Scrum or Kanban? It depends on the type of project

The Agile framework has 2 significant or Key methodologies in today’s software project environment. Both are equally efficient and produce results. However, if the right methodology is used after accessing the project you are handling, that is when you get the right results. Also, over a period of time, as the organization project management model changes, …

Portfolio Management

On request from many, I am posting this article to cover the fundamentals on portfolio management. So what is portfolio management?There are many definitions available in different books and on the net. But, I would like to go with the standard one provided in PMI.“Project portfolio management — or simply portfolio management — is defined as the “centralized management of one or more portfolios that …

Actionables from Successful PMO's

In my previous article, I mentioned about what successful PMO’s do at the strategic level. To sum it up, they are strategically aligned, a vital part of the planning team, embrace core competencies, and show consistency in the project execution and yet flexible in their approach to managing change.So, the PMO have following key areas …

What successful PMO's do?

In today’ rapidly changing business environment, Project Management Offices (PMO’s) struggle to provide adequate support for the shifting priorities and faster delivery cycles. The basic reason for a PMO’s failure in an organisation has been that they have remained stuck to solely reporting and prioritization function focused on tactical project management. However, the need of …

Vital signs that tells you that Scope Management needs attention in your organization

Almost all projects would have a scope defined base. Those projects that don’t have a proper scope management in place would definitely be at a peril. Though most of the managers realize the importance of scope management in the first place, they almost fail to execute it properly. Either the processes are in place, but …

Tips to Conduct Successful Meetings

Meetings are normally conducted to help discuss certain problems or options and come up with a viable solution. There can be different kinds of meetings such as: 1) Meetings with clients to sell, to discuss on strategies to provide the best service, to trouble shoot problems related to product/ service etc…. 2) Meetings with internal stakeholders within …

Leadership Skills at all Levels for Project Success

Talking about successful projects, one aspect that comes to everyone’s mind is leadership skill needed to drive the project. When we talk of leadership skills, we normally attribute it to senior management at the programme or organisational level. What we do not realise is that leadership is actually required or rather necessary at all levels …

Why Scrum Projects Fail?… and how to solve it?

Having discussed about the importance of project management processes in Agile Scrum in my previous blog, let us now look at the reasons why Scrum projects fail and then we shall look at the approach to solve these problems to help achieve successful Agile Scrum projects. Re-iterating some key points on Agile Scrum… We now …

5 Agile Myths Clarified

Having discussed about the importance of project management processes in Agile Scrum in my previous blog, let us look at 5 key Agile myths due to which scrum projects fail. As discussed earlier, for many who are implementing Agile, they feel as if they have found a panacea to all project related problems. It seems …

Agile or Waterfall? Criteria demystified…

One of the major concerns across many organisations is whether to go for Agile or Waterfall methodology. Most of the project managers higher up in the corporate ladder have to take this decision. And this becomes more difficult when one has the pressure to deliver a successful project at the end. Thankfully, there are certain …

Is your Agile project focused on delivering the right value?

You may be focused on your Agile processes, tools and techniques. But, all this may not be delivering the right value to the customer. At the end of the day, it’s the customer who has to be benefit from the deliveries made through iterations and Release delivery. If we re-look at the traditional Iron triangle, …

Forecasting the Financial Stability of the Project

The Time value of money for projects is calculated not only in terms of money, but also in terms of:         Return on Investment (RoI)         Customer satisfaction         Employee satisfaction         Innovation Rate         Customer Usage         Customer retention       …

Agile methodologies: demystified

All Agile methodologies mostly share the same philosophy expressed in the Agile manifesto, but they differ in terms of the practices, processes and techniques. The Agile Manifesto was signed on Feb 2001 by 17 leading software developers, where the idea is to uncover better ways of developing software through execution and helping or enabling others …

Having ‘Mini-waterfalls’ in your Sprints? Fine tune your Team Collaboration

You have completed a few Sprint cycles in the past 5 months, in your project execution to deliver a project or a product. Your features are almost 50% complete. You have yet another 5 sprints to go. Your sprint cycles are of 1 month each. The team is at the peak of its performance. However …