Project Manager - are they really required?!

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What if, there is no Project Manager for the project?

At times, people often ponder 'why do we need Project Manager as they neither code nor do QA validation and their effort is of no use to the delivery'. Assume there is a team of 10 in which 6 are developers and 3 QA engineers and 1 Development Lead and all are exceptionally good technically and functionally.  They are all aware how to efficiently code and of course all QA engineers are experts in Automation. So in that case do you think we need Project Manager to handle the project? 

The point is, rather than getting into a debate on whether we need Project Manager,  its worth discussing on whether people in the team can take care of required project management activities.

In general Project Manager is related to Captain for the Project which means he/she has clear vision & direction for the project. One should know the objective of the project, and who are the primary stakeholders and secondary stakeholders; When we should reach where (Milestone details with target dates) and its dependencies and its owners.

Another focus area will be communication. Communicating right things to right people and at right time - which includes Risk Management (Dependencies, Issues, & Risks) tracking with right people at right time apart from the Status reporting.

When we mention status reporting, people at times think status of the project deliverable, though this is one aspect of the status reporting, but  more than that project status should get the visibility on Planned Budget/Effort/Project Scope Vs Spent Amount/Spent Effort/Delivered Scope. 

This in turn fixes the spotlights on the entity called Project Manager to get the visibility of high level and detailed level also to the respective stake holder. People in the top hierarchy should get the  visibility on Budget Spent Vs Ready Scope. The crew might be exceptionally competent in their sphere of work but beyond the call of work is an unfair expectation as it might hamper productivity and thats why and when a Project Manager is pressed into service.

In nutshell, Project Manager helps to get predictability of the project all times with relevant information to the relevant stake holders….

Agile complements traditional project management? - but how?!

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Agile doesn’t trade places with traditional project management which is centered around water-fall methodology. Hence Agile doesn’t counter against PMI®, long known for its project management credentials through PMP, rather it complements… Let’s get the insight on why do we recommend Agile. It is to be noted that PMI features PMI-ACP® as one of its flagship certification which is fast gaining grounds, if the traction is any indicator. We are one of the leading lights in knowledge and certification of PMI-ACP® and regularly conduct training and workshops on key locations around the globe.  Let’s move on to the narrative.

Cost/Schedule Creep…

Agile talks about how we can be adaptive for changes for the projects which doesn’t have clear scope or which has evolving scope. However Agile doesn’t address about how one should manage the cost/effort against the change and in nutshell Agile talks/encourages the changes of the scope, Cost, effort and in reality as the project runs based on the budget and cost in most cases.  Agile can complement within the schedule/cost however there needs a cap for the cost and schedule to avoid the major creeps on the same. PMI standards protect the projects from these variances or it gives us the better predictability on the same.

Big Picture Vs Progressive evolution

One should have big picture in mind which is very important to achieve the final goal. While agile emphasize on changes and adaptiveness, it doesn’t define the boundary wherein PMI plays a key role . We can be adaptive to changes as long as it is within the final goal of big picture. Without having final frame in mind, one cannot evolve in the right direction which means PMI gives you the right direction to evolve rightly. To my view without high level plan in hand, running the project in agile may never predict any time. We need a high level plan to assess ourselves on where do we stand in terms of goal achievements.

Agility within the project (Scope, Cost & Schedule) is always recommendable so that we always have grip on the project. Project should aim for success and that success is defined based on Scope achievement within agreed time and cost factors.