Project Management Methodologies

From waterfall, to scrum, to kanban, it can be overwhelming to know which project management methodology will work best for your business.

A project management methodology is a set of processes and guiding principles that help a project run smoothly. Which methodology you choose will change how you work and communicate throughout the project. Here’s a look at nine of the most popular methodologies to help you decide which best suits your needs.

Table of Contents

• Waterfall

• Agile

• Kanban

• Lean

• Critical Path Method

• Scrum

• PRiSM

• PRINCE2

• PMBOK

• Choosing The Right Methodology

Waterfall

The Waterfall methodology is often called SDLC, or the Software Development Life Cycle. This is a simple methodology because it values solid planning. With waterfall, you do things once and you do them right. You create a good plan and then execute it in order to get the project completed.

Usually, the project manager in this situation will direct people to focus on the extensive up-front planning, which will take up a big portion of the timeline. However, once created, that detailed plan will guide the team through every step to make sure things are done correctly. Everything is delivered in a single (and typically long) cycle.

The project's requirements are defined at the top of the waterfall in full from the very beginning. The work then cascades like a waterfall, moving through the project's various phases. Each phase must be completed before moving to the next phase. Usually, the output of one phase acts as the input for the next, keeping things connected. There is no overlapping with the phases.

Agile

The agile methodology is basically just a set of principals that includes four values: (1) individuals and interactions over processes and tools; (2) working software over comprehensive documentation; (3) customer collaboration over contract negotiation; (4) responding to change over following a plan.

This is very unlike the waterfall methodology because, rather than coming up with a plan and then executing it in one cycle, the agile methodology is focused on collaborating, making real-time adjustments, and working iteratively to deliver whatever works. It's similar to how a chef cooks, tasting as they go and adding in the missing ingredients.

Kanban

Kanban focuses on a strict process that aims to improve efficiency along with a set of lean guiding principals to keep the team on track. It's light and flexible, and it doesn't assign any roles. Instead, it tries to simplify and improve by increasing the team's focus on what matters.

Limiting work in progress, visualizing the workflow, explicitly stating process policies, and evaluating improvement opportunities are crucial parts of the Kanban methodology. Kanban aims to release work that's higher quality and do so at a faster pace. This would be ideal for operational or maintenance environments where the priorities frequently change.

Lead time plays an important part of Kanban: how long are things taking to be delivered? A Kanban whiteboard and sticky notes are often the go-to way for representing the workflow. To-do, Doing, and Done are the three simple categories used to track things.

Lean

The Lean methodology focuses on efficiency. It's all about being lean, or doing more with less. You'll begin by identifying a project's value and then maximizing that value through continuous optimization and improvement in the flow of value. At the same time, you'll aim to eliminate waste.

Lean is not a methodology dictating process that lists out what to do. It's better described as a theme of efficiency that centers around principals. With Lean, you'll address the three dysfunctions: Muda, Mura, and Muri (the 3Ms):

• Muda: Eradicate waste. Remove anything that isn't adding value to the project.

• Mura: Eliminate variations. Remove overhead variances, keep things standard across the board.

• Muri: Remove overload. Minimize how many projects you're running at once and keep your optimal capacity between 60% and 70%.

Lean is all about changing how you operate in order to convert your team's efforts into laser-focused efficiency.

Critical Path Method

Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, and many other project management methodologies have emerged from the world of software development. They can be used in other projects, but if your project is not focused on software development, there are typically better alternatives to consider. One of those is CPM, or Critical Path Method.

CPM requires that you put all activities that are required to complete a project into categories. Break down the structure and then map out a projected duration for each activity that needs to be completed. Define the dependencies amongst activities and then make a roadmap of what needs to be done before other things can be done.

The Critical Path Method helps you figure out what must be done first and what can be done simultaneously in order to help improve efficiency.

Scrum

Scrum is by far one of the simplest and most popular frameworks out there when it comes to taking the Agile principles and putting them into practice. With Scrum, the project manager will aim to improve teamwork, communication, and the overall speed of progress.

Scrum takes a light approach, defining a simple set of meetings, roles, and tools to improve efficiency. With defined roles, Scrum is able to empower a self-managing team to deliver what they need to deliver when they need to deliver it. This team will be small and cross-functional, made up of up to 9 people.

The team works on items that are placed in the backlog, which are prioritized. The work is separated into sprints, which are development cycles lasting 2 to 4  weeks. Daily scrums take place, which give the team a chance to report on progress and challenges. Work is reviewed after each spring to determine if it passes the DoD, or Definition of Done. The Scrum Master will be responsible for enabling and leading the scrums and work reviews.

Scrums typically dont fit very neatly into the more strategic and creative agency world. It was initially created to be used by software developers but it can be used elsewhere. Agencies tend to create a variance of Scrum, taking the concepts of a small, self-organized team and incorporating progress demos, stand-ups, and retrospectives to make a custom and hybrid approach.

PRiSM

PRiSM stands for Projects integration Sustainable Methods. This is a methodology that was developed by GPM Global, and it focuses on accounting for and minimizing a project's environmental impacts. It goes far beyond the end of the project, which distinguishes it from other methodologies. The project's entire lifecycle post-delivery will be considered in order to improve sustainability.

When sustainability and environmental costs play a key role in your project (which is the case at many modern organizations), the PRiSM approach is one to use or integrate into your project management.

It's ideal for large projects where a primary aim is to reduce waste, energy consumption, or environmental impact. If environmental impact is not a true concern for your project, PRiSM is not a suitable methodology.

PRINCE2

PRINCE2 is a project management methodology that uses principals, processes, and themes to guide development. The UK government created it in 1992, initially to manage their IT projects. PRINCE standards for Projects IN Controlled Environments. It's process-focused and divides a project into many different stages, each with a process and plan to follow. Each stage has inputs and outputs carefully defined.

The first step with any project is to identify that the business actually needs it to be completed, then define the target customer and realistic benefits using a cost assessment. A project board is the project's owner and they are responsible for the project being complete successfully. The board defines the team structure and a project manager is assigned to oversee the daily activities.

Eight high-level processes within PRINCE2 give teams a greater sense of control of their resources and gives them the ability to mitigate issues more effectively. If you are running a large and predictable project, this is a great framework.

PMBOK

The Project Management Institute (PMI) created some standards and laid out the five steps of project management in the PMBOK, or Project Management Body Of Knowledge. The five steps are: initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing.

Since PMBOK is a framework of conventions, standards, processes, and best practices, you can't run a PMBOK project (it's not a traditional methodology). However, you can use PMBOK to evaluate the way you run your projects. Generally, PRINCE2 and PMBOK are considered complementary to each other.

Choosing The Right Methodology

 Picking the right methodology is all going to depend on the project at hand. Complexity, size, and openness to risk are going to affect your choice. In a dynamic environment, a more agile methodology will probably be best. In a more rigid environment, a waterfall type methodology will probably fit better.

However, the waterfall method is generally seen as dated and uncool. It requires a lot of upfront planning and that delays the start of value-generating work for weeks and sometimes months. On the other hand, an agile method will get things started sooner but requires a lot of back-and-forth within the cycle that could delay the final delivery.

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach. The key to selecting a methodology is reviewing the project at hand and figuring out what would fit your team best.