Tips for Prospective PMPs - Edition 11

Welcome to the 11th edition of Tips for Prospective PMPs. This newsletter provides tips, advice, and lessons for those project managers pursuing the PMP?.

Included in this edition is an article on a brief introduction to Lean project management, an article on hybrid methodologies, and access to 5 practice questions and mini-lessons.

Article 1: Lean Project Management - A Short Intro

Are you familiar with the lean project management approach and lean principles? This short article provides a high-level introduction to lean project management.

Definition

Lean is a project management approach that emphasizes delivering value while reducing waste in time and materials.? Organizations using lean project management leverage this approach to increase profits while increasing value to the customer.

Five Principles

Lean is based on five primary principles:

• Identify value.
• Map the value stream.
• Create flow.
• Establish pull.
• Establish continuous improvement of flow.

Let us explore these five principles in more detail:

• Identify value.? Identify value from the customer’s perspective. To define value, project stakeholders or customers must first be identified. Every stakeholder may define value differently. A marketing customer may define value as time to market for a product. An internal operational customer may define value as cycle time or time from start to completion of a product. An accounting customer may define value as reducing the cost of goods.
• Map the value stream. Value stream mapping is a visual tool that maps the current workflow against the desired workflow from the beginning until the end of the workflow. Steps in the workflow are identified and examined. Steps in the workflow that contribute value are known as value added steps. Steps in the workflow that do not contribute value are known as non-value added steps. The types of waste that can be eliminated or reduced on a workflow can include:

o?? Overproduction or unnecessary features. This can lead to added costs, unnecessary inventory, and wasted material. Unnecessary features in software development projects, for example, lead to extra time and additional resource costs.

o?? Inventory waste or incomplete work. This can lead to unnecessary costs for storing and managing inventory. Incomplete work can extend lead times and introduce unnecessary management costs.

o?? Motion or task switching.? This is the unnecessary cost of internal motion by people or machines. Tasks that require excessive motion should be analyzed to determine the minimum effort required to complete the tasks. Waste is introduced when people switch between multiple tasks rather than focusing on one task at a time.

o?? Defects. Defects can lead to unnecessary costs required to fix the defect or loss of time or materials.

o?? Over processing. This is waste caused by doing more work or having more steps in the process than required. This can also include using more expensive equipment than required.

o?? Waiting. This is the cost associated with delayed time to complete the process or deliverable.

o?? Transport. Transport waste is caused by unnecessary movement of people, equipment, tools, product, or materials. For example, a project team working in close proximity, is more efficient than a team that is disbursed.

o?? Skills. Skills waste is associated with underutilizing the talent of the team members. This can result from not having the right tools to perform tasks, the misallocation of work, insufficient training, or not providing growth opportunities to team members.

• Create flow. Design the value stream to flow more efficiently by removing waste, eliminating unnecessary steps, and reducing or eliminating non-value add time.
• Establish pull. Led by customer demand, work should be pulled “just in time” from the previous process as work is completed. This keeps work flowing seamlessly throughout the process cycle.
• Establish continuous improvement of flow. By establishing feedback and review checkpoints, the value of products and flow can be improved. In agile project management, for example, retrospectives are used to review team performance and process improvement at the end of every iteration. All projects can benefit from maintaining a lessons learned log throughout the project life cycle.

Examples

The following are examples of using lean project management:

• In information technology, lean project management can be used to streamline the help desk ticket resolution time.
• In software development, lean project management can be used to speed up the delivery of value to customers. Agile project management incorporates many of the lean principles.
• In financial organizations, lean project management can be used to reduce the turnaround time to approve loans or financial documents.
• In healthcare, lean project management can be used to improve timing in patient intake and discharge processes.

Benefits

The benefits of lean project management include:

• Leads to more value for customers.
• Eliminates unnecessary waste.
• Leads to empowered teams.
• Leads to more efficient work.
• Leads to faster completion and delivery times.
• Provides more control and visibility of the project processes.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of lean project management include:

• Requires upfront planning and time.
• Lack of buy-in from teams and management.
• Lack of flexibility of resources.
• Too much focus on efficiency can lead to losing sight of the bigger or strategic picture.

Summary

Even if you do not formally use lean project management practices, you can benefit from understanding the lean principles and adapting them to your projects.

Effective project management is all about delivering value in the most efficient manner possible. Lean fits the bill.

Article 2: What are hybrid methodologies?

As agile methodologies have become more popular and attractive to organizations due to their iterative and incremental approach to providing value, hybrid methodologies that merge waterfall and agile have begun to emerge. Hybrid methodologies are a blending of waterfall and agile approaches.

Hybrid Defined

Hybrid methodologies may incorporate the following aspects of waterfall approaches:

• The structure of a phased approach to a project.
• The discipline of phase controls and transitions from one phase to another.
• Documentation trails.
• Defined milestones and approval points.
• Predictable outcomes.

Hybrid methodologies may incorporate the following aspects of agile approaches:

• Shorter development and delivery cycles.
• Iterative and incremental product delivery.
• Agile practices of standup meetings and retrospectives.
• Response to change.
• Flexibility.
• Adaptability.

Reasons for Using Hybrid

The primary reasons for using a hybrid methodology are:

• Fit-for-purpose: The nature of the project may lend itself to a hybrid approach. The goal of a fit-for-purpose reason to adopt a hybrid method is to deliver value to the customer in the best possible way.

For example, a project with high uncertainty can benefit from the incremental approach which allows the return on investment to be reevaluated after an early incremental delivery of value. A predictive approach to the same project would require a considerable investment prior to delivering value. Another fit-for-purpose example would be a project that can benefit from the structure of a waterfall approach but leverages the iterative and incremental approach of agile during a product development phase.

• As a transition to Agile: The goal of using a hybrid methodology may be to help the organization transition to agile. The organization and the teams within the organization may not be culturally ready to transition completely to agile due to a significant change in management and team practices. This is especially true for teams that have been very successful using waterfall methods. Using a hybrid approach allows the organization to gradually transition to agile methods and allows for a longer learning curve.

Factors to Consider

The following factors should be considered when tailoring for a hybrid approach:

• Organizational culture. How invested is the organization in traditional waterfall methods? If the organization has had success with waterfall methods and has invested in processes, procedures, and governance, the organization might benefit from a lower risk hybrid approach that allows for a gradual transition to more intensive agile methods.
• The project team. Is the project team open-minded to agile methods? Does the team have the appropriate experience on both traditional and agile approaches? Does the team have access to the business or customers? The answers to these questions will determine if a team can tailor a project for a hybrid approach.
• The project. Is the project a candidate for a hybrid approach? Does the project provide opportunities to use a hybrid approach blending both agile and waterfall?? If the answer is yes, then the approach should be decided early on in the project life cycle.

Advantages

The advantages of a hybrid methodology include:

• Adapts to the unique needs of a project.
• Allows for an easier transition to agile from waterfall.
• Leverages the best of both agile and waterfall.
• Encourages higher level of customer collaboration than waterfall alone.
• Can be used to reduce overall risk.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of a hybrid methodology include:

• May be more complex than a waterfall-only or agile-only approach.
• Requires more experience, knowledge, and expertise from the team members.
• May be difficult to replicate the methods for different projects.
• Planning may be more challenging.
• Acceptance from decision-makers may be difficult.

Summary

With the popularity of Agile, organizations and project managers should assess whether a hybrid approach to their projects makes sense. Depending on the project, the team, and the organization, a hybrid approach might be the answer to take advantage of the benefits of agile without compromising the structured traditional waterfall approach. If done right, you get the best of both approaches.

Article 3: Five Practice Questions and Mini-Lessons

Question 46: Project funding

Question 47: Project budgeting

Question 48: Stakeholder classification

Question 49: Agile budgeting

Question 50: Project startup

Eddie Merla, PMI-ACP, PMP

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