Chapter 5. An Agile Project Management Model

The first edition of this book introduced an agile process framework that focused on major project phases. However, as agile methods have spread to larger projects and larger organizations over the last five years, a more encompassing enterprise framework has become necessary. In an organization that spans multiple countries, for example, not all projects will be agile projects and even if they were, some locations may use different agile methods than others. It isn’t rare for one organization location to use Scrum, another Extreme Programming (XP), and yet another Feature Driven Development (FDD). Furthermore, this multiplicity of approaches should not be discouraged! It may well be that a location in China can get good support (training, coaching, etc.) for Scrum, whereas another in Australia can get good support for FDD.

One of the tenets of agile development is adapting to different situations. One of the six principles of the Declaration of Interdependence is, “We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes, and practices.” It is therefore difficult to make a compelling argument for standardizing on a single agile method across a multinational organization. However, utilizing a common framework within which individual choices can be made does appeal to larger organizations.