One approach to organizing projects is to simply manage them within the existing functional organizational structure hierarchy of the organization. Once management decides to implement a project, the different segments of the project are delegated to the respective functional units with each unit responsible for completing its segment of the project (see figure below). Coordination…
Tag: Project Management
Organizational Structure: Do You Belong?
Once management approves a project then the question becomes, how will the project be implemented. This article examines three different organizational structure mechanics used by firms to implement projects: functional organization, dedicated project teams, and matrix structure. Although not exhaustive, these organizational structures and their variant forms represent the major approaches for organizing projects. The advantages…
PRINCE2 and Scrum, Integration
There are some papers out there that reference a possible integration between PRINCE2 and SCRUM. While I do agree and feel that it is possible and even recommended I feel that the subject has net been treated with sufficient depth. Most of the papers suggest that the PRINCE2 process ‘Managing Product Delivery’ is place where…
Implementing Scrum: Challenges
Organizations that want to make a move to Agile will need to fully understand what is Agile and what challenges are likely to appear on the road to implementing SCRUM. There are a lot of examples where Agile implementations have gone awry and it is costly on so many levels. Implementing SCRUM is not that easy and it…
SCRUM, all you need to know.
Scrum goes back to 1986. It was first defined as “a flexible, holistic product development strategy where a development team works as a unit to reach a common goal” as opposed to a “traditional, sequential approach” in 1986 by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in the New Product Development Game. They later argued in The…
PRINCE2, all you need to know!
PRINCE2 is an established project management framework that is part of the Best Management Practice (BMP) portfolio of frameworks. The BMP family is formed by a large group of management and delivery frameworks that have been constructed from industry best practices covering wide areas of topics such as portfolio, programme, projects and service management. PRINCE2…
Agile Methodologies, here to stay.
Agile methodologies are becoming a trend in project management and software development. In 2007 a survey between 2250 companies showed that 25% of them were using agile methods. Scrum was confirmed to be the most popular agile methodology. A more recent survey on almost 500 companies showed that 40% of them were using Scrum. Demand…
Project Management Statistics
I love reading project management statistics. They are little snipes of information that can be used to start a conversation with your peers and easily engage. Here is a quick list of project management statistics I have put together: KPMG found ‘…and incredible 70% of organizations have suffered at least one project failure in the prior 12 months and…
Project Management Trends for 2015
The project management industry is evolving at a faster rate each year, both in technologies and methodologies. The environment continues to influence how organizations manage projects. Here are some project management trends for 2015 to help you prepare for what’s ahead. Project Management Trends 1.Less Waterfall, more Agile 2015 will bring even more Agile practices…
Six Sigma Project Management
Motorola wasn’t about to let the auto industry take all the credit for project management innovation, so decades after Toyota’s introduction of Kanban, the mobile phone company’s engineer Bill Smith created Six Sigma in 1986. It’s a more structured version of Lean than Kanban, one that sets specific stages and adds in more planning to…