Dennis Stevens made a recent comment that brings up the old topic of the term "agile" in the same sentence as Project Management - PMBOK still. The 4th Edition of PMBOK is on it way, so we'll have to see how they have approached "agile," inside the context of the 6 Process Groups and 9 Knowledge Areas. Dennis's comment has strong support in the IT community. But it's the other communities that are begining to look in from the outside, asking where their core approach is going?
At one time I argued vigorously that project management and product development - software development - were inseparable. I've since learned that I was not only wrong, but I had failed to understand the core concept of PMBOK and its application. First though let me state I'm an OK fan of PMBOK 3rd edition. It has some serious missing elements. Risk is poorly developed and the notion of Earned Value too simple for actual use. But these are opinions from the Aerospace and Defense and heavy construction point of view.
It is in those domains, that I returned to my pre-agile understanding. Having "grown up" in DoD projects in the 1980's, I had lost the connect between Project Controls, Program Management, and Technical Product Development.
The notion that "agile" as practiced by software developers has a strong connection with the 6 and 9 (processes and knowledge) is flawed. Along with that of course is the flawed notions of the "Theory of PM is Obsolete" paradigm.
So here's my current position:
- Project Controls are not Project or Program Management
- Product Development process, no ,matter how clever, wonderful, or effective, are not project or program management
- When someone speaks of "agile" in the terms of the Agile Manifesto or the Agile Alliance, they are speaking about product development processes. The 6 and 9 are usually no present, or if they are, the agile processes are "implementations" of some of the 6 and 9.
So when PMBOK 4th Edition appears here soon, it'll be interesting to see if they have "gone agile." For us here in the defense and government contracting (subcontractors actually), It'll be a dark day when we move away from the Project Controls point of view as the basis of success.
