Recently I attended a seminar on “Agile” software development. One of the statements made by the presenter was to the effect that once agile is implemented properly an organisation will quickly realise that they don’t need project managers. The reason… the close, frequent interaction between the business and developers means that the management of a project is handled almost as a by product.
I’m not convinced by this thinking, unless it is restricted to the simple case of a small project with a fully committed and engaged product owner. In more complex situations (e.g. Multiple agile development teams working on a project in parallel) someone is needed to keep everything lines up and remains on track. Sounds like a project manager (PM) to me…
So in this situation, what makes a Project Manager an Agile one? How can you recognise one? First and foremost an agile project manager will be able to facilitate two competing needs
- help the project accept and adapt to change
- prevent change impacting the project delivery
This is the challenge in agile, where it is possible to do everything the client asks but not everything they ask for should be done. If you only have a product owner and the scrum master then in complex environments the former is likely and without the checks and balances that a disciplined project manager brings to the table then projects will fail.
I do believe the nature of project management will change. With more and more projects being delivered using agile or lean methodologies it has to. The focus for a project manager will become ensuring the delivery of the right thing at the right time whether that is requirements, designs, code or a functioning product. This is essential when the paradigm is iterative.
Project managers will live and breathe the mantra “if you don’t need it now… it can wait” and every will focus on Just In Time delivery. Or it will once vendors and customers figure out how to work effectively together using agile…
Holnor 