Will speed replace accuracy as the measure of project delivery success? According to a report - "The Future Project Management Professional" - published recently by the UK-based project management global best practices company, Axelos, it will.
The report, based on the results of a global survey of project, programme and portfolio professionals, notes that nearly 85% of project managers around the world believe Agile methodologies will grow in importance over the next few years, while 89%agree there's a need for more creativity and flexibility in project management.
The survey found that although Agile methodologies will dominate the delivery of projects within certain industries, all project managers will need to adopt Agile behaviours.
"Project managers can only meet evolving business needs if their response to project delivery is fast-paced, flexible and business-oriented," the report states.
Agile project management is defined as the focus on continuous improvement, scope flexibility, team input and delivering essential quality products. Agile project management can be categorised into two frameworks: Scrum and Kanban. While Scrum is focused on fixed-length project iterations, Kanban is focused on continuous releases.
One of the key findings of the research was that professionals will need to broaden all their skillsets - from their strategy and change management skills to risk management skills - to help businesses realise their organisational goals. Included in these to-be-acquired skills sets are Agile skills.
Well-known project management commentator John Yorke, an Agile coach for US-based WWT Asynchrony Labs, says Agile is not a set of rules to be followed, but rather a mindset that requires a cultural change, not a process change.
"Agile changes the way we measure project success and how we measure people's behaviour," he explains.
The Axelos report notes there has been a huge increase in the adoption of Agile methodologies over the past few years. The company predicts the rate of Agile adoption will increase as organisations take an increasingly agile approach to how they plan their businesses.
"Working in an agile way will allow project managers to meet evolving business needs by ensuring their response to project delivery is fast-paced, flexible and business-oriented. Real-time information is increasingly important and calendar-based business reporting is becoming redundant," the report continues.
"Agile allows for continual improvement once a product or service has launched, which means the initial release does not need to be perfect. This will reduce pressure on the launch, which will speed up development. The technology means we cannot afford to be so risk-averse anymore."
The importance of the adoption of Agile methodologies was underlined by Axelos survey participants who noted: "The pace of change in business today means you have to adapt and be more strategic" and "Agile will become more relevant because we need to be more responsive. The traditional model of annualised business planning is disappearing to deal with the rapidly changing external environment."
One survey respondent reported their organisation had renamed their project managers as transition managers because, following their move to Agile, this better described their role in the organisation.
In fact, the report states the quest for perfect results will change to the quest for faster and more flexible results. "There is no time anymore; 80% is good enough," it concluded.
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