As project complexities grow, and diverse and cross-functional teams come together to solve complex problems through innovative and adaptive solutions, it is critical that these efforts are structured and focused. Project management methodologies, frameworks, and philosophies allow teams to choose a way of working to ensure that complex businesses can respond to complexities in a structured, effective manner.
With diverse people working on a project, it’s crucial to choose the right way to manage it. But not all project management methodologies are well-suited for all types of projects. It depends on the industry, project size, team size, and many other factors.
This article explains the ten most popular project management methodologies managers and leaders use across various industries.
Table of Contents
What is a Project Management methodology?
A project management methodology is a set of principles, practices, tools, and techniques that helps the manager or leader plan, organize, execute and manage the project.
Although you can manage a project in different ways, not all methods will be the right fit. Each technique aims at improving the overall productivity of the team and the outcome. But each method has its pros and cons. It’s the project manager’s job to choose the one that will be most effective.
Waterfall
One of the most traditional approaches to project management is the waterfall methodology. It has a straightforward and linear approach. It divides the project into 6 phases, and like a waterfall, the process flows through them in sequence. The next stage begins after you complete the previous one.
Initially designed for manufacturing and construction projects, its phases for software projects are:
- Requirements
- Analysis
- Design
- Coding
- Testing
- Operations
You plan the project and map goals and objectives at the beginning of the process. The planning, cost estimations, cost approvals, and setting timelines are upfront. Once the project starts, it resists any changes. Thus there is no room for flexibility and implementing feedback.
It is suitable for projects where the stakeholders are clear on their expectations, deliverables, budget, and predictable timelines. One can use this for consistent and repetitive large tasks whose requirements are less likely to change over the process.
The waterfall method is less suited for most software projects as their requirements often change.
Agile
Linear project management methodologies are non-adaptable. This approach and its limitations, given evolving business complexities, gave rise to agile and similar methods. Agile is a philosophy, a set of values and principles that focuses on improving the team’s capabilities to develop and deliver a valuable product to customers sustainably.
Agile means being perceptive of changes in the environment and responding to those quickly. This methodology has short, quick phases of work that include development, testing, and reassessment in a cyclic manner. It has iterative models where teams revise the project frequently to incorporate feedback. It facilitates the project’s evolution and continuous improvement.
Agile keeps all the project stakeholders like developers, project managers, cross-functional team members, and clients in the loop throughout the process. In addition, feedback from the end-users and customers is collected during incremental releases. Thus, even they are indirectly involved in the development.
This method provides opportunities for all team members to voice their opinions and ideas. In addition, it helps to collaborate among the team members and other cross-functional teams working on the project.
Agile allows many changes throughout the project phases. As a result, it is well-suited for most software projects, but other industries also implement it.
Scrum
Scrum is a framework built on Agile principles. Like agile, it focuses on the iterative development of the product. It divides the work into pre-defined time cycles called sprints, usually last two weeks.Â
During a sprint, the entire development team focuses on only the tasks assigned for that sprint and nothing else. Instead, they focus on achieving the sprint goals aligned with the project goals. Each sprint is treated as a sub-project and has its own set of events like sprint planning, sprint review, and sprint retrospective.
Another important aspect of Scrum is the Daily Scrum. It is a daily stand-up meeting that lasts for 15 minutes. It includes the entire Scrum team, who discuss the tasks for the day.
A Scrum team has three specific roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Developer. The Scrum Master leads the team and facilitates the various Scrum events and meetings. They are not the same as Project Managers but servant-leaders who help the team to understand and implement the Scrum framework.
Scrum is usually adopted in the software industry to develop fast-paced products. It is best suited for small teams with around ten members but can be scaled using Scrum scaling frameworks.
Lean
Developed by Toyota, the Lean methodology focus on minimizing waste to maximize value. It was initially created to reduce the physical waste in the manufacturing industries. But today, its principles are implemented in software development and other sectors.
Like the Agile approach, even Lean promotes continuous improvement. It identifies wasteful practices in the process that don’t add any value to the final product and the user. The central theme here is doing more with less. After identifying the wastes, they are either eliminated or reduced.
There are three types of waste which are collectively called 3Ms:
- Muda: Processes that only consume time and resources but provide no value for the customer.
- Mura: Variations and overproduction in one area result in too much inventory.
- Muri: Too much workload on people or overload on machines that slow down the process or completely breakdowns it.
Lean is most suitable for manufacturing products as it reduces costs. But often, startups and software firms use it to develop end-user-focused products.
Kanban
Another framework within Agile, Kanban, based on Lean principles, takes a visual approach to project management. The word “Kanban” means billboard, and the method uses a board to track the project. Like Lean, it originated in the manufacturing industry but can be applied to virtually any industry and area. Individuals also use it to manage personal tasks and daily to-do lists.
The Kanban board has mainly three columns: To-do, Doing (in-progress), and Done. The board has cards moved through the columns to denote their status. Each card represents a task with its details and is moved from one column to another. It visually represents its progress.
The Kanban board can have more than three columns depending on the project and the industry. It can be either adopted with a whiteboard and sticky notes or software like Trello.
Kanban helps to identify bottlenecks in the process. It helps to limit the number of tasks in progress by introducing a “WIP Limit” at any given time. It brings additional benefits when combined with other project management methodologies.
Scrumban
Scrumban is a hybrid of the two most popular project management methods: Scrum and Kanban. It started with Scrum teams implementing Kanban principles but evolved into a separate hybrid framework. As a result, it includes the best of both: Kanban’s flexibility and Scrum’s structure.
Scrumban doesn’t have any fixed roles like Scrum. The team members hold equal positions and equal rights to make decisions. However, they still have a Project Manager. Also, it retains Scrum meetings like Daily Scrum, Reviews, and Retrospectives.
Like Kanban, the entire project is visualized on a Scrumban board. It has three columns: Backlogs, WIP, or Work In Progress and Done. But it can have more columns like testing and reviews.
The hybrid methodology doesn’t have sprints, but the team works in iterations that usually last two weeks. All the tasks are filled in the Backlog, and the members “pull” (assign) the tasks according to their capacity. But the number of tasks in WIP will have a limit.
Scrumban helps to simplify the project’s overwhelming workload and complexity. In addition, it is conducive for managing projects whose requirements often change and have no clear roadmap.
Extreme Programming (XP)
Extreme Programming is another framework built on Agile and works cyclically. It has short development cycles with regular releases to get continuous feedback. Like all agile methodologies, XP focuses on continuous improvement. As a result, it increases quality and productivity and makes quick turnaround times.
Kent Beck created Extreme Programming while working for Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System (C3). He introduced it to the world in his book Extreme Programming Explained in 1999.
XP has a pre-defined set of rules for planning, designing, coding, testing, and managing or releasing. All teams must follow these rules. It also has core values of simplicity, communication, feedback, respect, and courage. It facilitates teamwork and collaboration among the team members, developers, managers, and customers. Also, the teams are self-organized.
Extreme Programming is mainly used to develop software products. Due to its fast-paced working nature, it is most suitable for projects with tight deadlines. It is also best suited for small or midsized teams that are co-located.
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)
The Critical Chain Project Management method focuses on the resources required for each task in a project. It is similar to another project management method called the Critical Path Method (CPM). CPM identifies and schedules the critical tasks of a project.
CCPM covers a wide range of project resources. Apart from skills, team members, expenses, software, and tools, it also considers office spaces and similar equipment. It creates a chain of tasks and schedules them around the resource dependencies. This strategy is advantageous in the case of limited resources.
CCPM first identifies the critical path and then the critical chain in the project. The critical path comprises the essential tasks necessary to meet the deadline. It also indicates the time needed to complete them. Finally, it is loaded with the required resources creating the critical chain.
Often the time allotted for each task is not sufficient. Therefore, CCPM creates buffers along the critical chain as a safety margin. This helps to complete the project within the schedule.
It is excellent for projects that involve a considerable amount of resources. It can be adopted by software development, tech research, and construction industries. A team of any size can implement it.
PRINCE2
PRINCE2 stands for PRojects IN Controlled Environments. It is a project management methodology created in 1996 by the UK government to manage IT projects. The government has a certification program too.
PRINCE2 is the successor of PRINCE, which was specific standards for IT systems. It is mainly used by the UK government and other government agencies of western European countries and Australia.
PRINCE2 is a process-oriented methodology that divides the project into multiple stages like the Waterfall method. It heavily relies on its seven principles, themes, and processes. While the principles guide the project and must be adhered to, the themes provide the tools to use, and the processes give a roadmap to execute the project from start to finish.
The framework is perfect for large, predictable, and enterprise projects. It clearly defines every stage’s inputs, outputs, roles, and responsibilities. However, it involves quite a lot of documentation and learning from past experiences to reduce risks. It is not suitable for small projects whose requirements often change.
PMI/PMBOK
PMBOK stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge and is not exactly a project management methodology. It is a book that contains all the standard terminologies, definitions, best practices, and guidelines accepted by the project management industry standards.
The Project Management Institute or PMI publishes PMBOK. It is a non-profit membership association and project management certifications and standards organization.
According to PMBOK, any project has five process groups. They are:
- Initiation
- Planning
- Executing
- Controlling
- Closing
PMBOK provides the necessary foundations to manage a project from start to finish. It helps to structure the project according to industry standards. It cannot be implemented as a separate framework but can be combined with another project management framework.
Both big and small-sized projects can adopt this framework or the set of best practices. In addition, PMI’s PMP or Project Management Professional certification is highly recognized worldwide.
Conclusion
Any project management methodology is a model or framework that sets standards and provides a structure for delivering a project. There is no one-size-fits-all method. Instead, choose the right one depending on the type of project, team skills, resources available, organizational culture, and other parameters.
