Presentation (1 of 2): The project manager is dead, long live project management: Project management in the time of Agile.
Abstract: A recent review of 200 IT personnel who had a title in the project management career path showed that only 15% were actually functioning as project managers. Did this mean that 85% of project managers were idle? Had a recent transition to Agile development meant that the skill of the project manager was no longer needed? Our research showed that 50% of project managers had transitioned to Agile specific roles, their project management skill set now synthesized into various new Agile roles. Of the remaining 35%, release management in the continuous delivery pipeline consumed 10%, 8% were assigned to specific roles in data analytics with the remainder adopting other specialist management roles. Interestingly only a few of the remaining program managers continued to function in that role with responsibility for major strategic programs that crossed the enterprise. The remainder took on roles managing the frictions at the boundary of the Agile IT organization and the rest of the enterprise.
This paper explores the nature of a pivot from project management to product management on those charged with ensuring delivery. It also looks at the need to manage the interface and friction between the fast moving agile IT delivery and the enterprise control functions who still seek certainty in the period ahead.
The conclusion to the analysis is that it is only the construct of batching discrete units of work in a traditional waterfall project that is disappearing. In the new digital economy, the skills honed in traditional project management are still in high demand they are just dispersed and synthesized with other emerging techniques.
Key takeaways:
- Project management is morphing but remains a critical function.
- The transformation into an Agile organizations generates friction at the boundaries with slower moving enterprise governance that needs the project manager skill set.
- Cross enterprise initiatives still needs the skills of a smaller cadre of experienced program managers.
PMI Talent Triangle: Leadership
Presentation (2 of 2): The Project Management of Innovation
Abstract: Traditional project management has focused on providing organizations with predictability in the delivery of discrete bodies of work. Project Managers pride themselves on delivering a defined set of requirements on time, on budget with a determined level of quality. Customer feedback and new requirements are available after the project is delivered and in use. Agile methodologies enable a faster feedback loop with smaller stories being delivered more quickly but still within the guiderails of a define product.
In a corporate environment that values predictability where is the opportunity for innovation?
The reaction of the human body to a foreign object is analogous to how the predictability seeking organization deals with project level innovation. Corporate control functions, Finance, Risk, legal, IT architecture surround project level innovation and demand compliance to given sets of processes that ensure predictability. This is much the same as how white blood cells surround bacteria in the body until the unpredictable entity is unable to function and ejected from the body.
If we recognize the pattern of behavior that requires conformity then an environment can be set up to insulate a project from those behaviors and enable open ended innovation to occur.
This paper articulates an approach utilized at TIAA to surround certain projects and subsidiaries with a barrier and filter layer that enables the innovation entity to thrive. The project/program level barrier holds back the forces of conformity and predictability providing a safe place for innovation to occur while preserving the risk tolerance of the overall organization.
PMI Talent Triangle: Leadership
Biography: Richard Wyatt is the Director of Strategic Programs at TIAA, a leading Financial Services provider. He has worked across the globe in UK, US, Australia and Indonesia delivering project of growing size and complexity. He currently manages projects with budgets in excess of $100m. During his career he has observed project managers struggle and the size of their project increase and has researched and articulated the skills set required to be successful. Richard has a BA in Computing in Business and an MBA from Durham University, UK.
