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Iterative Project Management

Iterative Project Management. Chapter 2 – How Do Iterative Projects Function? Part 1 . Basic Philosophy. No matter the methodology (and there are many), the most important feature: methodology is iterative and incremental.

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Iterative Project Management

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  1. Iterative Project Management Chapter 2 – How Do Iterative Projects Function? Part 1 Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development

  2. Basic Philosophy • No matter the methodology (and there are many), the most important feature: methodology is iterative and incremental. • Regardless whether use-cases, pair-programming, scrum-meetings, feature-driven development, design by test approach or others is used, an iterativeapproach will greatly assist in producing predictable results. • Iterative development is characterized by small mini-projects (iterations) designed with a clear set of objectives producing a measurable executable (product) objectively assessed that incrementally advances a product of increasing business value. Lots of keywords in this. • The objective of this approach is simply to maximize chances for project success. Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 2

  3. Mindset of Project Success • “Chaos” approach claims successful projects are finished on time, within budget, with all the features / functions present. • BUT: Using these criteria, most projects still fail; • with 16-24% succeeding; • And 15-40% ‘challenged’, • and 33-53% failed! • Successful: completed on time within budget; contains intended features/functions. • Challenged: project completed and operational but is over budget/time and has fewer features than originally intended • Failed: project is cancelled before completion. Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 3

  4. Mindset of Project Success Author claims that a successful project oftentimes facilitates organizationalchange, which changes ‘success’ criteria. While the ‘above’ criteria are important, the real ‘success’ is determined by the clear benefit to the businessas measuredandverified by business sponsors! 4/1/2014 Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 3

  5. Mindset of Project Success So, we are saying that sometimes providingspecificbusinessfunctionality (we know what this is) may not be as important as deliveringbusiness benefit. These are not necessarily the same! Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 4

  6. Mindset of Project Success“Business Benefit” • So what is ‘business benefit?’ • While we are certainly interested in projects that deliver business value in terms of functionality delivered, on time, and within budget, ‘businessbenefit’ itself may differ markedly from project to project and from stakeholdertostakeholder! 4/1/2014 Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 4

  7. Mindset of Project SuccessBusiness Benefit - continued • Business benefit is much more than business value delivered through functionality delivered. • A little more comprehensive metric: • “Ultimately a project should be judged upon the value that it delivers to the business that commissions it, the customers that purchase its products, and the users that use them.” So: • Given this backdrop, business benefit might also be that: • It was an imperative the application be ‘firsttomarket’ of its kind. • It be a really innovative set of functionality; something really new! • It might be significant additionalqualityorperformance… 4/1/2014 Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 4

  8. Mindset of Project SuccessIt’s all about Outcomes! • Thus a project manager must understand the desired outcomes of the project are and what business results the product is expected to deliver. •  Too often, development teams focus on technicalaspects of the project only to find themselves divorced from the “sometimes not too obvious” real business benefit desired by other stakeholders. Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 5

  9. Success and the Iterative Projectm-1/2It’s not just the functionality! • In iterative development, the project may be adapted to changingrequirements as changingunderstanding of what constitutes success as the project progresses. • Poor results may occur if the views of some stakeholders, say the project managers or customers, are divergent from the developers. • An iterative approach helps us avoid this possibility of a project viewed as a failure by some yet a success by others. • We need to measure project success by focusing on desired businesssuccess and not necessarily blind adherence to some original plan that might focus on pure functionality. Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 6

  10. Success and the Iterative Project 2/2All Stakeholders Involved! • So here: each iteration has objectivesset by the managementteamcollaborating with the developmentteam (esp on technical objectives) and the customerteam (esp where business/requirements – related objectives are defined). •  Remember, it is far more important (especially to management / customer) to deliver / test scenario(s), and/or set of implementedrequirementsorchanges resulting in a newrelease with more functionality than to produce a complete set of analysis and design documents for these features! Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 7

  11. Evidence of Success • Pitfalls: (you may use these to fool yourself) • Use the iterative nature to excuse never finishing anything! • Allow results of one iteration to subvert results of previous iterations. A No-No! • Successful project management continuously monitors iterations so that an iteration • Takes a measurable step closer to desired result • Builds upon successes of previous iterations • Reducesprojectrisk • The success of a project is measured and becomes increasingly more evident iteration by iteration! Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 8

  12. Key Characteristics of a Successful Iterative Project • Demonstrable, objectively measured progress • Incrementally increasing functionality • Continually improving quality • Continual risk reduction • Increasingly accurate estimates • Reducing levels of change • Convergence on a accurate business solution • Let’s look at some of these… On time, on budget, meeting the customer’s real needs. Iterative Project Management / 01 - Iterative and Incremental Development 9

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