PROJECT MANAGEMENT: WATERFALL, AGILE OR HYBRID?

Hybrid Project Management represents the key to evolving business processes in step with an increasingly complex, dynamic and fast-paced operating environment. In fact, this approach makes it possible to integrate in a single methodology the detailed planning typical of the traditional Waterfall model with the flexibility offered by the Agile method: exploiting the best of the different criteria thus enables benefits more in line with current business needs.

THE COMPLEXITIES OF TODAY'S OPERATING ENVIRONMENT: A CHANGE IN APPROACH IS NEEDED

There is no doubt about it: today the bar has been raised for any type of business. Today's market makes no concessions and requires businesses to constantly strive for new goals to be achieved, quickly and to the best of their ability. Competition is increasingly fierce and the operating environment highly unpredictable. Among the dynamics that put pressure on any organization, customers should also not be forgotten: further complicating matters are the increasingly high expectations of consumers. People want to obtain their product or service in a smooth, fast and personalized manner.

This scenario, within business processes, results in increased complexity that requires more effective, evolved and reliable governance models. To be competitive, it becomes essential to streamline processes by focusing on digitization and embedding technologies in an impeccable organizational context: this is the only way to anticipate trends and respond proactively to whatever changes are on the horizon.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WATERFALL AND AGILE

We understand the differences between Waterfall and Agile. Since time immemorial, the governing areas of a project have been time, cost and scope: these three areas are in trade off and it is the PM's job to find the right balance.

In general, the sequential “Waterfall” approach prioritizes scope (understood as project scope and deliverables) and sees cost and time estimation as a consequence of the specification of deliverables.

Agile approaches focus on time and cost and manage them in a “Timeboxing” manner, changing scope accordingly. Scoping becomes flexible according to time and cost constraints.

HOW TO DEVELOP A HYBRID APPROACH

Let us first clarify that adopting an iterative agile approach does not mean abandoning design governance.

In reality we can find various forms of hybridization. For example, a concurrent approach:

limited to some organizational units using one or the other

limited to some projects

high-level planning uses a traditional approach, detailed planning an agile approach

In the case of a mixed approach, we can find different tools.

In projects where a waterfall approach is used, we find the following contaminations:

scrum-style coordination and advancement meetings

analysis of Lesson learned done at each release or meeting,

fixed team freeze for the entire duration of development

In substantially agile projects:

introduction of milestones for high-level analysis

reporting tools towards management and stakeholders.

The benefits of hybrid project management

First, thanks to the combination of Agile and Waterfall methods, Hybrid Project Management allows for maximum customization of the structure of the project itself, adapting to any type of operational team, regardless of size or industry. In addition, the greater compatibility provided by this approach allows a diverse range of projects to be better managed.

The second benefit offered by hybrid management is full visibility along all project phases: each user involved in the workflows can be immediately aware of the progress of the work, the tasks pertaining to him or her, and the steps to be taken at the team level to complete the task. In this way, operators, project managers and various stakeholders are all directly involved and empowered toward the best operational execution.

This element leads to the consideration of an additional benefit of Hybrid Project Management, namely an extremely detailed and timely level of planning, but one that is complemented by the ability to possibly re-plot the course of the project as it runs, based on the needs and changes of the moment. This flexibility is particularly valuable from the standpoint of production efficiency and cost optimization.

What methodology to adopt?

The best model may be a horizontal hybridization.

This hybrid approach adopts a traditional Waterfall structure, identifies key project deliverables as Milestones, and organizes them for project approval with a Gantt.

Once the project has been approved (with a Waterfall view), one can move to an agile approach in which a backlog is maintained containing individual project activities, system functionalities, and user stories, from which the highest priority ones will be extracted for development; typically this agile approach in ERP implementations focuses in elements that we call RICE i.e. (Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Enhancements i.e. customizations).

Waterfall and agile alternate, the view of the project changes from the traditional Gantt chart to a list of RICEs that allows dynamic assignment of features to iterations (just like they were SPRINTS); thus at any time, often on a daily basis, the PM is able to add, delete, and modify the backlog to reflect changing business needs.

In fact, RICEs are agile elements just like SPRINT; at the end of each RICE a pause is made for retrospective evaluation and implementation of improvements. Then the RICE backlog is reviewed and the highest value-added features are selected for the next iteration. Within each RICE, the team can use agile principles such as meeting daily and discussing the status of work planned for the current iteration.

A key success factor of Agile principles is the ability to implement the final solution through incremental releases.

In addition, rapid validation of the solution can be achieved so that any adjustments can be easily taken care of through the functionality left in the RICE backlog.

As soon as the high-priority RICEs are completed, the project can return to a Waterfall cycle to perform standard implementation activities.

Modern project management techniques are critical to maximizing the investment made in an ERP, but their adoption must be discussed at the outset, shared with the customer in its implications, and above all be supported by an appropriate contractual framework.