A project methodology is an approach, practice, technique, or framework that can be applied to a project to increase its likelihood for success.
Projects have many characteristics but in general project work tends to range from definable work to high-uncertainty work. A predictive (waterfall) methodology tends to work well with definable work while an adaptive (agile) methodology tends to work well with high-uncertainty work. Hybrid is a third common methodology where a combination of approaches are used.
Predictive: with predictive methodology, the plan drives the work. As much planning as possible is done upfront. Project requirements are identified as much as possible. Project teams take advantage of the high certainty and often execute project activities in a serial manner.
Agile: with agile methodology, the team plans and replans as more information becomes available from review of frequent deliveries. In an agile environment, there is an expectation that requirements will change. This is unlike predictive where the team will try to limit change as much as possible. Agile combines both iterative and incremental approaches to adapt to high degrees of change.
Hybrid: with hybrid methodology, any combination of approaches can be used. For example, a project might utilize agile methodology during the development portion of the project due to uncertainty, complexity, and risk. The project might shift to a predictive methodology for the rollout phase of the deliverable, which might be handled by a different team.
The goal of project management is to produce value in the best possible way given the current environment. It doesn’t matter if that way is agile or predictive. The question to ask is “how can we be most successful?”
Want to learn more about Project Management? See my Project MGMT publication for these 30 key PM topics:
Projects, lifecycle, management, manager, methodologies, the triangle, stakeholders, deliverable, team, charter, scope, budget, schedule, planning, baselining, milestones, dependencies, resources, risk, procurement, communication, ceremonies, integration, backlog, whiteboard, closure, software tools, office(r), code of ethics, body of knowledge
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