5 Conflict Resolution Techniques in Project Management

Today we will discuss the five conflict resolution techniques that we use in project management to resolve conflict.

These techniques are universal to any type of workplace.

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However, in project management, the work environment is dynamic and stressful, unlike the functional environment. Conflicts are common occurrences. If you are managing projects, you know how important it is to manage conflicts, and that is why you should understand the conflict resolution techniques. 

Conflict Resolution Techniques

When two or more stakeholders have different opinions or interests, conflict can occur. 

Schedule priorities, scarce resources, technical reasons, and personal issues can all cause clashes. According to the American Management Association, managers spend 24% of their time managing conflicts.

Don’t panic; the situation is usually not as bad as you think. Resolving conflicts appropriately can build trust and sometimes bring new ideas and opportunities. This can make the difference between a positive and negative outcome.

If you don’t solve the conflict, your team members will lose trust. It will weaken your position as a project manager and the ability of your team to bond, which may affect your project’s success. You must deal with conflict before it is beyond resolution.

The following are a few consequences of improper conflict management:

◉ Low team morale

◉ Negative impact on the project manager’s authority

◉ Increased number of personal clashes

◉ Low productivity and efficiency

◉ Low-quality work

If required, project managers must monitor and resolve conflicts as quickly as possible to keep them from becoming bigger issues.

Now, we will talk about conflict resolution techniques.

This blog follows the PMI guidelines and PMBOK Guide. Here are the five techniques:

1. Withdraw/Avoid

2. Smooth/Accommodate

3. Compromise/Reconcile

4. Force/Direct

5. Collaborate/Problem Solve

These conflict management strategies are also known as Thomas-Kilmann’s five approaches to resolving conflict.

Let’s discuss each technique in detail.

#1. Withdraw of Avoid

In this conflict resolution technique, you avoid the conflict or retreat and allow conflict to resolve itself. This is for when stakes are low, and the conflict is likely to disappear on its own.

Use this technique in the following cases:

◉ Individuals involved in the conflict are not influential stakeholders.

◉ The issue does not require a time investment.

◉ An intense argument has already happened, and the individuals need time to cool off.

◉ You do not have enough information to pursue other techniques.

Advantages

This technique saves time that you can invest elsewhere. It is a good conflict management strategy to apply to low-level disagreements and gives you enough time to prepare if the conflict re-emerges.

Disadvantages

Withdrawing or avoiding is not really a resolution, does not resolve a conflict, and may weaken your position because parties may assume you have an unfair bias. Team members may think you are lacking skills or are not authoritative.

Many experts don’t consider this technique as a conflict management strategy, that avoiding and escaping is not a solution.

#2. Smooth or Accommodate

In this conflict resolution strategy, you find areas of agreement and try to smooth out the situation and circumvent tough discussions.

The smoothing technique gives more consideration to one party than the other. You downplay the seriousness and behave as the conflict never existed.

This technique is helpful in the following cases:

◉ You don’t have time to deal with it.

◉ You require a temporary solution to the problem.

◉ The conflict is minor and involves less influential stakeholders.

Advantages

This conflict resolution strategy does not require much effort. You can focus on essential issues by ignoring unimportant arguments. Situations can be potentially handled simply while bringing harmony, creating goodwill, and providing enough time to find a permanent solution.

Disadvantages

If you fail to bring a balanced approach, one party may take advantage since you are giving them more consideration. Other parties not being accommodated may question your authority or stop reporting conflicts.

This conflict resolution strategy is not recommended as it often weakens the project manager’s authority.

#3. Compromise or Reconcile

In this conflict management strategy, you take suggestions from both sides and partially satisfy them. This technique is useful when the stakeholders involved hold equal power.

You may use this technique in the following cases:

◉ All parties involved need to win

◉ When you have an equal relationship with both parties

◉ Collaborative and forcing techniques have failed

◉ When you need a temporary solution 

Advantages

This technique brings quick results, lowers stress, and keeps all parties placated until you can find a permanent solution. You can cool off and revisit the situation later.

Disadvantages

This conflict management technique does not generate trust in the long run; all parties remain unsatisfied, and the conflict could resurface at any time. Morals are not being strengthened. You may have to ensure all parties abide by the agreement.

#4. Force or Direct

In this conflict management strategy, you agree with one party’s viewpoint and enforce their wishes. This is a win-lose situation and risks demoralizing the team.

You can use this conflict resolution technique in the following cases:

◉ When you need a quick solution

◉ When you know that one party is right

◉ You do not have time to investigate

◉ When the conflict is not very important

◉ When the relationship with stakeholders is not essential

Advantages

This technique provides a quick solution. It requires almost no effort from the project manager and it may help establish their authority.

Disadvantages

Using this technique may cause a negative impression on you. You may lose opportunities gained from the opposing party’s viewpoint. You cannot apply this technique with powerful stakeholders. It may backfire and worsen the conflict.

#5. Collaborate or Problem Solve

In a collaborative conflict resolution strategy, you discuss the issue with all parties and agree on a solution while considering multiple viewpoints.

You may use this technique in the following cases:

◉ When incorporating multiple views

◉ If influential stakeholders are involved

◉ When a consensus is required

◉ If you want to distribute responsibility 

Advantages

This is a real problem-solving technique that provides a solution to the conflict. It brings consensus, commitment, and shared responsibility for the outcome. This technique creates a win-win situation, builds your team’s confidence, earns respect, and establishes your authority.

Disadvantages

You cannot use this technique when you need a quick solution because it takes time and effort. It is generally used for conflicts that may affect your project, not all issues

Which Conflict Resolution Technique Should I Use?

The PMI does not recommend using any specific technique for all conflicts; it all depends on the situation and the stakeholders involved.

For example, if two ground-level laborers have a conflict, what should you do?

You may ignore it.

However, if you see that some important stakeholders have a conflict, you will intervene, solve the conflict, and spare your project from harm.

Although no single technique can be used for all conflicts, generally, it is thought that the “Collaborate or Problem Solve” method brings the most consensus and commitment.

How to Prevent Conflict 

You cannot keep all conflict from happening, but following a few rules can minimize it. These guidelines are:

◉ Establish Strict Ground Rules: These help discipline team members which result in less conflict.

◉ Have an Effective Communication Plan: This can help you avoid many conflicts. Define how much and how often you will communicate with your stakeholders.

◉ Have a Better Stakeholder Management Plan: Your project is successful if your stakeholders are happy. Project management is all about managing stakeholders’ requirements. 

◉ Solve Conflict Early: This takes less time and effort. Make sure an unresolved conflict doesn’t resurface again later.

The Role of the Project Manager in Conflict Resolution

I have explained all strategies to resolve conflicts and how you can use them. As a project manager, you have to respond rationally and reach a solution that best serves your objective.

While resolving a conflict, keep the following points in mind:

◉ Each participant deserves respect

◉ Be calm, and rational.

◉ People are separate from problems

◉ Each participant should be listened to patiently

◉ There are always areas of agreement and disagreement

◉ You should explore all possible solutions.

◉ Mind your biases and don’t pick sides

◉ Don’t force or pressure participants

◉ Postponed conflicts may fester. 

◉ Focus on the conflict, don’t let escalate the issue or generalize it.

Source: pmstudycircle.com

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Triple Constraints in Project Management

Today, our topic is triple constraints in project management.

We know that projects are temporary; they have to be completed within a fixed duration, with limited resources.

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Managing a project is not easy, and project managers have to fight for resources in their organization. They face many constraints on their daily activities.

Constraints are limitations, they are like impediments or hurdles, which the project manager has to overcome.

Although project managers face many constraints, the most important ones are triple constraints. 

Triple Constraints

The triple constraints in project management are:

1. Scope

2. Time

3. Cost

Sometimes these triple constraints are known as the project management triangle, where each area of the triangle represents each constraint: scope, time, and cost.

Like these three constraints, you may have heard hexagonal constraints. The hexagonal constraints have six project constraints: Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Risk, and Resources. 

However, the triple constraints have the biggest influence on the project and therefore are referred to as the primary project constraints.

The project manager must manage these constraints, and in doing so they may have to trade-off one constraint for another within an acceptable tolerance. 

For example, if you are conducting unplanned training, you must speed up a few activities to accommodate the schedule.

Poorly managed projects may cause missed deadlines, cost overruns, poor quality, change requests, rework, and unsatisfied stakeholders. Therefore, in traditional project management, the project managers work with their team to influence the project constraints, in order to meet the project success criteria. 

#1. Project Time Constraint

Projects are temporary and all projects have deadlines. You must complete the project within the approved duration; hence, time is a constraint.

In today’s fast-changing environment, on-time delivery matters greatly, and any delay may affect your project negatively.

However, most projects do not meet their deadline.

According to a paper by Health Management Technology titled “Storm Warning: Danger Signs During Software Implementation,” “only 16.1% of all Management Information System (MIS) projects are completed on time and within budget.”

The problem is not specific to traditional project managers, other project methodologies have the same problem; however, in Agile, they time-box every sprint to ensure it does not become a forever event.

Time management is equally important in meetings; hence, the agenda is bracketed with time. The Daily Scrum in agile is fixed for 15 minutes, and an average sprint is scheduled for two weeks. All these acts show time management in projects. 

Extreme Programming even makes allowance for a slack, just in case of any unprecedented hurdles.

Traditional project schedule management hinges on processes such as:

◉ Plan Schedule Management: What are the policies to guide us? What are the organization’s practices? What are the standards we are bound to follow?

◉ Define Activities: Every activity to accomplish the project goal must be defined clearly.

◉ Sequence Activities: To interlink these activities, we need to sequence them in order of occurrence.

◉ Estimate Activity Duration: At this stage, we need to allocate duration estimates for each activity.

◉ Develop Schedule: Here the critical path is evaluated using a network diagram and the schedule is developed.

◉ Control Schedule: Here you monitor the baseline and influence the changes affecting your schedule.                                  

The project schedule is set during project planning in traditional project management.

There are many scheduling techniques; for example, critical path method, Gantt chart, PERT, etc.

The critical path is the longest in the project, and any delay on critical activities will affect the project schedule.

To reduce the project duration, you can fast track or crash activities on the critical path, otherwise, it might not provide you with the desired result. 

PERT is similar to the critical path method and is used for research projects. Here activities have only a finish-to-start relationship.

A Gantt chart is a very useful tool in traditional project management such as construction projects.

As the Gant chart is visible to all team members, they will feel shared responsibilities to complete the project on time.

In Agile, as earlier mentioned, a time-box or cadence is used to regulate the timely delivery of a sprint. 

Disciplined Agile Delivery promotes early delivery by limiting a team’s work to its capacity. You don’t overload your team with work, you assign work to the team that they can handle. A large chunk of work is broken down into shippable solutions. These practices give the team a sense of accomplishment and motivation as they meet deadlines. 

Additionally, the team must be properly formed, for example, self-organizing and cross-functional, to guarantee capability.

#2. Project Scope Constraint

The scope is the heart of the project. 

The scope can be product scope or project scope. 

The product scope is the features of the product, and the project scope is the work needed to finish the project.

In scope management, the customer is at the center stage. Customer satisfaction is the ultimate objective for projects, and the project team must understand the importance of stakeholder management. 

While traditional project management gets customer requirements before starting the planning, the adaptive approach takes customer input regularly until the project completes. Both approaches deal with customer satisfaction but in different ways.

In a predictive approach, the scope of work is well defined.  The process of scope change is rigorous and passes through the Integrated Change Management process. 

In the end, the customer validates the agreed scope and signs off to complete the project. 

In adaptive, however, you get customer’s requirements as user stories, prioritize them on a Product backlog and deliver the scope. 

As customers make new demands, you add them to the backlog, prioritize, and develop accordingly. You communicate the customer’s requirements to the team to accommodate changing demands. You are open to collaborating with customers throughout the life of the project. Periodically, you organize a demo to showcase delivery and get feedback from the customers.

Traditional project management is ideal for projects with well-defined scope and the client is not intended to change it. 

While in the latter case, the scope keeps evolving from the customer as the project progresses.

#3. Project Cost Constraint

Cost is another critical project constraint as it secures resources to complete the project. Knowing the important role of money in a project and the fact that the funding is limited, project managers must manage the budget efficiently.

In Agile, as well as in traditional project management, the budget is fixed. Any budget overruns can affect your project negatively.

In Agile, we manage cost by reducing the feedback cycle so that errors and technical debt do not degenerate. Disciplined Agile recommends a stable team, thus reducing costs associated with Tuckman’s Team development ladder.

For predictive projects, the ability to influence cost is highest at the project’s earliest stage, hence we must ensure that the scope is well defined before the project starts. As the project progresses, it becomes more costly to adjust the scope.

Some tools used during cost management are:

◉ Alternative Analysis: It is a technique for evaluating and selecting options to use during project execution. For example, should I buy a tool or lease?

◉ Earned Value Management: Earned Value Managment combines scope, time, and resources to measure project performance.

◉ Cost of Quality: This is the total cost that includes prevention, appraisal, and failure costs. It is advisable to spend on prevention and appraisal to minimize failure costs.

◉ Reserve Analysis: We have two cost reserves –  contingency and management reserve. The former is used to manage identified risks, while the management reserve is for unidentified risks. 

Analysis of these reserves gives you an idea of how you are progressing. 

Source: pmstudycircle.com

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10 Popular Project Management Methodologies

Project management methodologies have essential roles in how you govern your project. Until a few years back we used to have one popular project management methodology, which is the traditional project management methodology or waterfall.

This methodology was useful for construction types of projects where you have a well-defined scope; however, IT projects had trouble with this project management approach because these projects had continuous changes and the waterfall method was not suited for projects with changing requirements. 

So project managers needed new methodologies to help deal with changing requirements. Consequently, Agile methodologies came, and afterward, many more new more project management approaches followed. 

In today’s post, I will introduce you to ten popular project management methodologies.

Project Management Methodologies

A project management methodology is a set of guidelines and best practices that help you to complete your project efficiently with less obstruction.

Every project is unique and you need the right methodology for your project.

The project management framework evolved from a traditional approach to Agile, resulting in significant changes in the way we carry out the project activities. 

Project management approaches affect the culture of the organization and the project team. You need to understand the culture to work seamlessly with your team. 

Here are the top ten project management methodologies used by organizations to complete their projects:

1. Waterfall

2. Scrum

3. Disciplined Agile

4. SaFE (Scaled Agile Frameworks)

5. DSDM (Dynamic Systems Dev. Method)

6. LeSS (Large Scale Scrum)

7. Scrum of Scrum (SoS)

8. XP (eXtreme Programming)

9. Kanban

10. Lean

#1. Waterfall

This is the most popular project management methodology. Here you have a well-defined scope and activities are planned in sequence. You invest a lot of effort into collecting requirements and then developing the project management plan. Once all plans are developed, baselines are created, you get them approved and follow them religiously.

Changes in the project management plan or baseline are not easy. All change requests go through a lengthy process to get approved. After the approval, you will update your plans and baselines.

Changing requirements in this project management approach are difficult and costly. All change requests go through a time-consuming change management process. 

Time and Risk Increase WIth Progress

The waterfall methodology is impracticable for a dynamic environment where requirements keep on changing. 

The scope in a waterfall is fixed, unlike Agile where changing customer needs is built into the methodology. Feedback in agile is continuous, whereas, in the waterfall method, it’s at the point of validating scope. You can miss defects during the product development, and correcting them at a later stage will be time-consuming and costly. 

But in Agile, changes are part of the framework. Customers can request changes at any time, and finding defects is easier because of frequent demos.

In waterfall, quality control activities are carried out throughout the execution phase, unlike test-driven Agile projects where you build in quality with automated testing as the project progresses.

The waterfall method is suitable for well-understood projects with stable requirements.

#2. Scrum

Scrum is one of the most popular Agile methodologies. It guides the team on iterative and incremental product development. 

While a traditional project management methodology works with fixed requirements and optimizes around time and cost, Scrum, on the other hand, fixes time (via time boxes) and cost (via prioritizing the product backlog for a potentially shippable delivery) to optimize changing customer requirements through collaboration and frequent feedback. 

Scrum is an adaptive methodology to develop the desired product.

Scrum Events

Scrum Roles 

N.B.: The sprint is a time-boxed activity to complete the work. The sprint ends with a sprint review and then a retrospective. The product backlog may change, but once the sprint is planned, any new feature is sent to the product backlog and prioritized for the next sprint. A sprint normally lasts two weeks.

During the sprint, daily standups last for 15 minutes where each member tells the team what they did yesterday, what they plan to do today, and what is getting in their way. This is where the scrum master removes impediments.

How does the scrum track progress in a sprint? 

The team uses visible information radiators such as burndown charts and task boards to track the progress.

#3. Disciplined Agile

This is an upgraded version of Agile. It combines the freedom of choice and suitability with proper guidance on narrowing choices. It is characterized by the freedom to choose your way of working (WoW). 

Disciplined Agile is context-dependent. It is about tailoring what works for you. It blends Scrum, SaFE (Scaled Agile Frameworks), Traditional (waterfall) approach, Kanban, eXtreme Programming, etc. It is an Agile optimization tool that can be used to extend agility from the team to the organizational level. 

It accelerates value delivery, which can help customers test the product in the market quickly.

The Disciplined Agile (DA) has seven principles:

1. The choice is Good: You have to choose the best-fit technique for your processes/situation. You have to understand all choices and trade-offs of selecting a particular choice. 

2. Delight Customers: The customer is the center of everything, whether internal or external. You have to make them happy. If you don’t delight them, someone else will and the customer will move elsewhere.

3. Be Awesome: Be awesome with what you do. If you are awesome, the client will love working with you.

4. Pragmatism: It implies doing what works, not what is usual. If something works best even in a traditional project approach, adopt it. Be as effective and efficient as possible.

5. Optimize Flow: Continuous flow of task/work by using Kanban. Your organization may have a complex flow system but you have to adapt to it. Ensure that communication is smooth between your team and the organization or even within different teams in your organization.

6. Context Counts: We all are unique and so is the organization’s culture. Understand the context and evolve with an effective strategy for the situation you face.

7. Enterprise Awareness: Ensure that the team is aware of their organization. It motivates them to align with the organization’s objectives and they will contribute to achieving larger goals.

DA uses six different life cycles, the life cycles are:

You can choose the best fit for your needs.

DA’s process tailoring workshops help your team understand the importance of working together. It includes selecting a lifecycle, walking through the process goals one at a time, addressing the decision points, and deciding roles and responsibilities.

DA has four phases: Inception, Construction, Transition, and Deployment. 

As shown in the table below, these phases have 21 process goals:

Each process goal links to a decision point that further branches to various ways of achieving the goal. 

For example, assume you want to ensure production readiness.

DA believes business agility comes from freedom, not frameworks. So, it combines all known frameworks such as Lean and Scrum to eXtreme Programming and provides you with choices to select and deliver the consumable solution (not working software) to the market quickly. 

Disciplined Agile helps you choose the best agile solution for your situation.

While Agile produces working software, DA produces a consumable solution. A consumable is a usable product that is ready to be deployed to the market.

In summary, Disciplined Agile deals with decisions you need to consider, the options available to you, and the trade-offs associated with these options. You make your choice.

This helps products get released to the market sooner.

Further on the example above, let’s consider the trade-offs for each option.

#4. SaFE (Scaled Agile Frameworks)

Here you take the lean and Agile approach from team level to enterprise level. It is about transition and bringing different agile teams together. To avoid challenges, large framework implementation requires a systematic approach to incorporate best practices. 

SaFE helps in organizing several agile teams. Large companies like Microsoft and Ericsson have adopted the scaled agile approach. 

Before we discuss SaFE any further, let us understand Agile methodology.

Agile methodology is flexible compared to traditional project management methodology and adapts to changing needs against a pre-planned approach. It provides customers with a minimum viable product (working software) as early as possible. 

Agile is iterative and allows changing needs and dynamic environment realities. It breaks functional silos and pulls talent from each function into teams to achieve collaboration and coordination. 

If your organization is intending to scale agile from team to enterprise-level, they must assess the fitness level of the team and its culture, including:

◉ Leaders with clear vision.

◉ Changes are welcomed and must be anticipated.

◉ Time and cost are fixed, but the scope is flexible.

◉ Stakeholders’ interest in working software components.

◉ Active customer participation.

The above conditions are typical agile requirements. Since the organization is adopting an agile approach, the team’s mindset must be agile to follow an agile framework.

Choosing an agile framework to scale depends on some factors, such as:

◉ The number of agile teams in the organization.

◉ The company strategy and the impact of agile practices.

◉ Average size and complexity of agile projects.

◉ Critical success factors for the transition.

These factors are better described in the ten principles of SaFE, which are:

SaFE pioneered the Agile Release Train (ART) concept to organize teams around a value stream. They align teams (remember, scaled agile deals with several agile teams) to a shared business objective. A value stream is a set of actions that create customer value. 

The term train is used to show interconnection. The figure below shows agile teams 1, 2, and 3 aligned on a value stream for a desired solution/feature.

T1, T2, and T3 are agile teams, while S-is the solution or the value. The value stream is the movement from design through build, test to deploy.

The value stream is common in both Agile and lean. It is a set of actions that create customer value. SaFE provides enterprise agility that enables portfolio, program, and project (execution) teams to release a product to the market rapidly.

Some roles in SaFE are:

#5. Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM)

Agile and Kanban are subsets of lean and DSDM. DSDM is a framework applicable to constraint-driven projects where constraints such as cost, time, and quality are fixed, while scope (functionality/features) can change.

Its principles comply with agile such as collaboration, continuous and clear communication, iterative development, and delivery on time. 

DSDM has eight principles:

1. Focus on the business needs. Every project decision must be in sync with high-level business value.

2. Deliver on time-timebox project tasks, focus on business priorities.

3. Collaborate and build a one-team culture for increased understanding, greater speed, and shared ownership.

4. Never compromise quality. Test early and continuously. Agree with the quality level from the outset.

5. Build incrementally from a firm foundation. This implies that a good understanding is required before building a solution.

6. Develop iteratively to embrace changes from feedback.

7. Communicate continuously and clearly. Aim for honesty and transparency in all communication.

8. Demonstrate control-make plans and projects visible to all using, for example, Gantt charts and task boards.

Roles in DSDM

DSDM facilitates workshops. This helps engage stakeholders in solving a problem or developing a plan. The business owner, team lead, etc., can request this workshop.

The workshop is moderated by a neutral individual called the facilitator. The neutrality of the facilitator is important for a better outcome or workshop.

#6. Large Scale Scrum (LeSS)

LeSS is scrum extended to different scrum teams. It is a scrum applied to large-scale development. Here you still retain the basic attributes of a scrum, such as: 

◉ Teams work on their sprints concurrently.

◉ One product owner handles the team.

◉ Teams are co-located.

◉ The teams work with one definition of done.

◉ One potentially shippable product from all the teams.

◉ One sprint for all.

◉ One product backlog for all, but each team has its own sprint backlog.

LeSS Principles

◉ Systems thinking: Everyone in the organization should focus on the whole product. They should know that there is no value in separate parts but integrated parts. It helps break silos, has a long-term team view, finds root cause solutions, and has fewer impediments. The team needs to understand the impact of their actions on the surrounding environment.

Other principles are

◉ Transparency 

◉ Customer-centric

◉ Lean thinking

◉ More with LeSS (Large Scale Scrum)

◉ Continuous improvement

◉ Queuing Theory (reducing batch sizes to shorten delivery time)

◉ Empirical process control

#7. Scrum of Scrum

This project management methodology is useful when work from several scrum teams needs to be coordinated. Representatives from each scrum meet to coordinate their work. These representatives are referred to as “Ambassadors.” 

The meeting is similar to the daily stand-up meeting where each representative reports completed work, the next assignments, and impediments. This meeting (Scrum of Scrums) aims to ensure smooth coordination of work. 

This Scrum of Scrum can further extend to the Scrum of Scrums of Scrums depending on project size; the principle for coordination is the same.  

Scrum of Scrum is also called meta-scrum. The duration of a scrum meeting is about 15 minutes. This is still retained at the Scrum of Scrum meetings.

A, B, and C are scrum teams with one ambassador attending D, a Scrum of Scrums.

Similarly, J is the Scrum of Scrums of scrum teams F, G, H, and I.

The ambassadors of Scrum of Scrums D and J meet at E, Scrum of Scrums of Scrums.

It helps to ensure that the scrum teams fit together and operate cohesively.

#8. Extreme Programming (XP)

It started in 1996 when Chrysler Corporation embarked on a payroll restructuring program, the C3 (Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation) system. Their development team adopted a way of working that metamorphosed into Extreme Programming. 

Extreme Programming (XP) has an agile mindset based on values, principles, and ways of working. XP is the foundation of excellent software development.

This is like refining, where you aim to get the purest product. Quality is at its peak. It requires repeated cycles of testing and refactoring.

The core values of Extreme Programming are Communication, Courage, Respect, Simplicity, and Feedback.

Extreme Programming has four practice areas: organizational, technical, planning and integration. These areas require primary practices, which are necessary for secondary (corollary) practices. 

In the figures below, the practice areas are depicted with their corresponding primary and corollary practices. Red, yellow, and blue (primary colors) represent the primary practices, while secondary colors (orange, green, purple) represent the corollary practice.

The primary practices must be in place before you implement secondary practices.

For example, with no pair programming, it will be difficult to have a shared code/ownership mindset. 

The workspace for Extreme Programming must have visual aids such as flip charts or task boards to communicate status and progress. 

You should maintain the workload of the team to avoid burnout. They should not work more than 40 hours per week.

Slack helps in planning to avoid delays because of unlikely events. It is a set of minor activities built into the planning to meet the deadlines.

Small projects have a higher success rate. So, XP recommends incremental delivery. Break down the huge mass into manageable increments of small but regular releases with only the required functionality. Release time is between 2-4 weeks. 

Simplicity means designs are as simple as possible. XP doesn’t venture into the complicated end. They keep it as simple as possible and work with small batches. 

No wasted motion. Only the important part is coded. Code is only used to suit the current functionality. There are no add-ons, no wasted resources. The XP only modifies to emplace newly added features. Small releases are the emphasis here. 

XP decomposes the project into small deliverables. Early small releases provide user feedback and Return On Investment (ROI).

Other practices are: 

◉ Continuous Integration: It implies that developers integrate their work daily and do not leave anything out. It is a daily commitment, thus leaving room for early error detection and correction. It helps save accumulated rework.

◉ The real Customer Involvement: This is called onsite customers. This person represents end-users who are expected to provide daily feedback on work done and the next desirable feature.

◉ Pair Programming: In pair programming, the software is built by two programmers sitting side-by-side at the same workstation. This helps code review by a different programmer, resulting in a better product. Pair programming helps knowledge sharing amongst developers as pairs switch. As partners change throughout the day, pair programming can facilitate communication within the team.

◉ Refactoring: This is a quality testing method. It is the reworking of the code for better quality. It is like cleaning the code and it should be a daily routine. You use it to clear the technical debt. You clean up the code without modifying its behavior. Thus improving maintainability. It supports a continuous approach to paying down existing technical debt, though it may slow down current work. It will increase development productivity and save future costs.

◉ Collective Code Ownership: This implies everyone who notices a defect corrects it immediately. It works along with pair programming.

#9. KANBAN

KANBAN is a Japanese term that means signboard. It is about workflow management and ensuring visualization for all. In KANBAN, you hold a card that shows the upstream worker that you are waiting for the work. This is called a pull workstream. 

A typical Kanban board is shown below. It is used to manage work.

Sometimes this board is known as an information radiator. This board shows the project status on user stories such as done, ongoing, yet to do.

In Lean manufacturing, the Kanban method is used for scheduling inventory control and replenishment. It is derived from lean principles. The KANBAN methodology is easy to implement.

The basic principles of this methodology are:

Continuous Delivery

You do not start new tasks while you have some work in progress (WIP). However, as soon as WIP completes, you should start the new tasks. There must be a continuous workflow.

In Kanban (like Lean), the aim is to eliminate the WIP and increase productivity. There is no value in WIP nor new activity but in a finished task. You set a limit for the WIP and don’t exceed it. 

This continuous and controlled flow prevents the team from being bogged down by overcommitment, which could negatively affect the progress.

Increased Efficiency

Non-value activities are eliminated to focus on business value, thus increasing efficiency.

Reduction of Waste

You can visualize the workflow; hence, waste can easily be removed. With Kanban, organizations stop starting and start finishing.

Lastly, Kanban implements a feedback loop used to improve service delivery. The feedback loop can be reviews or meetings.

One application of the KANBAN method is in manufacturing, where cars are built only on order. Resources are only committed to value. There is no waste. 

#10. Lean

Lean is a set of management practices rooted in the Toyota Production System, where they tried to eliminate non-value activities to increase operational efficiency.

The lean concept focuses on value, small batch sizes, elimination of waste, short cycles, frequent reviews, and retrospectives with small improvements.

The seven principles of Lean are:

1. Eliminate Waste: Waste is any activity that does not add value to the finished product. Seven wastes in a software project are extra features, extra processes, partially done work, motion, waiting, task switching, and defects.

2. Build Quality in: Defects should not be allowed, but when this is impossible, try to minimize them. You will do extra work to validate, fix and iterate. Agile does this using Test Driven Developments (TDD), pair programming, and modeling with others (mob modeling).

3. Create Knowledge (Amplify Learning): Team members should be encouraged to reflect and act to improve their approach regularly. Iteration allows team members to learn what exactly the stakeholder wants.

4. Defer Commitment: Keep options open, and use incremental delivery to avoid wasting effort on creating features that were not useful. Software tools for this are emergent designs, automated testing, and patterns thinking.

5. Deliver Quickly: An effective organization gives teams only what they can do so they don’t burn out due to overcommitment. They also allow the team to self-organize, and they deliver quickly.

6. Respect People: Motivate and enable a team to empower and not control them.

7. Optimize the Whole: Look at the bigger picture. Understand how the product synchronizes with the high-level organizational/business objective. The aim is to deliver valuable outcomes to stakeholders.

Source: pmstudycircle.com

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Will a Project Management Certification Help Your Career?

About 97% of companies believe that good knowledge of project management is significant to organizational success. Sadly, hardly over half of the project managers are certified and skilled in their tenure and career in the project management field.

Believe it or not, Project Management Certifications can massively aid you to advance in your career. Not only organizations favor to recruit certified professionals, but they also get to helm better projects in the future.

Why Should You Get a Project Management Certification?

Whether you are a master or newbie trying to climb up the ladder, there is a project management certification for you.

If you are still not convinced, below are some reasons describing the importance of project management certifications in today’s time and age.

Reason 1: Global Acknowledgment

There are famous institutes and online gateways like the Project Management Institute (PMI) known to offer world-class education and certifications to aspiring professionals. Once you get a certification from a good institute, you become qualified to showcase your skills and expertise to companies all over the world. Being known and sought-after name in an industry, you know the global acceptance and acknowledgment to work wherever you require.

Reason 2: Dramatic Salary Hike

Another inviting reason to think about getting a project management certification is a steep hike in salary. In a recent study, it was determined that you could expect up to a 20% increase in your PMP salary if you are PMP certified as opposed to a project manager who is not certified. It means that a quality project management certification could provide a straightaway 20% of salary growth.

Reason 3: Challenging Projects and Better Job Opportunities

A project management certification benefits you gain the trust of managers to manage challenging projects. As you receive the right skill set, they are not afraid or have any second thoughts before handing over a plum project to you. Also, certification provides you with both knowledge and experience, enabling you to make better job opportunities from great organizations confirming your trustworthiness to lead and manage projects in a better way.

Reason 4: Better Project Performance

Certified project management professionals do perform better than someone with no certification at all. A certified PM Manager is well informed of the processes such as initiation, planning, execution, monitor, closure, along with risk management and best project management practices. Such valuable information aids you make the right steps that lead to better performance and boost overall productivity.

Reason 5: A Smart Future Investment

Because these certifications are not that expensive as compared to other specific exams or courses, one should never forget the impact they could have on your career.

For example, you can take the PMP exam for $555, and if you are a PMI member, then it’s for $405. On average, the passing rate is around 60%. You don’t require formal training to pass the test. Taking everything into account, it does look like a smart investment for your career. The best thing is that certified professionals are secure even during an economic crisis.

Why Are Project Management Certifications Important?

• The average certified project manager has undergone several vigorous project development units, with each one being a training module of its nature.

• As a result of these certifications, the project manager is ultimately capable of handling a wide variety of challenges and preset tasks to help increase the flow of the business industry.

• Likewise, based on IT Project Management Certifications, such as; Agile, Scrum, or PMP modules, the certified manager can overlook a whole workforce responsible for achieving a milestone.

• We don’t expect you to know the terminologies, as mentioned earlier. However, at the helm of each project, it comes down to obtaining the concerned Project Management Certifications.

• Otherwise, you won’t be treated as an “accredited/ recognized” individual who is equipped to handle the difficult tasks within the life cycle of a project.

• The Project Management Certification, designed only for the Management and Strategy Institute, will provide you with the skills needed to lead or function within a project management team. This certification is intended for professionals who are looking to work as a project manager in a corporate environment.

• Project managers have the responsibility of preparation and proper execution of a project. Project managers can work in any industry, and their skillset can be an asset to both small and large organizations. They must have excellent communication skills and a solid understanding of how to accurately organize and map out a project. Project costs, time, and overall quality are critical components of a project, and the project manager is the one in charge. Meeting the needs of project stakeholders means understanding how to manage risk while leading teams and controlling costs.

• When we think of project management, the construction industry is often the first industry that comes to mind.

• In reality, most enterprises have project management roles. Whether it be Engineering, Software Development, Healthcare, or Manufacturing, a project manager needs the responsibility of keeping projects on-track.

Having a Project Management Certification on your resumé can give potential employers you have the skills to perform projects of importance to the organization.

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