Last week there was presented a very interesting article on
various project management methodologies. I would like to discuss one of them
in particular, that is the Scrum methodology which is one of the most popular
techniques used nowadays in companies
dealing with IT services and products.
I found an interesting text pertaining to this subject prepared by
Brasilian scholars, as well as a short article from Forbes. I hope you find
them interesting and useful.
Below there are some questions I would like you to consider
in our discussion with regards to the articles and the subject itself.
1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful
tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important
or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in
various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led
by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management
techniques?
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which
of them do you find most important and why?
Software is the most valuable thing in the modern technical World In my opinion. Of course nothing is less valuable than a human life and health but I touch only technical issues. In the beginning when software was rather something that simple programmers had built for example operational system as DOS or Linux only by themselves alone. In the beginning nobody heard about a project manager. There Were only programmers and customers. Nowadays software is a very, very sophisticated issue and therefore some kind of programs must be built by big teams. Thus I reckon project management methodology as Agile or Scrum or other must be implemented in modern companies. I think without this methodology (rather mixed techniques not particular ones) nobody can build a sophisticated computer program. As for your second question I think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies and only IT guys should be projected by a manager because PM with technical background better knows specificity of the tasks. As for your final question I reckon none of these practices mentioned in Agile Manifesto is by itself new. What seems to be new is doing all the practices together in a disciplined way of getting all work done. My favourite is number 10: be simple.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your opinion. I totally agree with you that a PM with technical background is a far better leader than a person with no expertise in IT field. Unfortunately, very often it does happen that PMs with no knowledge of IT specifics whatsoever become leaders of IT projects. "Be simple" is also my favourite one. If people implemented this rule more often, life would be so much better and easier fpr everyone.
Delete1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteI think that Scrum methodology is very very good tool. As IT programmer and at the same time team leader I know how hard it is to manage IT project. And we all know that IT people have very often problems with soft skills. It is very useful because it gives opportunity for working simultaneously all the groups - graphic designers, back end group, user experience group and front end group. Project management methodologies are very useful, without them project would be very hard to process and finish.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
I think that every IT specialist should be trained, because everyone should have at least basic knowledge about managing. Not every company have project managers, very often a standard programmer must be a project manager and it is very hard if you have no idea about it. It is also another duty that people are paid for. I don’t believe in managers that does not have any IT background, they should never be part of IT company, if you have no idea about programming and how much time you need to finish particular parts of the project how you can manage it.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
I think that this principles are very basic. There are general rules like make the best work you can, keep getting better, be motivated and so on. In my opinion the 3rd principle - to deliver software frequently is important because it requires adding functionalities that other team members might need to do their’s part. It also shows the client that project is built and he can see the real result of it.
Thank you for a great response. I also don't believe in managers with no expertise in the field the project pertains to. Only people with IT knowledge know how much time and effort is needed to accomplish a particular project milestone.
DeleteI’ve had a lot of success with Scrum but also some failures. Please see some reasons why:
ReplyDeleteIterations efficiency
With Scrum, there is an explicit commitment (whether the Scrum books tell you or not) on what stories are going to be delivered within the sprint, and ones that are stretch goals/extra/end ones. There’s something psychological about timeboxing, and working filling the space allotted. When we moved away from explicit time-boxed iterations, and just delivered as fast as we could without iterations, we saw a marked improvement in delivery.
We still had regular checkpoints on schedule/timing/etc. but no longer were burdened by iteration boundaries to decide to do more work.
Iteration planning meetings
Group discussion around design, group estimation, group acceptance, all highly inefficient. These meetings are helpful when the team has problems with commitments or trust, but otherwise, these meetings require a lot of time.
Scrum in established organizations
For established organizations, Scrum is very hard to deploy. Moving from yearly or semi-annual releases to weekly iterations is very, very hard. And very easy to fail at.
Pull/flow-based approaches start with what you have, and work on improving that. Scrum works when the organization is open to change. Flow-based works when the organization is not, by starting with existing work, highlighting inefficiencies, and allowing the organization to decide to improve (or not). Shoving Scrum down the organization’s structure, especially when it comes from the development team, has a high probability of failure.
Disruption can be good, but it’s extremely risky.
Focus not on delivery
This might be a bit controversial, but the big difference between Scrum and other methodologies for me were the difference of focusing on process versus delivery. For instance Lean focuses on delivering value, and having a set of approaches on discovering your unique way of doing so, where Scrum has a framework for a process and tells you if you don’t follow this approach, you’re doing it wrong.
Ultimately, our goal is to continually deliver success. Well, most developers anyway. Too much discussion comes around “are you doing Scrum” versus “are you delivering”. Delivering is what matters. Process is merely the how.
What I like about Scrum?
A lot of people have had success with Scrum, including myself. I like Scrum, when it works well. What I don’t like is the assumption that it can work everywhere. It can’t, and it’s not a problem with your organization if it doesn’t. It’s a problem with Scrum.
Scrum forces iterations, forces feedback, forces smaller iterations. These are all good things, which I loved about Scrum.
So how do you know if Scrum isn’t right for you? If it’s hard. If it’s easy, then it will work for you. If it’s hard, then you’re using a process to force organizational change, and that’s a rather lousy, failure-prone way to do it.
Thank yoou very much for a very insightful comment. I also have both positive and negative experience when it comes to using and implementing Scrum methodology. Either it works well or it doesn't work at all. It all depends on the project and team. The problem with all projects and methodologies is that you work with other people. You can do everything you can to make things work, but for a successful project your effort is not enough, your team members need to have the same approach and pro-active attitude as you.
DeleteHello everyone
ReplyDelete1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
I think most important is to use a Agile process methodology. Scrum is only one of many management techniques. I know people who uses Agile systems to manage process but not using SCRUM.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
This is quite surprising question. In my opinion manager should be aware of what he is managing. Do not have to be a IT specialist but need to know IT background. In my opinion knowing various techniques do not make you a good manager. You should know the managing background of managed team.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
I am not a manager. I read those points and lots of them are so obvious that I will spare my comment to avoid bad commenting ;)
1. Making customer satisfaction a priority though continuous and frequent deliveries;
It is quite obvious. You should finish steps on time.
2. Embrace requisite change, even in an advance project phase;
Good advice.
3. Deliver software frequently, in the smallest possible time frame;
I am not sure about this.
4. Create synergy between the business and development teams in order to allow them to work together daily;
This is SCRUM philosophy. I am not fun of daily meetings...
5. Keep a motivated team providing the environment, the support and confidence needed;
ok
6. Allow efficient information spread through face to face conversation;
Is it always working?
7. Having a working system is the best progress measurement;
8. Promote sustainable development through agile processes;
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and to a good project increase agility;
10. Be simple;
...
11. Allow teams to self organized using the best architectures, requisites and projects.
I think it is good when you have an experienced team coworkers. It will not work with the fresh group.
12. Make a reflection in regular intervals on how to become more efficent and adjust and optimize behavior.
Like I mentioned earlier I am not a manager. Lots of this advices are babling for me. I apologise for very radical opinion but lots of them are not working in my case. I prefer to work and self organise than taking a part in motivating speeches. The goal is a enough motivation for me but I will not deny effectiveness of management techniques. They work but not on me :)
Thank you for interesting remarks. As per question number 2 which you found rather surprising I also was certain that it's not possible to manage a project in the field you have no knowledge whatsoever of. Well, life proved me wrong. Unfortunately, very often project managers in large corporations become project managers,though they have no project management knowledge and skills and what is even worse, they have no knowledge with regards to the field of the project itself. Sad but true...
DeleteWhat do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find the project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteI think Scrum is a very good methodology. I also think that every major project has to work according to a specific Project Management methodology. I do not think it's only: "art for the art's sake"
Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
According to me, the methodology of project management is a tool in the manager's project hands. The answer to the second part of the question is dependent on the type of project.
Could you comment on the 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of you find the most important and why? I have no opinion about the 12 Agile Manifesto.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteOla27 May 2017 at 17:12
As for the article itself:
What do you think about it, as a person who've recommended it for the group? I think that the final thoughts which it presents seems to be copied and pasted from the very first scrum-enthusiast blog they've encountered. And written in poor english... It's neither revealing, nor interesting. Sorry to say that, but for me it was pain to read.
As for scrum itself:
I think that agile methodologies are generally very practical and consistent with human nature. I especially like the "Deliver software frequently, in the smallest possible time frame" point in the manifesto. People feel overwhelmed when being faced a very large project so that dividing it into the smallest parts possible seems like the best idea.
I don't think that project manager should be a technical person. I used to work with non-technical PM's and generally have a good impressions. For me key characteristics of a good PM should be tolerance (clients can sometimes be very... peculiar), patience and amicability. And no, there is no need for an IT specialist to be trained in management techniques, as long as they're led by the good PM, in my opinion :)
Thank you very much for valuable remarks. I also agree that many people feel overwhelmed with large projects and instead of trying to deal with it, focus on particular milestones and deliver end product in portions/parts, they tend to procrastinate everything and avoid facing the challenge, problem. I didn't have so much luck when it comes to working with non-technical PMs as you. From my personal experience, it turns out that technical background is very much desired for PMs leading IT projects. So you are a very lucky person that you dealt with so highly qualified and versatile leaders.
Delete1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteI think that every company should use one of management methodologies. Scrum may be very good and efficient methodology but the choice depends on many aspects like company, their products, team and some individual preferences. For example young team would prefer different type of management than older one.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
I think that better solution is to train IT specialist on managements techniques. It is easier to manage project when you understand details of product and know people needs and abilities.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
I find as the most important is to keep customer satisfaction and team motivation.
Thank you for your comment. I also think that customer satisfaction and team motivation are very important.A motivated team is higly more efficient and also more devoted to the project itself. Team members support each other, back up each other, try to work as one. Without team cooperation and appropriate level of motivation accomplishing a particular project will be extremely difficult.
DeleteThank you for your one interesting article but I rather not response for your question. Not because my two best years Scrum experience is treated as chaos knowledge but rather I don't like to share my knowledge to someone who even not provide his true name Michał.
ReplyDeleteI don't treat this blog as a trust telephone rather a knowledge base with few interesting links to very sophisticated wisdom.
Hello,
ReplyDelete1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
Project management techniques are important in nova days. We can take a look on statistics, which show progress in quantity and quality of delivered software solutions. We can use PM techniques and methodologies to optimise development path but also we are able to discuss with a customer at the same “language”.
Scrum methodology as I wrote at previous article has cons and pros. It is the most popular methodology in current time for sure. Nevertheless this trend is very dynamic and if you take a look. A couple years ago you was able to find other "the best" tools.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
Once again - as I wrote before - project management techniques should be used as framework to standardise our work. They are a great field to exchange information between customer and development team. It enforces some kind of communication path and teaches team members how to deal with customer expectations, changes, errors.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
Principles are principles so we should not classify them as less or more important.
Thank you very much for very valid points. Indeed, project management methodologies are to facilitate our work and life and so we should not focus on imaging them on a 1 to 1 basis. You are absolutely right, they should be treated as framework to standardise projects and the way of dealing with them.
DeleteThank you for the interesting topic of discussion and interesting articles. I'm not working in the IT industry so my observations may be less relevant. However, I think that regardless of the specificity of the company - management methods have a great impact on its effectiveness. Of course, different projects have different specifications, but from what I read, I say that Scum allows for efficient parallel work. Besides, I think that brave work on small tasks allows better verification of employees. This is also a feedback for them - they can correct their methods. In my opinion, it is more advantageous if the project is run by someone in the field who knows the management principles. It is difficult to identify a leader, it is important to maintain customer satisfaction, motivation of the team but also important is 10 - simplicity. In general, I think the solutions used should be as simple as possible and as complicated as needed - but no more.
ReplyDelete1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteScrum is not a methodology it is just a framework where You can implement agile practices like BDD, TDD, pair programming ect. Yes I think Project management methodologies are important to develop good quality products and deliver your products faster to the market. Scrum approach help us check our assumptions faster and adjust to rapidly changing market and our competitors pace.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
You will be never IT specialist not knowing basics of IT project management and You should be trained all of the time on different project management methodologies to know which technique is best to your company environment. People, company, country, culture and product itself could be different so You need to choose tools that will fit to yours organization. The same goes in different direction. You will never be specialist not knowing basic how is yours Product being developed.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
They guiding us how we should behave and what keep in mind when we want to build great product. We should’t forgot that behind Agile Manifesto principles are hided values like trust, respect, courage.
1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteSCRUM is not a methodology 😉
The question is wrong. Of course it is useful but it depends on the situation. SCRUM is not answer on every problem, same like PRINCE2 or any other technique. It is good and usefull in specific situation.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
Those two things are not related. You can have a great manager without IT background and bad one with a strong background. Opposite situation also is possible. Every person that leads project as a manager should be trained in various methodologies and techniques. As I said in point 1. There is no answer on every problem. We need to have a wide spectrum of experience and adapt to situation
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
They are very good but not understood by everybody.
Thank you very much for your comment. I also agree that you can have a great manager without IT background and a bad one with huge IT knowledge. It all depends on a person, but from my experience usually at least some basic knowledge of the field you are working in is higly desired, if not absolutely crucial. When it comes to question no. 3, if people took into account 12 Agile Manifesto principles in their day-to-day work, world would be a much easier place.
Delete1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteAnother post about Scrum. It's so boring and meaningless. Especially if you look at it same as I do. It's just a bunch of buzz words for managers. Most companies are using their own approach to Scrum. Why? Because they can, because they have no idea how to do that etc. In most cases you end with poor quality product or frustrated team.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
No, they shouldn't. It's a waste of time.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
None, why? Because it's meaningless. Based on my experience I can say that most managers and companies aren't ready to work in such environment. Furthermore, it's so annoying when someone keep saying we are using Agile, we are so innovative etc. At the end, instead of saying Agile they should use chaos management.
Thank you very much for your comment. I do understand your point of view, but I do not agree with it. I think the problem lies not in project management techniques, but in the fact that in many companies inappropriate people take positions of project managers, team leaders etc. Those are people who have no knowledge of management and team cooperation whatsoever. They do not know how to execute tasks and how to lead a group. Even worse, they often do not have even basic knowledge of the field they are working in. The problem lies in people and corporation policy, not project management techniques per se.
DeleteAd. 1
ReplyDeleteI believe Scrum technology can be very useful tool for IT projects, because it gives methods for putting all the activities and resources in order. Avoiding chaos is the most important task for project manager. As I’ve written lately, PM’s skills are crucial for probability of project’s success. Leader can motivate people and organize all the processes, but he needs the tools to do so. Scrum can be such helping idea.
Ad. 2
Indeed, in my opinion it is better for project to be conducted by a person with no IT background. Then he can concentrate on project organization aspect and he is not able to focus on IT details. It could be very helpful, if IT specialists were trained in different project methodologies, because it would make them getting used to follow the PM’s instructions, and it would let avoiding team’s individuals’ decisions.
Ad. 3
I find 12 principles very useful and inspiring, especially:
- Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done – this is a task for smart leader.
- The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation – because now people often write emails and don’t have time to meet, but nothing can replace personal contact.
- The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams – because spontaneous groups have the best power and motivation for work.
In my opinion attitude presented in Manifesto can inspire to new ideas, helps to develop human thinking. What’s more, after small modifications concerning professional language, it can be successfully adopted and used in other projects.
1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteI don’t use any methodology and everything in the company I work for is great. We have big and small projects and we use simple management – without any project management methodology - and it’s enough. In my point of view it depends on the company. Perhaps for programming companies it is a good way of management.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
As far as I’m concerned IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies. From my experience I’m completely sure that person with no IT background can have big problems with proper discernment of IT realities. However, such person can be a very good support for the project manager.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
These principles look very interesting in general. In my opinion the most important is the last one (12. Make a reflection in regular intervals on how to become more efficient and adjust and optimize behaviour). Reflection in regular intervals can influence the whole project very positively. It seems to be a kind of self-evaluation. Maybe it would be felt even in the procedural and financial aspects.
1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteI like working in Scrum methodology. It gives flexibility to the project and increases a cooperation between IT and the clients. It also helps to manage the work of developers, by createing specific "tasks", analyzing them and following during the whole development. Scrum, by daily meetings also brings the knowledge of the project stage for the whole team in a regular way, which is especially important when the programmer works remotely (not in the office). In my opinion Scrum is a great tool to manage medium and large projects, in smaller ones all Scrum procedures might be too complicated.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
I think that project managers should have IT knowlegde, because then they can really understand the problems and challenges that programmers face, but of course they do not have to be a specialists, just have general knowledge. The person with IT background can also explain the technical issues for the clients in a simple and understandable way.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
I can't say which principle of Agile Manifesto is the most important, probably it depends on a project. The Manifesto covers all the topics that are important during IT project, which are: client satisfaction, flexibility, project success and IT team satisfaction. It also describes how the team should communicate and pay attention to the technical details.
1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Scrum framework is a useful tool in dealing with IT products. However, it really depends on the subject of a task. Project management methodologies may be concerned as an overall reflection of tendencies. Eventually, many companies produce their own approaches to fulfill core requirements.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
I think that IT background is a vital skill in some tasks in PM. Maybe it is only my perception, however, in my opinion combination of IT experience and knowledge of various PM methodologies theoretically should provide a desired effect.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
These are really interesting principles. I think that the 6th is most important one: "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation." There are some issues which emerge in a face-to-face conversation. During such a dialog it is much faster to clarify some cases contrary to exchanging e-mails.
1. What do you think of Scrum methodology? Is it a useful tool in dealing with IT products? Do you find project management methodologies important or do you think that they are just "art for the art's sake"?
ReplyDeleteI don’t use any methodology and everything in the company I work for is great. We have big and small projects and we use simple management – without any project management methodology - and it’s enough. In my point of view it depends on the company. Perhaps for programming companies it is a good way of management.
2. Do you think that IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies or is it better when a project is led by a person with no IT background, but a profound knowledge of management techniques?
As far as I’m concerned IT specialists should be trained in various project management methodologies. From my experience I’m completely sure that person with no IT background can have big problems with proper discernment of IT realities. However, such person can be a very good support for the project manager.
3. Could you comment on 12 Agile Manifesto principles? Which of them do you find most important and why?
These principles look very interesting in general. In my opinion the most important is the last one (12. Make a reflection in regular intervals on how to become more efficient and adjust and optimize behaviour). Reflection in regular intervals can influence the whole project very positively. It seems to be a kind of self-evaluation. Maybe it would be felt even in the procedural and financial aspects.
บาคาร่า online
gclub online