Street Smart Project Management - PMP Vs PRINCE2 Vs AGILE

There is always lot of debate on the project management practice, why projects are failing and how it can be pulled back from delays etc. I will share some of the point which can help to better manage large project in complex organization where organization is matrix based and resources are shared. I will also highlight the value shared by different methodology like PMP, PRINCE2 and AGILE Project Management. Project Manager should be street-smart at the end to engage each of good elements to get desired results.

1.    PRINCE2 is Project Management by exception: In PRINCE2 Project Management, an implication of Management by Exception is that the project board should meet when key decisions about the project should be taken, and not on regular intervals. The Project Manager should produce an Exception Report to ask the board for meetings. "Management by Exception is a policy by which management devotes it’s time to investigating only those situations in which actual results differ significantly from planned results. The idea is that management should spend its valuable time concentrating on the more important items (such as shaping the company's future strategic course). Attention is given only to material deviations requiring investigation.

2.    PRINCE2 is best techniques which makes management Accountable for project success & failure (Not a joke, you need their blessings) this always have better chances to succeed. Ultimately project manager want to be successful manager with less head breaking pain.  Provided money and resources project manager can do wonders, but think when you have organization where you are not the direct manager and asking people to engage on your project could not be easy. One of the best part of PRINCE2, it gives an organization where project manager is only responsible and project is delegated to him by project board (comprising of suppliers – who will ensures skilled & requested resources are present to execute the project, Senior users – Right requirements are given and Executive-Chairman of the board who can intervene when required and also help to resolve conflicts). Board is accountable for the project and it would be best interest of the board (Management) to get the resource and money to get desired results.

3.    Being agile at beginning of big project does not help in big projects. When you start project we should have bird eyes view and it should have less interconnections, do not try to do everything from first day. With large enterprise project we should not have Tunnel Vision which will haunt at the end. Remember It is difficult & thousand times costlier to fix up the system later.  Many instance non functional requirements are easily getting ignored because they have no direct impact on user experience. Most of the time agile mechanics are time boxed which should not be the case in the beginning. It is expensive mistake although being advocated to be good practice by agile practitioner.

4.    Being agile at end of the big or small projects does help a lot. Why? At the end you have integrated system where things works in several ways and it is not easy to visualize at beginning by customer and you. You should be ready to adjust the thing which gives integrity and business value to the users. Last one month (I will say 5-15% of duration project timeline) development team and users should work in together with users to weed out problems. Being agile or doing agile project management has many definitions. In simplest form I will define it as “Being Proactive as one Team - Customer and Developer”.

5.    People who challenge most could have major stake in side project. As project manager you should outsmart them by doing better. Take note of all that what they wish, try to work on it. Make them accountable in board as early as possible so that they provide enough support or provide means for solution.

6.    Use EVM technique for large project to clearly show to management for the progress and value earned by project overtime. EVM integrates the areas of performance, schedule, and actual cost to provide metrics for work actually accomplished. Earned value (EV) Show the efficiency how the project is managed and give better picture of performance than SV and CV which are outdated.

7.   To my view below are the value shared by different methodology like PMP, PRINCE2 and AGILE Project management.

Values	PMI	PRINCE2	Agile
Management by Exception	**	*****	*
Being Agile	***	***	*****
Cost Accountability	****	****	*
Timeline	***	****	**
Quality	****	****	***
Earned value management	****	****	**

Please help to share your thoughts to discuss this.