Agile for project managers
Agile approaches to software development can be seen as quite hostile to project management. I have been told in the past that “we no longer need PMs because we have a SCRUM Master”. This is not a line I agree with. Furthermore, I can see this type of attitude causing unnecessary hostility. In fact I see agile as offering tools to project managers that can make them more effective and better able to deliver to demanding customers.
So what does a project manager do?
For me, while a SCRUM Master is responsible for supporting the team and the Product Owner can be seen as a domain expert able to make calls on prioritisation the Project Manager should be focused on the project context. This is likely to involve commercial considerations, stake-holder management and external risk management as well as possibly choreographing deliverables from different suppliers e.g. software delivery and data centre space.
It is of little surprise that many in the development community feel the need to push back on PMs. As an industry there are many of us who have experienced over bearing, micro-managing PMs who seem to live to interrupt us mid flow and demand estimates as well as challenge actual time taken on a task. It seems that many PMs cannot appreciate the difference between an estimate and a quote as well as a seeming inability to acknowledge unachievable deadlines based on everything going right.
In fact, should we be so harsh? A PM is tasked with ensuring the success of a project. Many retain a list of risks with no opportunity to mitigate, hold a plan with no possible intervention point if things seem to be slipping and furthermore it is often almost impossible to measure our current project state against the plan.
It is my view that agile methods offer a set of levers to enable effective project management. Examples of these include:
- Effective tracking of progress through delivery of end to end features rather than intermediate documents
- Effective risk management and mitigation through early detection and adjustment of priorities bringing risky features forwards or perhaps deferring to a later release.
- Effective adjustment of the plan in order to increase / reduce scope or adjust release dates according to delivery track record. Again adjustment of priorities can play an important part here by working with the PO to ensure a cohesive stable product for release.
- Effective stake-holder management through constant feedback and re-evaluation of the business case.
So, in conclusion, while SCRUM was defined without a PM I see this as a crucial role in a commercial environment. While the PM will collaborate with the SCRUM Master and Product Owner (or equivalent in a none SCRUM team) this is a distinct role with distinct commercial and stake-holder management responsibilities.
