Why traditional project models do belong to another age. We need to think in products, not projects.

1. Why traditional project models
do belong to another age.

2. „Traditional“Projects
Today we know it better …
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3. Agile Projects (cool)
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4. Traditional Project Success
Success = Features + Time + Cost met
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5. Traditional Project Success
Success = Features + Time + Cost met
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6. Agile Project Success
Success = Features + Time + Cost met
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7. Agile Project Success
Success = Features + Time + Cost met
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8. Agile Project Success
No, we satisfy the customer and deliver value!
„ Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.”
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9. Agile Project Success
Satisfy the customer:
Deliver the requirements she wants!
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10. Agile Project Success
Satisfy the customer:
Deliver the requirements she wants!
Deliver the most valuable early!
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11. Agile Project Success
What‘s still wrong?
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12. Agile Project Success
What‘s still wrong?
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13. The Truth
At project start, we know less about our project
than we’ll ever know again.
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14. The Sad Truth
But we still waste a
lot of time writing a
list of numerous
features (now called
Backlog) that could
deliver value.
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15. Big Ball of Requirement Mud
Your PM, your team and your „requirements“…
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16. The Waste
But he says too: 80% of the requirements are not „required“, but only ideas or
could-haves, at best – or crap and wasted time, at worst .
Jeff Sutherland:
„The idea behind a backlog is that it should
have everything that could possibly be included
in the product. You‘re never going to actually
build it all, but you want a list of everything
that could be included in that product vision.“
(From: Scrum – The Art Of Doing Twice The Work In Half The Time - 2014)
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17. Get Real
It’s better to make half a product
than a half-assed product.
(37 Signals – Getting Real)
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18. Get Real
• Ignore Details Early On
• It’s a Problem When It’s a Problem
• Hire the Right Customers
• Scale Later
• Half, Not Half-Assed
• It Just Doesn’t Matter
• Start With No
• Can You Handle It?
• Forget Feature Requests
• And the most important of all…
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19. Why?
Why are you creating this product?
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20. 20

21. Focus On Purpose
We build this product because it
• gives us a competitive advantage
• is critical and complex
• cannot be bought or outsourced
• causes sleepless nights
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22. Focus On Value
Which of the 49 requirements (epics or stories) make
our vision work and have the biggest business value?
Should we even care about the other 37 right now, then?
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23. Fixed Agile Project? Paradox!
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24. We Still Think In Projects…
“A temporary organization that is needed to produce a unique
and predefined outcome or result at a pre-specified time using
predetermined resources.”
[ PRINCE2 ]
Temporary?
Pre-specified time?
Predetermined resources?
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25. Let‘s Think Products!
Temporary? Pre-specified time? Predetermined resources?
A product …
• has no predefined end date
• only “ends” when it has no more benefit
• changes as soon as it gets used
• has a different life-cycle than a project
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26. Agile Product Development
Product backlog
Product owner
We are creating a product.
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27. Identify Success
What if the 12 reqs already deliver 90% of the
expected value?
Do we still need all others?
May we stop here?
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28. Inspect & Adapt - Everything
If your product vision works, adapt your plans,
contracts and documents and continue with
next.
Or make cash.
Otherwise rethink - or stop.
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29. Management
Do you still try to control uncertainty?
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30. Agile Management
If the organization wants to have competitive
advantage in todays market complexity and
velocity – it‘s an almost mandatory choice.
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31. Chance Management
The mental model created by the project model
does more damage than good.
Stop trying to control uncertainty, be creative
and convert it to chances and values.
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32. Elastic Management
Modern product development has to be flexible
and adaptable.
EaaS
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33. Elastic Management
Modern product management too.
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MicroProjects

34. Elastic Management
MicroProjects!?
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35. Elastic Management
It‘s not the obligation of Agile to adapt to
contracts with fixed price and scope,
but vice versa.
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36. Agile Success
Doing the best we can in satisfying our customer
by delivering the best possible product and
optimize our work continuously…
will give us …
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37. Agile Success
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38. Conclusion
“Today, delivering on schedule,
on budget and on features
is a sign of failure, not success.”
(Allan Kelly)
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