In order for a company to truly obtain the benefits of Disciplined iterative Project Delivery (DiPD™), the company must allow for a level of maturity to develop through the disciplined use the framework’s best practices. Understand, the resources may have little to no previous disciplined use of an iterative approach. It is recommended that management first determines which projects show the DiPD™ characteristics. A decision matrix should be used to assess whether using DiPD™ will be successful. This is a valuable tool because it formalizes the decision-making process and empowers management and agile project team members to determine the risks and constraints that must be mitigated to ensure the project has the best opportunities for agile success. Too often it is believed that all projects can be iterated, or use agile, while little effort is taken to understand the organizational constraints that may inhibit the effective use of agile tenets and best practices. Using the decision matrix, the organizational risks and constraints can be brought to the forefront and agile project management can iteratively transition management and resources toward agility. This approach also enables management to make an informed decision on which project delivery method to use: traditional or DiPD™. Additionally, the use of the decision matrix begins the risk management process advocated in the Project Management Body of Knowledge™. In this process, the resources management reviews the results of the decision matrix to determine the necessary risk mitigation strategies and triggers, and to select a pilot project. Once a pilot project has been through the decision matrix, the resources assigned to the agile project begin using DiPD™ and are coached using the Whole Team™ approach. This Whole Team™ approach should be used from project to project to achieve the continuous improvement needed to deliver projects Better, Faster, and Cheaper™. Whole Team™ also holds the entire agile resources accountable since every agile resource self-selects on the tasks needed to complete the iteration/sprint in a transparent way. Once these activities are performed, the benefits the performing organization is attempting to achieve will fall in line while improving overall customer satisfaction. In addition to supporting DiPD™, management support is needed to continuously improve the project processes that agile resources are using based upon the department and/or company’s organizational maturity in agile. Figure 1 depicts an agile maturity model that the project management office can use to gauge a department/company’s current state and plan for its future state.
The department/company should employ servant leadership concepts and create an environment that doesn’t hinder employees from doing their work. It should be noted that agile project teams may experience less productivity as they are initially staffed and coached using the Whole Team™ process and DiPD™ framework. It is recommended the agile project manager understand the Tuckerman’s Group Development Model (forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning) as they implement Whole Team™. Once the resources assigned to an agile project reach the performing stage of team development, team collaboration, and an established cadence, will be set and at its best.
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