MGIB02: International Organizational Behaviour

Agile project management techniques have become one of the fastest growing and most popular aspects of IT project management. Using agile techniques in software development can make the difference between a project which has a low chance of completion and one which will deliver results very quickly and continue to deliver results over time. Yet agile thinking was never designed to be restricted to just software development. Applying this project management concept to processes and other types of projects was foreseen from the very beginning. This paper shows how you can apply the agile techniques that are used in software development to the change management process that comes with enterprise projects.

One of the key challenges in an enterprise project is the depth of change that it can cause in the organization. A common pitfall is to create a comprehensive plan and then push to deploy the entire plan at once. Applying agile thinking to change management projects is an excellent fit.

Agile project management makes us think of a project first in terms of large goals at the strategic level, and then at a tactical level has us think in terms of delivering production ready results.

The speaker, Chris Vandersluis has worked in both IT and non-IT project management for over 30 years and has appeared on numerous agile panels at project management events. He will outline an agile approach to enterprise project management.

Over the past 25 to 30 years, agile innovation methods have greatly increased success rates in software development, improved quality and speed to market, and boosted the motivation and productivity of IT teams. Now those methods are spreading across a broad range of industries and functions and even reaching into the C-suite. But many executives don’t understand how to promote and benefit from agile; often they manage in ways that run counter to its principles and practices, undermining the effectiveness of agile teams in their organizations.

From their work studying and advising companies that have successfully employed agile methods, the authors have discerned six crucial practices for capitalizing on agile’s potential: (1) Learn how agile really works; (2) understand when it is appropriate; (3) start small and let passionate evangelists spread the word; (4) allow teams that have mastered the process to customize their practices; (5) practice agile at the top; and (6) destroy corporate barriers to agile behaviors. They expand on each, providing executives with a practical guide for accelerating innovation and profitable growth.