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Project Management Methods for Digital Projects

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Projects or processes may be used to categorize all of our actions at home or at work and if two or more people are involved you need a project management plan. 

Once you’ve arranged the order in which the tasks will be executed, you can finish the project effectively. 

A process is something you repeat frequently, but a project is something fresh that you have never done before. A project management strategy is required if there are several participants.

A project management plan is necessary to keep track of all the events as responsible teams carry forward the tasks.

Because of the triple restrictions such as quality, time, and cost, projects are challenging to complete. 

Conflicts between the various parties can also complicate a project. Therefore, it’s crucial to hold a initial meeting and decide the way forward and what you hope to achieve.

A Project Management Plan is crucial for not to promise the impossible but to reach for the achievable.

There are 3 different methods for project management. PRINCE2 and APM framework.

What is PRINCE2 (Project In Controlled Environment) Method?

PRINCE2 is made up of 7 Themes, 7 Principles, 7 Processes. Processes answer the “How?” Principles answer the “Why?” and Themes answer the “What?” All three of these combined it delivers a flexible, easily repeatable guide to deliver successful projects.

The 7 Principles of PRINCE2. (Practices in a project)

A justifiable reason for running and managing the project.

Gain knowledge from previous projects.

Involve the right people for the task and have a clear direction and goals.

The projects are broken into stages and at every stage the management evaluate and takes decisions before continuing to the next stage.

People working within the project should be given sufficient authority to effectively work in their environment where the top management is not disturb for every decision.

Corporate Program Customer sets the tolerance for the project.

The management team set the tolerance for the stages and the project manager set the tolerance for the tasks.

Know about the quality of the product, the delivery and the other requirements to achieve the end result.

The size the complexity and the importance, capability and risk.

The 7 Themes of PRINCE2

Record of business justification for the project.

Know the individual roles of the project team.

Quality requirements and the measurements considered for the project.

Steps required to develop the project.

Effectively analyze the risks and opportunities that could impact the project.

How the project manager is to respond to change.

Ongoing viability and performance of the plan and how the project should proceed.

The 7 Processes of PRINCE2 (The lifecycle)

At this point, the business case is used to evaluate the project’s feasibility.

This step involves assigning the executive manager, the project management team, incorporating prior knowledge, and compiling the project brief.

The project board authorizes this phase, approves the project’s plan of action for the stages, and provides ad hoc direction to ensure uninterrupted progress.

The most crucial phase that determines whether a project succeeds or fails is planned by the project manager.

The project plan is developed at this stage based on tailored needs, risk management, change control, quality management, communication management, and project controls.

The project moves on to the next step when the project initiation paperwork, which includes the Project definition, methodology, Business case, Team structure, and Role descriptions, is finished.

Making ensuring the management stage stays within tolerance is a part of this procedure.

A project manager oversees the stage’s operations once a project board gives the go-ahead for it to advance. After the work package has been approved, stage reviews are conducted prior to its completion, and remedial action is then implemented to reduce any difficulties and risks that were discovered.

The delivery of a project’s final service or product is the main emphasis of this stage, from acceptance through work package execution and delivery.

The technical manager, who delivers the reports and the project to the project manager, is the main performer of this task.

The project board may now evaluate the effectiveness of the current stage before planning and approving the next step.

The PID is then updated, and the majority of the project documentation are verified and evaluated, with the exception of the plan to restart the stage if the project or stage deviates from tolerance.

Due to its modest size and visibility to top management, the project closure tasks play a significant influence in the success of the project.

Planning for scheduled closure, suggesting premature closure, handing over items, and eventually recommending project closure.

What is the Agile Project Management (APM) Method?

Why spend several hours planning a project if the project itself is not very large?

In situations where needs and solutions are developed through team cooperation and tasks are completed gradually rather than all at once, it makes more sense to have a flexible strategy that can be adjusted.

The benefit of agile method is that it allows teams to produce value more quickly, with higher quality and predictability, and with a better ability to adapt to change.

A couple of the most popular Agile techniques include Scrum framework and Kanban framework. Also there are other methods as  Extreme Programming, Crystal Clear framework and much more.

SCRUM Framework

In order to assist teams in organizing and managing their work, SCRUM provides a collection of meetings, resources, and job responsibilities.

The Sprint planning is where the SCRUM Framework gets started. The team works together to find the answers to two fundamental questions: What work can be completed in this sprint and how will the chosen work be completed?

The sprint goal and the product backlog items that, when finished, would accomplish the goal are discussed by the project manager.

The team then develops a strategy on how to build the backlog items and mark them as “Done” before the sprint is over.

At a sprint, the team updates each other on the status of the work during the daily scrum or standup.
Before it enters production, the team presents its work to stakeholders and coworkers at the sprint review.

The sprint retrospective occurs at the conclusion of a sprint cycle. Teams can pinpoint areas for improvement for the upcoming sprint at this stage. You may now begin your subsequent sprint cycle.

Benefits of SCRUM

Customer:

  • More receptive to demands from the client
  • High-quality attributes
  • Quicker delivery with shorter cycles

Team for Development

  • Enjoy doing development work
  • The value and use of work
    a decrease in unproductive work

SCRUM Master

  • Planning and task-level tracking, regular meetings
  • Exceptional knowledge of project status
  • Recognizing and resolving difficulties swiftly

Vendor

  • High-value features were the focus of development
  • Efficiency improvements reduce waste and lower costs
 

Product Owner

  • Customer demands are taken into account throughout development
    Opportunities to re-prioritize tasks often Maximum value delivery
  • PMOs, C-level executives, and project managers
    High visibility of daily project progress
  • Adjustments based on data-driven planning reduced guessing

Similarities of SCRUM and KANBAN

Kanban is a project management technique that aids with task visualization, whereas Scrum is a technique that gives the team and timeline structure. 

Project management techniques like Kanban and Scrum focus on continual improvement and small job completion intervals.

Both SCRUM and KANBAN use an effective Lean method for cutting waste from any production process is the pull system.

When you use a pull system, you can only begin new work when customers request it.

This enables you to cut expenditures for overhead and storage.

The Work In-progress (WIP) method is used by both techniques while large tasks are broken down in to small tasks to complete them efficiently while keeping the team updated on the progress.

How does “limiting WIP” work?

Reducing the amount of work that is active at any given time is the process of limiting work in progress. 

This can imply reducing the number of tasks that an organization has in development rather than having multiple tasks pending. 

This can entail focusing on one feature at a time for the team, where tasks are completed fast and more effectively.

You can use tools like Trello or Slack to get started with the SCRUM framework in the Agile methods.

The APM framework focuses on achieving both quality and value under the same conditions rather than only on developing the final product within the established restrictions.

The APM Framework breaks down the whole project into smaller, more manageable goals that are finished in iterations. The method includes quality control, and teams review the standard of their project milestones after each cycle.

What is the difference between APM and PRINCE2?

Consequently, a PRINCE2 is perfect for organizations as it is less restrictive. APM, on the other hand, examines your capacity for effective project management.

It covers a wider variety of subjects, including project management’s “people” facets.

It is impossible to overstate the value of project management in companies. When done correctly, it makes every aspect of the business work more efficiently.

Your team is able to concentrate on the important jobs without being distracted by unmanageable budgets or projects that grow out of hand with these methodologies.