Project Management Approach

Planning is the foundation of a solid project plan. Strategic Planning will ensure the project goals are aligning to the company’s vision. It is important to note that during the life of the project, the vision may change.

Regardless of the type of Project, budget and cost management will play a crucial role to fund the project as well as support the business case. Earned value calculations, balance sheets, business models as well as financial reports.

Understand Common Project Management Approaches

Project Management methodologies are constantly evolving and the choice depends on uncertainty, team needs, and the work involved. Below are nine approaches, frameworks, or bodies of guidance.

• Agile Methodology – Agile although commonly referred to as a methodology is more a set of principles that are flexible, iterative design and build process. They work effectively in dynamic environments where a change in requirements is expected.
• Scrum Methodology – looks to improve the delivery process. It is very popular in software development. Scrum is more of a framework for ongoing development and maintenance of complex products. Scrum advocates using small cross-functional teams.
• Kanban focuses on visualizing work, limiting work in progress, and improving flow. Kanban is more focused on evolutionary change. Improvement is achieved by increasing the focus of the team. Kanban’s goal is to release work with constant improvements to time and quality continuously. This methodology is suited for operational or maintenance work where priorities can shift.
• Scrumban combines practices from Scrum and Kanban; it is a hybrid approach where both Scrum and Kanban are combined. It takes the flexibility of Kanban and combines it with the structure of Scrum. The idea is the planning will be done on demand while regularly reviewing flow and opportunities for improvement. This methodology can work for product development where there is no clear roadmap
• Lean methodology’s primary focus is efficiency. It suggests you can do more with less by addressing the three dysfunctions that create waste: Muda (removing anything that does not add value to the customer), Mura (remove variances and create a standard process) and Muri (removing overload, trying to do too much will lead to inefficiencies). They are also known as the 3Ms.
• XP – Extreme Programming methodology is for software development and defines values and processes to improve software quality and ensure responsiveness to evolving customer requirements. It differentiates itself from Scrum with mandatory rules
• Waterfall is a sequential development approach within the broader category of software development life cycles (SDLCs). It focuses on planning the project entirely and executing through the phases. Each phase must be completed before the next phase can begin and there is no overlapping in the phases.
• PRINCE2 methodology is very process-oriented. It provides structured governance and management practices that should be tailored to the project.
• PMI's PMBOK Guide and associated standards provide project management principles and guidance; they are not a single prescribed methodology. It is important to note that these are more best practices and you would not run a project based solely on PMBOK®

There are many more methodologies, and you may find that none of these are best suited for your project. It all depends on your customer, the team and the project itself.

Our Project Management classes and PMP® Certification Bootcamp dissect the various methodologies. Come and explore and find out how our classes can help increase your skills.