agile project management

QUESTION

Topics/Course Competencies [1, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14]

• Adaptive Planning in the Agile Project Context
• The Science of Adaptation
• Responding to Change
• Adapting over Conforming
• Principle of Deferred Commitment
• Advanced Release Planning

Readings:

Highsmith: Chapters 7 and 8

Goodpasture: Chapters 5, 6, and 7

Meyer: Chapter 6

Assignment

This week’s Discussion Forum will ask you to correlate what you are studying in the texts with real life examples from the business or organizational world – including your personal experience(s).

Answer these Questions for this week’s Discussion Forum (200 word minimum):

1. Based on the readings for this week, what do you see as the Implications of Adapting over Conforming?

2. Review the front page of your local newspaper or the front page of the business section (online or hard copy). Try to identify at least one “project” that might have had a better outcome/result had it been focused on adapting versus conforming? (You can also use the Wall Street Journal, New York Times or Dallas Business Journal.)

ANSWER

The Implications of Adapting over Conforming

Adapting over conforming is a fundamental principle in agile project management that emphasizes flexibility, responsiveness, and continuous improvement. It encourages project teams to prioritize adapting to change rather than rigidly adhering to predefined plans. The implications of adapting over conforming are as follows:

Increased agility

 By embracing adaptation, organizations can become more agile in their approach to project management. They can respond more effectively to evolving customer needs, market dynamics, and technological advancements. This enables them to stay ahead of the competition and deliver higher value to their stakeholders.

 Enhanced customer satisfaction

Adapting to change allows project teams to incorporate feedback from customers and end-users throughout the project lifecycle (Chen & Chuang, 2008). By continuously refining their deliverables based on this feedback, they can ensure that the final product meets or exceeds customer expectations. This iterative approach increases customer satisfaction and reduces the risk of delivering a product that does not align with customer needs.

Reduced project risks

Conforming to rigid plans can lead to significant risks in projects. By embracing adaptation, project teams can identify and address risks early on, leveraging real-time information and feedback. They can make informed decisions, adjust project priorities, and pivot if necessary. This proactive risk management approach minimizes the chances of project failure or costly rework.

 Continuous learning and improvement

Adapting over conforming encourages a culture of continuous learning and improvement within project teams. It fosters an environment where experimentation, creativity, and innovation are valued. Team members are empowered to explore alternative solutions, challenge assumptions, and find the most effective approaches. This iterative learning process allows teams to continuously refine their practices and deliver better results over time.

 Increased team collaboration and engagemen

 Adapting over conforming promotes a collaborative and empowered team environment. It encourages open communication, trust, and shared ownership of project outcomes. Team members feel empowered to contribute their ideas, suggest improvements, and take ownership of their work. This increased engagement fosters a sense of ownership, commitment, and collective responsibility, leading to higher team morale and productivity.

Overall, the implications of adapting over conforming are increased agility, customer satisfaction, risk mitigation, continuous learning, and team collaboration. It enables organizations to navigate complex and rapidly changing business environments more effectively, delivering successful projects that meet evolving stakeholder needs.

 The Importance of Adapting in Real-Life Projects

One recent example of a project that could have had a better outcome had it focused on adapting versus conforming is the development of a new mobile application by a well-known technology company (Bierhoff et al., 2013). The project initially followed a traditional waterfall approach, with a detailed plan and fixed requirements. However, during the development phase, the market landscape and customer preferences quickly evolved.

By conforming to the initial plan, the project team missed critical opportunities to adapt. As a result, the application’s features and user experience fell short of customers’ expectations, leading to negative reviews and decreased adoption rates. The company lost valuable time and resources as they struggled to catch up with competitors who were more responsive to the market changes.

Had the project team embraced the principle of adapting over conforming, they could have:

 Conducted continuous market research: By monitoring market trends and customer feedback throughout the project, the team could have identified emerging needs and adjusted the application’s features and functionalities accordingly. This proactive approach would have resulted in a product that better aligned with customer expectations.

 Employed an iterative development process: Instead of waiting until the end of the project to release a fully completed application, an iterative approach could have been adopted. By releasing minimal viable versions of the application early on and collecting user feedback, the team could have iteratively improved the product based on real-time insights. This would have allowed them to respond quickly to user needs and preferences (Allan & Curtis, 2005).

 Engaged in regular communication with stakeholders: Conforming to a rigid plan often limits communication with stakeholders until the final delivery. By adopting an adaptive approach, the team could have engaged in ongoing communication and collaboration with customers, gathering their input and incorporating it into the development process. This would have resulted in a product that better met customer expectations and increased user satisfaction.

 Fostered a culture of experimentation and learning: Adapting over conforming encourages teams to embrace experimentation and learn from their failures. In this case, the project team could have fostered a culture of continuous improvement, where they would have been encouraged to test new ideas, gather data, and adjust their strategies based on the results. This iterative learning process would have allowed them to address any shortcomings in the application and deliver a better end product.

In conclusion, the example of the mobile application development project highlights the importance of adapting over conforming in real-life projects. By being responsive to market changes, engaging with stakeholders, adopting an iterative approach, and fostering a culture of continuous learning, projects can achieve better outcomes and deliver products that align with evolving customer needs.

References

Allan, C., & Curtis, A. (2005). Nipped in the Bud: Why Regional Scale Adaptive Management Is Not Blooming. Environmental Management, 36(3), 414–425. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0244-1 

Bierhoff, I., Müller, S., Schoenrade-Sproll, S., Delaney, S., Byrne, P., Dolničar, V., Magoutas, B., Verginadis, Y., Avatangelou, E., & Huijnen, C. a. G. J. (2013). Ambient Assisted Living Systems in Real-Life Situations: Experiences from the SOPRANO Project. In Springer eBooks (pp. 123–153). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8348-0_8 

Chen, C., & Chuang, M. (2008). Integrating the Kano model into a robust design approach to enhance customer satisfaction with product design. International Journal of Production Economics, 114(2), 667–681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2008.02.015