Mark Tolbert

Paper and Presentation: Hybrid Project Management: Navigating the New World of Project Management – with Agility

Abstract: We live in a very interesting time. Compared to just a couple of decades ago, there is much more volatility today in our marketplaces, the level of competition is much greater, and it’s much more difficult for companies to survive. As project managers, we are helping our companies survive in this difficult landscape. We are “agents of change” and “drivers of change.” The most important project management methodology today that will help us deal with this change and this volatility is Agile.

However, no one process or project management methodology fits all situations! Agile is not a panacea for all projects. We argue that many times our projects are large enough and complex enough that some parts of the project are best suited to using a predictive planning approach, and other parts are more suited to using Agile. Therefore, a hybrid approach that mixes the traditional, waterfall approach with Agile is really required in many situations today.

Yet, the Agile community oftentimes has quite a negative view of Hybrid approaches, and key writers on Agile often say that attempting to use hybrid will corrupt all attempts to use Agile, and will result in failure. This session will contend that integrating the approaches can be done if approached the proper way, which is necessary today.

PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills

Biography: Mark Tolbert, PMP, PMI-ACP

Mark has over 30 years of experience in I.T., including 27 years at Hewlett-Packard. He successfully managed support programs and projects within HP Services from 1994 through 2007. The programs and projects included a large E-Selling program, a multi-vendor support program for a large telecommunications company, data center relocation projects, and MDM (Mobile Device Management) programs.

Since leaving HP in June of 2007, Mark has been teaching PMP Prep classes. Mark has taught for several leading education companies including Velociteach and Edwel programs. and his company, Best Practices Team, has provided two classes each year for PMIWDC for the past six years. Best Practices Team has been the preferred provider of PMP Prep classes for the U.S. Census Bureau for the past eight years.

Mark earned his PMP in 1995 and earned the PMI-ACP certification in 2015. Mark and has been very active in the Washington, DC PMI chapter for the past 25 years. He has served on a number of board positions for the chapter. Mark served as Trustee of the Chapter from 2009 through 2013.
Mark is very passionate about project management, and believes adopting the best project management practices and skills is crucial to the success of enterprises today.

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