One of the biggest headaches for companies globally is the poor rate of project success. In 2009, just 32% of information technology (IT) projects undertaken were deemed successful, according to the Chaos Report, an annual review by The Standish Group of software projects. These were all delivered on time, on budget and met the user requirements for features and functions. While there is some disagreement about how the Chaos Report defines success, it is clear that projects don’t always meet expectations.

Having worked with the IT department of a newspaper company, I have experienced the ‘delivered late, too expensively, and fell short of what we wanted at the outset’ type of project. I am now working with companies that are having to think about – and commit to – an integrated digital presence in order to thrive. Many of them are justifiably afraid of disappointment, based on previous experiences of trying to get the website they want – never mind the mobi site or the iPad app.
Recently, I came across the work of The Agile Alliance, which seemed to have an answer for how best to address these projects. It bills itself as a “group of independent thinkers about software development” who met up at a ski resort in 2001. The gathering, which began as “17 people met to talk, ski, relax and try find common ground and, of course, to eat” resulted in A Manifesto for Agile Software Development (http://agilemanifesto.org). In it, agile is the operative word that underpins a set of principles and guides a world view.

Agile Project Management diverges from traditional project management, otherwise known as the ‘waterfall’ approach. Defining it, Jim Highsmith writes: “At the core, I believe Agile methodologists are really about ‘mushy’ stuff [of values and culture], about delivering good products to customers by operating in an environment that does more than talk about ‘people as our most important asset’ but actually ‘acts’ as if people were the most important.” The manifesto is underpinned by this thinking. “Through this work, we have come to value individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation and responding to change over following a plan.”

Gavin Harvett describes himself as an “Agile enthusiast and evangelist”. Based in Cape Town, he is the international product manager at MiX Telematics. In his previous job, he was involved in developing web-based collaborative software. He studied computer science and spent 10 years working in Silicon Valley, outsourcing software project development to Vietnam and Romania. “Because of the distance, we couldn’t afford long lead times, so I started to investigate a more iterative way of managing these projects.”

Harvett came across the SCRUM methodology (named after the rugby formation that locks the team together), a key part of Agile thinking. “It has a lot of tools for project management. Basically, you start by compiling a list of all the project areas. It’s a long, flat list and then you prioritise. There are product increments, where each is limited in functionality but can stand alone and, most importantly, can be made available to the end user. You pick the most important feature to work on first and do an estimation of how long it will take to deliver. Every iteration is a sprint.

Each sprint lasts between two to six weeks, never longer. You work on top-priority items and develop a team’s commitment to delivering these.” The result is that at the end of a ‘sprint’, you can demonstrate something tangible to the project’s stakeholders and they can provide feedback on it. Harvett points out that the project is committed for a few weeks at a time, always subject to review between increments. “Everything beyond that can change” – so it’s not dependent on an enormous amount of documentation up front. “The time increments,” says Harvett, “are most beneficial, but also the most challenging, as you cannot give a six- to nine-month road map in advance. You have to commit to one or two sprints; everything else is uncommitted and influenced by changing priorities.” The thinking is a huge leap away from Henry Ford’s production line and values: “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants, so long as it is black.” Agile emphasises early access to products and feedback, “rather than finding out what you did wrong along the way right at the end of the process.” It also emphasises working collaboratively and face to face.

For the bean counters who prefer budgets to be committed six months in advance for the year ahead, Agile could sound like something from a horror movie, with its planning by increments and its frequent iterations. Frank Einhorn, programme director of Wits Business School’s Certificate Programme in Project Management, says that while the Agile movement is very relevant, the principles are not applicable to projects across the board. “I wouldn’t use it in building a bridge, for example, as you wouldn’t want to demolish and rebuild parts of it along the way.” He says: “Where it is effective is when you are not quite certain where you are going. In web development, it is very applicable as it’s often hard to specify all the requirements up front.” Einhorn also views project success as defined rather by whether “the business loves it, and the users use it”, rather than the “iron triangle” of coming in within scope, time and cost. You can succeed at these three and still not produce something that your customer wants or likes.

Also key is that it works best in “a high-performance culture, where people are responsible, mature and understand the need to document their work and to review it on the basis of feedback”. Clearly, it’s not designed for the ego-driven and the business hamstrung by workplace politics. Agile seems to be more focused on people than the idea of resources. Projects are facilitated rather than managed, and the end user or customer is represented throughout the process. A Johannesburg-based certified SCRUM trainer says: “It’s a huge mind shift and a change in management and leadership practices from what we have been doing for a century. We have to look at managing people in a completely different way.” He says it’s still early days, but has noted the start of a broader application of SCRUM as a project management framework in the advertising and marketing worlds. He points out that involving the customer early on “switches on your brain to what is the problem we are trying to solve? This is what you optimise when you work in this way.”

If your project management style isn’t getting the results you want, maybe it’s time to review your game plan, ditch the tight head and think Agile.