The Project Book

PART III METHODS

Methods, processes and techniques are important in guiding project managers towards the right approach to take to deliver projects to the stakeholders’ expectations.

They provide a pathway to completion, show where key decision-points are and help project managers determine the information they need to be successful. These tools are often referred to as the technical side of project management. They are the things you can get certificates in, if you’re that way inclined.

You should learn about PMBoK, visual facilitation, mind-mapping, work breakdown structures, Kanban, six-sigma, PRINCE2, Scrum, estimating, investment logic mapping and other techniques. Almost everything about the technical side of project management can be found on the internet or in books, so start by hitting your local library. There’s no need for you to pay thousands of dollars for courses for this stuff — save that for the more important ‘soft skills’ training, although there are some techniques that are best learned from a trained facilitator.

Be relentless in your search for techniques that can both liven up your approach to delivery and provide much-needed clarity or speed of resolution on some of the issues you face. Design thinking is a recent example that provides a framework for creativity and innovation.

The chapters that follow provide you with an overview of the two main approaches that projects can take, which are styled as waterfall and agile. Each has pros and cons and I’ve ...