Why PMI and Disciplined Agile (DA)?
Project Management Institute (PMI) and Disciplined Agile (DA) merged efforts in August 2019. Since then, the organizations have been on a path to help the project management community become more Agile.
Cutting through the Clutter
Organizations know they need to be more Agile, but in in too many cases view Agile as a one-size-fits-all methodology. Leveraging a cookie-cutter approach doesn’t allow businesses and teams to reap the full benefits of Agile, which in turn makes people question the value of the methodology overall. But Agile offers a full scope of methodologies and frameworks that can meet the needs of a variety of project objectives – from Scrum to Lean to Kanban and beyond.
Understanding the needs of the specific project at hand and leveraging the appropriate methodology and framework is key to your project’s success. The question is: how do we navigate the myriad of methodologies and frameworks that exist?
Organizations need a way to cut through the clutter. Since merging last summer, PMI and Disciplined Agile (DA) have been working to help organizations do just that.
Finding your Way of Working (WoW)
There is more than one approach to Agile, and it’s important to understand what makes the most sense for your project. Teams must be empowered to choose and evolve the process to what works best for their situation and address any obstacles that may arise.
We call this Choose your WoW?.
To be an effective project manager and lead a successful team, you must know how to choose a WoW appropriate to the specific situation you’re facing. A single “standard” process or collection of “best practices,” may not fit for what your team needs. At the same time, your teams must be able to choose and then improve their WoW as their situation evolves.
As organizations continue to adopt this approach, DA helps organizations choose their WoW in a context-sensitive manner.
Why join up with PMI?
PMI offers professionals the tools, resources and certifications they need to navigate project-based work. From waterfall to Agile to hybrid, it’s about empowering professionals to be versatile and giving them the skills to be successful long-term. This goes hand-in-hand with DA’s mission.
Looking at Agile specifically, our goal is to provide options for agile practitioners that best meet individual needs and career paths.
The marriage between PMI and DA helps organizations and individuals holistically navigate Agile – from a certification that tests and validates their understanding and application of agile principles and practices to learning how to choose their WoW to meet the needs of the project at-hand.
The PMI-ACP?, for instance, certifies an individual’s experience working on an agile team in any role, while the Disciplined Agile offerings focus on tailoring practices to optimize agility. DA offerings are distinct from PMI-ACP in that they include training for individual practitioners, as well as teams delivered by DA. This is a great way for PMI-ACP credential holders to continue on their journey to learn effective ways to tailor and scale agile across organizations.
Looking Ahead: 2020 and Beyond
Agile is here to stay. The forthcoming new PMBOK? GUIDE and PMP? exam will include more Agile content, and we will begin to see an increase in the meaningful Agile certifications that are earned. Books covering this topic are being transitioned, and then further updated, into PMI publications. And new online and instructor led training (ILT) courses on Agile will become available to PMPs.
Once organizations, teams and project managers fully understand what their options are – and which of those options will work in different contexts – they will start seeing better outcomes.
PMI and DA are here to help the project management community navigate this next wave of Agile, and we are excited about what the future holds. For more information about Disciplined Agile, PMI's DA certifications, and upcoming training classes, please visit the Disciplined Agile hub.
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Written by Scott Ambler, Vice President and Chief Scientist of Disciplined Agile at the Project Management Institute (PMI).
Independent Oil & Energy Professional
4 年Does it mean choose your WOW to suit the context of the work? Does DA emphasize more on principle or process? I thought the conventional strategic management course offers the context through environmental scanning, doesn't it? Based on https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-agile, I see DA is very IT-focused, isn't it? It is not applicable to other non-IT industries, is it? How different is DA from Agile Alliance and Agile Project Management?
PAL? PSM? Principal Advisory Director at Infotech Research Group
4 年Particularly glad to see more Agile content being injected into PMI material (from my experience, a solid understanding of Agile has not yet filtered down into your typical PMO). Building up an appreciation for Agile, and adjusting PMO processes to support it, are helpful to nurturing real Agile adoption in any large organization.
MDM Master Data Management | Data Governance | Product - Account - Partner - Vendor - Contacts | Business Analyst
4 年Is Scott Ambler really a certified Agile and project management professional? I may believe or you may believe him. But will anyone in the 450 Million LinkedIn community? An HR recognizable name should be very long with many abbreviations and Scott has none. Who will employ him in case he wants a job? A decent Agile+PMP professional should have these things in the name. TOGAF ITIL SFC SSYBC PGMP PMP PBA ACP CDAP CDAC CDAI RPG RPG II ACP-PC
Disciplined Agile Coach, Disciplined Agile Instructor at Scrum Masters Inc.
4 年I don’t recognize you in the photo, Scott. ??
Manager, Information Technology at City of Richmond | Teaching Faculty | Board Member
4 年Thank you Scott for the update. I am so glad "This is a great way for PMI-ACP credential holders to continue on their journey to learn effective ways to tailor and scale agile across organizations."