Track: Future of PM Work

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman), scheduled to be ready to launch in 2026, is considered vitally important for NASA’s science objectives. At Space Telescope Science Institute (Institute), The Data Management System (DMS), part of the Science Operations Center (SOC) for Roman, is focusing on building the data processing pipeline for Roman, and focusing on creating new and innovative methods for scientists to interact with the voluminous data Roman is expected to produce.
This talk focuses on the intersection of traditional project management and agile development methodologies to satisfy both NASA’s risk mitigation and reporting needs for a “Class A” mission and the development team’s needs to explore and develop innovative solutions for data ingest, processing, and distribution of Roman data. The talk will focus on how traditional project management rigor and the agile mindset coexist within the project. We will demonstrate how we have been successful in both involving and insulating our development teams from external project management requirements through the use of processes, tools, and automation, while still allowing for regular NASA and Institute tracking of Earned Value Management and Risk Management. The tools used are off-the-shelf and the methods used need not be unique to the Institute. Both can provide a similar framework for other projects facing similar situations.

PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working

As organizations have adjusted to an evolving businesses environment, the way of managing and delivering projects has changed. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a shift towards Agile delivery in response to a more competitive, faster-paced marketplace and there is no denial that agile methods have become an important asset in many companies’ process portfolio. However businesses have learned that Agile fits specific cultures and is not the answer for every project. Therefore a majority of businesses continue to run simultaneous Agile and Waterfall approaches which is known as Hybrid Project Management. Hybrid Project Management is a broad area of study where organizations and project teams apply processes, techniques, tools and practices from different approaches (predictive and/or adaptive, waterfall and/or agile). The emergence of hybrid project management methodologies on the market is a result 1) of the different project lifecycles, 2) of the “competition” between adaptive and predictive methods and 3) of project management transformation. Our focus is to compare adaptive and predictive/traditional project management and take advantage of those two approaches in order to manage projects effectively and efficiently.

PMI Talent Triangle: Technical Project Management (Ways of Working)