How Can Project Managers Stay Relevant in Agile Organizations?

Introducing a new product in the market and making it a success is not an easy job, but an agile organization does it frequently.

In the traditional project management approach, strategy is the cornerstone of the whole process that could take most of the project time.

The overall speed of the whole process can leave the traditional project management approach irrelevant because everything in the business world is moving really fast.

This is where the Agile methodology is helpful.

What Is Agile Project Management?

Agile project management is an iterative way of managing projects.

It includes working in small groups and getting customer feedback as fast as possible.

For example, you need to launch a mobile app. Before you officially launch the app, you test the beta version and distribute it among some customers.

The customers are going to give feedback. You will use this feedback to improve the product and enhance your strategy for the main launch.

Role Of Project Managers In Agile Organizations

Traditional project managers are not a part of an agile organization.

This is because the traditional project managers complete the strategy and then launch the product. On the other hand, in agile organizations, the strategy changes and gets improved by feedback from a few customers.

This way, the strategy is changed numerous times before the product is officially launched.

Skillset Of Traditional Project Managers vs. Agile Roles (scrum master or product owners)

A scrum master is a person who ensures agility in a team and their environment. This is an essential quality of an agile project manager.

Skills of an agile project manager that are different from a traditional project manager are:

- Flexibility

Agile project managers are flexible to any last-minute changes. Traditional project managers make long-term plans and try to stick to those plans avoiding changes.

- Less time on planning

Agile project managers change their strategy and planning every time according to the circumstances. They don't waste time by making the "perfect plan" like the traditional project managers.

- Open to feedback

Feedbacks are an essential part of the project that an agile manager is working on. This helps them to enhance their strategy and planning. Traditional project managers usually work according to their experience rather than the feedback.

- Small groups

Agile project managers distribute the work into small groups. This process is faster and more productive. Traditional project managers usually don't follow this step.

Tips To Stay Relevant In Agile Organizations

Numerous organizations are taking a continuous approach rather than a fixed approach.

If Youtube wanted, it could have gone with its usual long-format videos. It became agile and observed the world around them, where short videos were trending.

After this, Youtube announced a new platform called "Youtube shorts" for short videos.

This way, you can stay relevant in a fast-changing world in the long run.

1. Understanding the Agile Organization

To use the agile approach, a manager should understand an agile organization and why they should adopt this style?

The objective of an agile organization is to work in "cycles."

These cycles include the following steps.

• Distribute the work in small groups of people.

• Make a quick strategy.

• Launch a beta version of the product.

• Get feedback from the customers.

• Make changes in the product and its strategy.

Repeat this same cycle until the product is ready for an official launch.

2. Success Metrics of Project Managers Vs. Agile Project Manager (scrum master/product owners)

There are various factors on which an agile project manager’s success is measured. However, we are considering some of them here:

• On-time delivery

• On-budget,

• Risk management,

• Customer orientation,

• Communication and relationships.

Both, A traditional project manager and an agile project manager can do the above things. The question arises who can do the above stuff more efficiently.

Let's go with an example. To manufacture a product, the managers need metal. They were using bronze as a metal to manufacture the product.

Recently, due to the supply and demand, the prices of bronze went into inflation. An agile project manager bent the initial rules and used steel, which is much cheaper than bronze.

The quality of the end product remained the same.

While the traditional project manager didn't change anything because he didn't want to interfere with the initial rules.

The agile manager decided according to the recent events and made the process more cost-effective just by changing the metal used.

3. Observe, Learn, And Adapt

Observe, learn and adapt. These are three superpowers that are really important for an agile organization.

Agile project managers should experiment with new things and observe the output they receive. They should learn how to improve it. The last step is to adapt to the latest information and experiment to see which one performs better.

This way, the approach is very flexible to changes and can more easily adapt them in their project.

In 2019, Microsoft announced that they removed the application "Paint" in the latest update of Windows 10. This was an old application used for drawing and picture editing.

Many users showed dissatisfaction with the beta version because of the absence of this "Paint." Without wasting any extra time, Microsoft rectified this mistake. They announced that they would not remove "Paint" in the upcoming Windows 10.

4. Professional Training

Shifting from the traditional approach to an agile approach is a new thing. Both of these approaches differ from others in many aspects.

This is why in an agile organization, the project manager needs to take professional training.

This training will help the project managers to manage their teams and keep them on the right track.

It will also help the project managers to make well-informed decisions that can benefit the company more effectively.

Summary

Agile project management is entirely different from the traditional project management approach. The latter depends solely on a strategy and sticks to it no matter what the business process demands.

On the contrary, an agile organization works on continuous feedback and adaptability. The traditional project managers can face difficulty while making the switch, but they can keep pace with continuous training.