it try to send a graphical interface to a remote office on a slow link? If it loads slow they blame your project.
  • Training? If the end-users can work the program, they blame your project.
Related articles
  • IT morphs as tech and users change (networkworld.com)

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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