8. 8PMI Melbourne Mentoring
Project Manager Role transformation
in Agile environments
What is the Project Manager responsible for?
- Building effective teams
- Managing Communications
- Risk Management
- Reporting & Governance
9. 9PMI Melbourne Mentoring
Project Manager Role transformation
in Agile environments
What is the Project Manager responsible for?
- Project Budget
- Assist in Portfolio Planning
- ** Catch all bucket **
- Agile Servant Leader
10. 10PMI Melbourne Mentoring
Project Manager Role transformation
in Agile environments
Where is the Project Manager?
(with regards to Agile)
12. 12PMI Melbourne Mentoring
Project Manager Role transformation
in Agile environments
Ronald Haupt
Agile Project Manager
QSR International
ronaldhaupt@gmail.com
Editor's Notes
Thank you
Anna
PMI Melbourne Chapter Committee, Chairman
Audience who have come to listen in
Work at QSR in Doncaster, innovative software for researchers using unstructured data.
PMI Mentor
PM’s and aspiring PM’s still ask: ‘Where does the PM exist within Agile?’
And I ask, ‘What do you mean?’
NEXT SLIDE!
Question 1: How many in the audience have heard of Agile (SAFe, Scrum, Lean, etc.)
Question 2: Of those, how many feel they have a basic to good understanding of Agile?
Question 3: Of those, how many have attended training or certifications under Agile?
Question 4: Of those, how many feel they are working in an Agile environment?
Back to the question: Where does the PM sit within the Agile workspace?
“What do you mean”
Various courses and material on the subject describes only 3 roles.
Backlog / Product Owner (Scrum)
Primarily responsible for ‘owning’ the backlog in terms of ranked priority
Delivery Team
Cross functional team primarily responsible for delivery of value software (Done Done)
Includes investigations, architecture, design, implementation, testing, user validation, acceptance.
ScrumMaster
Fire fighter / Removes impediments - Enables team to focus on core of what they do – little distractions
Synonymous with leading the Standups.
Because it’s not immediately apparent, some responses over the years is that a Project Manager is not needed in Agile.
But alas, here I am. The enigma.
Take them through the process because:
Some just believe when told.
Some reject it as too easy an answer.
Most success is when I take them through the process and assist their discovery…
Are we sure the PM can’t fit into one of these roles?
Helps me test their understanding also
Backlog / Product Owner
Primarily responsible for ‘owning’ the backlog in terms of ranked priority
Pros:
Cons:
Backlog Owner is the voice of the ‘customer’ or ‘marketplace’ in the case of QSR, need the checks and balances.
PM responsible for delivering the project.
Delivery Team
Primarily responsible delivering user story value.
Pros:
The team gains some extra resources
Andrew @ QSR
Cons:
EVERYTHING!
Most often PM’s don’t have the skills for this sort of thing
ScrumMaster
Fire fighter / Removes impediments
Pros:
PM’s do fire fight pretty well
Removing impediments is a significant part of being a PM (tactical & strategic levels)
Often needs to be a leader for teams to accept SM. PM’s tend to be leaders…
Ronald @ QSR
Lots of Synergy
Cons:
No one is going to hire a PM to be a ScrumMaster!
Hang on, we didn’t answer the question!
Which of the Agile roles does the PM’s morph into in order to be apart of an Agile space?
No, we didn’t answer, but let’s complete the process.
Reverse the exercise and look at what which of the agile roles can do what the PM’s do
Building Effective Teams
People management skills
Managing Communications
Not so much between the team members (Internal).
Between team and other business units / departments (External stakeholders).
Outside of the company.
Risk Management:
Backlog Owner assists in terms of work order.
Identifying, mitigation strategies, Risk Register items
Reporting & Governance:
**Not Burndows. (Scrumaster)
Reporting project progress upstream (senior stakeholders) * Accountability
Project Budget
$$$
Assist in Portfolio Planning
SAFe
Portfolio / Strategic Management across numerous projects across the business (Program / Portfolio Management)
Agile Servant Leader:
Need to be a mentor to those not familiar with Agile Principles
A role model leading by example
That’s when I ask the question:
NEXT SLIDE!
Established that PM’s do not automatically fulfil any of the predefined roles (ScrumMaster, Part of Delivery Team, Product Owner)
Established that all the areas of Project management doesn’t disappear – unless you want anarchy!
NEXT SLIDE!
PM’s found at the same position as prior - sitting on the top (a different layer)
Working in Agile for any PM will means change – change in tools, processes and interactions.
Remember:
Work still has to be done
Someone still has to be ultimately responsible
Someone has to manage the whole
~/angel\~ that I trust you have always been…
END
