Agile Project Management
Agile Project Management for Complicated Projects
Agile project management, as opposed to traditional project management, focuses on the development of smaller projects that involve frequent unforseen changes. In this sense, agile project management is related to extreme project management, lean techniques, Six Sigma, and the iterative life cycle.
The iterative life cycle, which was created to address the shortcomings of traditional project management, uses repetition and incrementalism to bring difficult projects to fruition. The iterative life cycle begins with creating a rough draft in order to get something on paper. This first step is referred to as initialization.
The next step in the process of development is known as iteration. This is where aspects of the project are reworked until they're deemed sufficient. Iteration uses implementation guidelines to identify problems for reworking. These guidelines may vary between companies and projects.
The incremental aspect of the iterative life cycle is broken down into four phases. These phases are inception, elaboration, construction, and transition. The purpose of the inception phase is simply to define the project. Next, the elaboration phase creates a more detailed outline. The construction phase completes the earlier processes, and finally the project is ready for production.
Agile project management, like lean techniques and Six Sigma, seeks to reduce the number of errors in a given project. This is done through standardization and the identification of best practices. One of the main aspects of standardization is simplification.
The philosophy behind Six Sigma has to do with cost versus quality. Six Sigma was developed at Motorola when it was found that quality control costs less than repairing defective products.
Whereas traditional project management is suitable for larger projects with few variables, agile project management is better suited to smaller, more complicated projects. Agile project management is one of the most important developments in business in recent years.