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Agile Frameworks and Practices

Agile frameworks like Scrum can be adapted for different industries beyond software development, as many of Scrum's core principles around iterative planning, early problem discovery, and responsiveness to change are applicable to construction projects. Scrum roles like Product Owner and ScrumMaster can map to roles in construction like project manager and superintendent. Dividing construction projects into sprints with goals, deliverables, and work planning aligned to those goals allows for inspection and adaptation between iterations.

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Mary Charisse Sandro
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143 views

Agile Frameworks and Practices

Agile frameworks like Scrum can be adapted for different industries beyond software development, as many of Scrum's core principles around iterative planning, early problem discovery, and responsiveness to change are applicable to construction projects. Scrum roles like Product Owner and ScrumMaster can map to roles in construction like project manager and superintendent. Dividing construction projects into sprints with goals, deliverables, and work planning aligned to those goals allows for inspection and adaptation between iterations.

Uploaded by

Mary Charisse Sandro
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Agile frameworks and practices, like Scrum, can be adapted for different

industries and are not just here for software development. Many of the
core principles in Scrum can be used in other projects in order to come
up with a more effective way of running any project.

In construction projects, there is a lot of planning involved. Certain tasks


need to get done before others, and Scrum allows that planning process
to continue iteratively and to be well organized.

Discovering problems early on in the process is also vital, and so


the “inspect and adapt” activities of Scrum (sprint reviews and
retrospective) provide that structure and discipline. Certain concepts,
such as sprints, can be helpful in construction projects as well, to divide
up the work according to traditional milestones, like inspection points
with cities or the client who is financing the project. Other concepts such
as customer collaboration and responsiveness to change also have a
place in construction projects.

Even certain Scrum roles can be similar during construction


projects. For example, the superintendent could act as the ScrumMaster
and be responsible for facilitating the daily coordination of sub-
contractors. The project manager or lead engineer might act in the
Product Owner role and be responsible for decisions on behalf of the
client.

In Scrum, projects are be divided into iterations which allow teams to set
short-term goals and plan work that aligns with the
project’s “release” goal. As each sprint ends, a new sprint starts and
provides teams the opportunity to inspect and adapt what they learned
previously into the goal and plan for the next sprint. Listed below are the
top three questions that should be addressed at each meeting in order to
ensure goal alignment and progress for any project:

1. What is the objective that the Sprint should achieve, and what are
the product backlog items that would achieve the sprint goal? (Or,
“What is the sprint goal?”)
2. What can be delivered in the increment resulting from the
upcoming Sprint? (Or, “What can be done this sprint?”)
3. How will the work needed to deliver the Increment be achieved?
(Or, “How will the chosen work get done?”)

These might seem like simple principles, but for most newcomers they
can’t be mastered in one day - Scrum is easy to learn, and can
take a life-time to master. So, a good place to start for many can
be these simple 3 questions to guide changing the way you
work. People learn best by doing, so limit the scope of your plans, start
executing, inspect and adapt.
 Widespread adoption of Collaboration tools: There is no argument about the fact that
collaboration yields better results. Conventional project management systems will be widely
replaced by Collaboration Software like Slack, Jive, and Yammer. Project managers will need to
use their expertise in change management to adopt these collaboration platforms. Several
organizations are already focussing on multi-user collaboration for handling projects. If anything,
this trend will only get more popular this year.

 Implementing Project Portfolio Management (PPM) for New Product Development


(NPD): With the trend for Internet of Things and adoption of agile NPD has merged with PPM
giving rise to the development of new brands like UMT360, GenSight, and Decision Lens in the field
of Enterprise Product Creation. Product developers are now focussing on delivering improvised
products which can meet the market demands of being ‘agile’, to their customers. This level of
innovation can only be achieved using NPD PPM, as the traditional PPM software fail to accomplish
this task. NPD PPM is spreading fast and is likely to be applied to offline solutions as well.
 Emotional Intelligence is now sought after in Project Managers: To succeed as a project
manager in 2017, having soft skills and emotional intelligence (EQ) has become imperative. The
project manager must have the ability to manage his emotions and those of others. He must have
emotional awareness, must be able to use emotions for solving problems and for thinking, and
must also be able to manage and regulate his own emotions, be able to calm down and cheer up
his peers. The reason why EQ as an attribute is gaining emphasis is that these capabilities drive
better engagement, reduce turnover, and improve productivity and loyalty which directly translates
into better profitability for the business.

 PMP certifications will lose value: For a long time, there has been a demand for PMP and
PRINCE2 certified professionals in the project management domain. These certifications are an
expensive affair, however, the question that is now being asked is whether they have an equivalent
value, because it seems like the questions asked in the assessment for certification haven’t been
updated for a long time and it is quite likely that these aren’t in sync with the current day’s business
needs. Organizations now prefer professionals who actually display efficient project management
skills rather than certified professionals.

 Agile Management: Agile project management which till date, was only applied to the software
field, is now being adopted by other fields like finance, construction management, graphic design,
and marketing as well.

 Blended Methodology: Organizations are making a shift towards using blended methodology
derived from various aspects of Agile, Scrum or Waterfall or any other method for that matter. All
they want is that required results be delivered. They do not want to waste time in debating around
the methodology that should be used. Moreover, the blended approach has resulted in improved
project success ratios adding value to business.

 Remote Workstations gain ground: The culture of operating from a remote location is
becoming increasingly popular. Organizations too are allowing this because it has proved to
increase engagement, the end result of which is better productivity. Employees want to work
without being watched over all the time. It allows them more freedom and sparks creativity.
Although this method only works if the employee is proactive and driven, the trend is catching on
fast.

 Automation: Tasks like filling up timesheets and daily updates are simple yet recurring and not
on the top of the list of interesting things. Automation tools are now being integrated into these
systems to generate reminders and status alerts so that project management can be simplified.
Companies are even going to the extent of adding bots for some of these tasks.

 Big Data: This is the most important technology trend impacting project management. The need
of the hour is a project management software system that can process big data effectively and
efficiently and provide insights that can lead to smarter decisions. It will also enable the
identification of the weak links in the team so that corrective action can be taken at the right time
to improve productivity.

 Integrating learning from legacy projects: There are important project management lessons
in the successful legacy projects of the company. Project managers can include the success factors
from these projects into the current ones by training team members on the effective approaches
previously utilized. There won’t be a necessity to reinvent the wheel as several of these methods
can be learned and applied for success in similar projects of the present day.

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