"When you work in IT, you deal with the consensual hallucination of Project Management. There is an almost universal belief that it is possible to predict ahead of time how long a project will take, how much it will cost and what will happen along the way. In the broadest sense, this is possible. If you have enough experience you can come up with ballpark figures; last time we did something similar it took this long and cost this much. But some people believe Project Management should tell you these things down to the day and the dollar. A project plan should tell you every task that needs to be completed. A project plan should be flawless and leave nothing to chance. And a project plan should be completed before ANY work is done on the project."
The Myth of Project Management
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"Although they are often unappreciated by those around them, they are critical to making software development happen. The best project managers are often the most inconspicuous since things happen so smoothly when they are involved."
Positive Activities:
- Manage Customer Expectations
- Develop a Rapport with the Customer
- Understand Where the Project Really Is
- Increase Visibility
- Speak the Developer’s Language
- Know How to Say No
6 Signs of Good Software Project Managers (via Tom)
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The key terms above also fit with arguments over the role of project management in Agile, where the commonly asked question is `Does Agile Dispense with Project Managers?' since they are not expected to 'run' projects:
"Agile methodologies do away with many of the tasks by which Project
Managers formerly measured their own performance: they are no longer
required to manage the triple constraints of cost, schedule, and
scope. Product Owners and Development Teams are now accountable for
these activities.
So,
traditionally trained project managers experiencing the shift to Agile
are often confused as to what their new roles and responsibilities
should be in an environment that no longer requires them to make
stand-alone decisions."
The positive activities detailed above really come into force here.
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To Manage Agile Projects you need to consider the following suggested practices:
- Emphasizing leadership, not management
- Tackling visibility and reporting
- Prioritizing requirements based on business value
- Making collaboration a first-order process
- Implementing true test-driven development
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People are still needed (pdf) to:
- Manage the Boundary
- Manage Team Membership
- Manage Risks
- Be a Team Champion
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There exists A Project Manager's Survival Guide to Going Agile which may provide a useful resource when I get the chance to read it.
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