There's a popular fallacy in the agile community of products over projects. This, of course, is based on the lack of knowledge of Managerial Finance, Systems Engineering and Product Development principles and processes.
Here's a chart from an upcoming meeting on the integration of Systems Engineering with Program Management.
The Systems Engineering of Products and the management of the processes that produce those products are tightly connected. The primary roles of Program or Project Management in the development of Products are on the right. On the left are the primary roles of the Product Development Process.
These roles are inseparable, support each other and both are needed.
Systems Engineering
- A system is a combination of interacting elements organized to achieve one or more stated purposes
- Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems. It focuses on defining the customer needs and required functionality throughout the development cycle, eliciting requirements, proceeding with the design synthesis and system validation while addressing the complete problem. System Engineering integrates all disciplines and specialty groups into a team effort forming a structured development process that proceeds from concept to production to operation. Systems Engineering considers both the business and technical needs of all customers with the goal of providing a quality product that meets the user needs.
Project Management
- Project: A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result
- Project Management: The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements
- Program: A group of related projects and activities managed in a coordinated way
- Program Management: The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a program to meet program requirements and to obtain benefits not available by managing projects individually
Integrating PM and SE results in greater efficiency and effectiveness, better transparency between the efforts and common understanding, and adaptability to change.
