Project Management

Methodologies
Methodology definition:

LO 8 A system of methods
used in a particular
area of study or
activity.
What Is a Project Management
Methodology?
A project management methodology is a set of principles, tools and
techniques that are used to plan, execute and manage projects.
 Project management methodologies help project managers lead
team members and manage work while facilitating team
collaboration.
Project Management Methodology
 There are many different project management methodologies, and
they all have pros and cons.
 Some of them work better in specific industries or projects, so
you’ll need to learn about project management methodologies to
decide which one works best for you and your project(s).
 We’ll go through some of the most popular project management
methodologies, which are applied in many sectors such as
software development, R&D (research and development) and
product development.
Top 10 Project Management Methodologies
https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/project-management-methodology

• Waterfall Methodology
• Agile Methodology
• Scrum Methodology
• PMI / PMBOK
• Critical Path Method (CPM)
• Kanban Methodology
• Extreme Programming (XP)
• Lean Methodology
• Six Sigma
•
1. Waterfall Methodology
 This may be the most straightforward and linear of all the project
management methods in this list, as well as the most traditional
approach.
 The name is apt, as the waterfall methodology is a process in which the
phases of the project flow downward.
 The waterfall model requires that you move from one project phase to
another only once that phase has been successfully completed.
1. Waterfall Methodology
 When to Use It:
 The Waterfall approach is great for manufacturing and construction
projects, which are highly structured, and when it’s too expensive to
pivot or change anything after the fact.
 The waterfall method makes use of Gantt charts for planning and
scheduling

We will come back to Gantt

Charts later in this LO
 2. Agile Methodology
Agile project management is an evolving and collaborative way to self-organize
across teams.
 When implementing agile methodology, project planning and
work management are adaptive, evolutionary in development, seeking
early delivery & are always open to change if that leads to process
improvement.
 It’s fast and flexible, unlike waterfall project management.
 Agile methodology offers project teams a very dynamic way to work and
collaborate & why it is a very popular project management methodology for
product and software development.
 Agile methodology appeared in 2001 with the publication of the “Manifesto for
Agile Software Development,” authored by 17 software developers.
2. Agile Methodology
When to Use It:
 The practice originated in software development and works well in that
culture.
 How do you know if agile is for you?
 It has been applied to non-software products that seek to drive forward with
innovation and have a level of uncertainty, such as computers, motor
vehicles, medical devices, food, clothing, music and more;
 and it’s also being used in other types of projects that need a more responsive
and fast-paced production schedule, such as marketing.
 3. Scrum Methodology
What It Is:
 Scrum is a short “sprint” approach to managing projects.
 Scrum methodology is ideal for teams of no more than 10 people and often
is wedded to two-week cycles with short daily meetings, known as daily
scrum meetings.
 It’s led by what is called a scrum master.
 Scrum works within an agile project management framework, though there
have been attempts to scale Scrum to fit larger organizations.
3. Scrum Methodology
 The term scrum was introduced in a “Harvard Business
Review” article from 1986 by Hirotaka Takeuchi
and Ikujiro Nonaka.
 It became a part of agile when Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle
wrote the book “Agile Software Development with Scrum” in
2001.
 Schwaber formed Scrum Alliance in 2002, a certified scrum
accreditation series. Schwaber left Scrum Alliance in 2009 to
start a parallel accreditation organization called Scrum.org.
3. Scrum Methodology

When to Use It:

 Like agile, the scrum methodology has been used predominantly in
software development,
 but proponents note it is applicable across any industry or business,
including retail logistics, event planning or any project that requires
some flexibility.
 It does require strict scrum roles, however.
4. Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK)
What It Is:
This is the granddaddy of methodologies if it’s a methodology at all.
 The Project Management Institute (PMI) is a not-for-profit membership
association, project management certification and standards organization.
 This organization produces a book called the “project management body of
knowledge” or PMBOK.
 The PMBOK provides definitions and guidelines for project planning,
scheduling, executing and controlling.
 For example, the project management process groups describe the project life
cycle, while the 10 project management knowledge areas explain how to
manage a project.
4. PMBOK
 PMBOK® is an acronym for Project Management Body of
Knowledge.
 It’s a book, published by PMI, that collects the processes, best
practices, terminologies and guidelines that are the accepted norm in
the industry.
 It was first published in 1996 and published its seventh edition in
2021.
4. PMBOK
When To Use It:
 Almost any project can benefit from PMBOK, as all projects big and
small are going to go through the various stages outlined in the book.
 It’s a great way to keep everyone on the same page, so to speak, and
offers a clear definition of how a project is managed.
 The Project Management Institute it’s also the organization that grants
the PMP certification, which is the gold standard among project
managers and is recognized all over the world.
 PMBOK is a great traditional framework to run a project.
5. Critical Path Method (CPM)
What It Is:
 In critical path method (CPM), you build a model of the project,
including all the activities listed in a work breakdown structure, the
duration of those tasks, what if any task dependencies there are and
marking off milestones to indicated larger phases of the project or
points in which your project deliverables are due.
 With this information, you can identify the longest sequence of tasks to
finish the project, which is called the critical path.
 You’ll need to keep an eye on those tasks because if one of them is
delayed, the whole project will be delayed.
5. Critical Path Method (CPM)
 CPM was developed in the late 1950s by Morgan R. Walker of
DuPont and James E. Kelley, Jr., of Remington Rand. DuPont
was already using a precursor of CPM as early as the 1940s,
and it was applied to the Manhattan Project.

When to Use It:

 CPM works better with smaller or mid-sized projects.
 The larger the project, the more difficult it can be to take all the data
you need to diagram and make sense of it without the aide of a project
management software.
6. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)
What It Is:
 In CCPM, you’re focusing on resources that you’ll be using to complete
the project, such as teams, equipment, office space, etc.
 It’s a less technical method of project management that doesn’t put as
much emphasis on task order or schedule, but rather on balancing
resources and keeping them flexible.
 First introduced in 1997, in the book “Critical Path” by Eliyahu M.
Goldratt, it has been credited with making projects anywhere from 10-
50% faster and / or cheaper.
6. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)

When to Use It:

 Can be applied to both large and small companies, and for projects
that include industries such as construction, software development
and tech research and development.
7. Kanban Methodology
What It Is:
 Kanban methodology is a visual approach to project management. The
name is literally billboard in Japanese.
 It helps manage workflow by placing tasks on a Kanban board where
workflow and progress is clear to all team members.
 Kanban helps reduce inefficiencies and a great project management
tool for many purposes such as lean manufacturing or agile projects.
7. Kanban Methodology
 Kanban has been around since late 1940s when it was
studied by Toyota to use the rate of demand to control the
rate of production of its vehicles.
 Toyota applied it to their lean manufacturing model, known as
the Toyota production system.
 With the dawn of visual planning boards in software in our era,
like Trello, there are now new uses for Kanban tools and
Kanban methods.
 Agile teams use Kanban boards for story-boarding user stories
and for backlog planning in software development.
7. Kanban Methodology
 When to Use It:
 Another process developed initially for manufacturing and for software
teams, the Kanban method has since expanded and has been used in
human resources, marketing, organizational strategy, executive process
and accounts receivable and payable.
 Almost anyone can plan with Kanban boards, adding cards to represent
project phases, task deadlines, people, ideas and more.
 Kanban software makes this methodology especially accessible.
8. Extreme Programming (XP)
What It Is:
 It sounds like some dangerous sport the kids are into, but in fact XP
is a type of agile software development with short development
cycles and multiple releases to improve productivity.
 Customer requirements are sought and can adapt the course of the
project.
 Created by Kent Beck while working on the Chrysler
Comprehensive Compensation System payroll project, he literally
wrote the book (“Extreme Programming Explained”) in 1999.
 But many of its practices have been around for a while.
8. Extreme Programming (XP)
When to Use It:
 When requirements change frequently, then you’ll want to use a
methodology such as XP.
 It’s good for when your customer doesn’t have a clear idea of what
they want.
9. Lean Methodology
What It Is:
 Lean project management is what you’d think it is from its name: a way to
cut waste and in so doing increase value in projects and manufacturing
processes.
 Lean focuses on eliminating waste from key processes to continuously be
impacting positively on the value stream.
 It does this by optimizing separate technologies, assets and verticals.
9. Lean Methodology
 Lean project management goes back to Henry Ford and his
flow production for automating the process of building cars.
 Toyota picked up on the idea, as well and extending
beyond manufacturing to the continuous improvement of the
product development process.
 Today, software development teams run lean processes to focus on
end-user feedback and increased value, which means the Lean
methodology has taken on a new meaning,
 particularly with the publishing of Lean Startup by Eric Ries, who
advocates for rapid prototyping, end-user feedback and early and
rapid product delivery.
9. Lean Methodology
When to Use It:
 Lean project management was first developed by Toyota and is
obviously a great methodology for manufacturing.
 In fact, it’s also referred to as lean manufacturing, but it has been
adopted by construction and education industries, among others
in the manufacturing space and countless startups and software
development firms looking to drive products focused on the end-
user.
10. Six Sigma
What It Is:
 Introduced by engineers working at Motorola in the mid-1980s, Six
Sigma works to improve quality by identifying what is not working in
the project.
 It applies quality management, including empirical statistics, and
employs personnel who are experts in these disciplines.
 There is also a Lean Six Sigma that adds lean methodology to
eliminate waste.
 As a doctrine, it says that continued efforts to achieve results that are
stable and expected are most important to success.
 Processes can be refined and improved.
 It takes the whole organization, from the top down, to sustain quality in
a project.
10. Six Sigma
When to Use It:
 This methodology works best in larger organizations.
 Even companies with a few hundred employees are likely too
small to take advantage of its benefits.
 11. PRINCE2
What It Is:
 PRINCE2 stands for Projects IN Controlled Environments and is a
structured certified methodology.
 It was initially created by the UK government for IT projects.
 PRINCE2 is not like other traditional methods like waterfall, in that it’s
not a one-size-fits-all solution, but follows seven principles, themes
and procedures.
 When the UK government adopted standards for IT systems in 1989,
they called it PRINCE.
 PRINCE2 came about in 1996 as a more general project management
method.
 It is now a popular project management methodology throughout all
UK governmental agencies and the United Nations.
11. PRINCE2
When to Use It:
 Adopted by many other governments,
 PRINCE2, as you can imagine, is not always suitable for
smaller projects.
Project Management Methodology
Project Management Methodology
 The Gantt Chart
• A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart that illustrates a
project schedule and has become a common technique for
representing the phases and activities of a project so they can be
understood by a wide audience.

• Although now a common charting technique, Gantt charts were

considered revolutionary at the time they were introduced.

• Gantt charts were employed on major infrastructure projects in

the United States including the Hoover Dam and the interstate
highway system and are still accepted today as important tools
in project management.
Project Management Methodology
Project Management Methodology
Explain what is meant
by tailoring and how it
would be applied to a
methodology or project​
 What is Tailoring?
Tailoring is the deliberate
adaptation of the project
management approach,
governance, and processes
to make them more suitable
for the given environment
and the work at hand.
 PMBOK 7th edition, pg. 131

Tailoring is the mindful selection and adjustment of multiple project factors.

What can you Tailor?
 Project aspects that can be tailored include:

 Life cycle and development approach selection,

 Processes,
 Engagement,
 Tools, and
 Methods and artifacts.
 Tailoring involves understanding the
project context, goals, and
What is Tailoring? operating environment.
Projects operate in complex
environments that need to balance
potentially competing demands that
▶ Delivering as quickly as possible, include, but are not limited to:
▶ Minimizing project costs,
▶ Optimizing the value delivered,
▶ Creating high-quality deliverables & outcomes,
▶ Providing compliance with regulatory standards,
▶ Satisfying diverse stakeholder expectations, and
▶ Adapting to change.
 Tailoring summary

 Tailoring involves the considered adaptation of approach,

governance, and processes to make them more suitable
for the given environment and the project at hand. It
involves the analysis, design, and deliberate modification
of the people elements, the processes employed, and the
tools used. The tailoring process involves 4 steps:
 Select initial approach.
 Tailor for the organization.
 Tailor for the project.
 Implement ongoing improvement
 Tailoring summary

 While the tailoring process is often undertaken by the

project stakeholders, the bounds and approach to
tailoring are usually governed by organizational
guidelines.
 Organizational governance helps ensure the external
interfaces between project teams mesh correctly and
provides guidance in the form of tailoring considerations.

PMBOK 7th Edition pg. 152

Project Management Methodology
LO8
The end!
NextLO9 Project
Management Software