Outline of Mike Griffiths Agile Project Management Talk

Agile methods are gaining acceptance for software development projects, but how should they best be managed? The answer is that they should be led rather than managed, and this presentation will illustrate how leadership techniques can be effectively implemented on agile projects. Using case studies and practical examples, Mike will explain key techniques for leading agile teams. Some of the techniques outlined are very straight forward that a team can introduce tomorrow; while others are more involved, but generate larger benefits.

The presentation will cover:

• The differences between management and leadership
• Agile methods and their links to leadership
• People as a high leverage differentiator for success
• Practical leadership tools and techniques
• War stories, failures, and things to avoid

Welcome to APLN Atlanta!

Things are just getting started so you got here just in time. We are going to have our first meeting on October 8th. Check out the calendar to the right for more details. For our first meeting we will have Mike Griffiths join us. Mike serves on the board of APLN and the Agile Alliance. He will be in town to talk about Agile at the PMI Global Congress. Mike has a very entertaining presentation on Agile Project Leadership that he is planning to share with us. Please contact me at mike.apln@cottmeyer.com if you have any questions about this event. We are looking forward to seeing you in October.

Mike Griffiths Bio

Mike Griffiths, Leading Answers

A project manager and trainer who holds PMP and PRINCE2 project management certifications, along with Scrum Master and DSDM Practitioner agile certifications. Mike is active in the agile community and has authored numerous white papers and journal articles. He serves on the board of the Agile Alliance and the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) and is a frequent contributor to agile and project management conferences. Mike is also a contributing reviewer to the PMBOK® Guide-3rd Edition and instructor for the "Managing Agile Projects" course in the PMI SeminarsWorld® training program. Mike also maintains the agile project management blog http://www.leadinganswers.com/ that won the PMI-SAC award for Project Management Literature 2007.

PMI SeminarsWorld: Developments in Agile Project Management

Agile methods have been gaining popularity and use in IT projects, and more recently non-IT projects, for a number of years. Now with the help of organizations like the Agile Alliance and Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN), common project management best practices are emerging. This presentation will outline these recent developments in agile project management and introduce agile techniques for project managers to consider when undertaking projects with high rates of requirements change.

When managing projects that combine new technologies and uncertain requirements, the project manager must shift more responsibility for planning and governance to the team members who are closer to the technical details. This can initially seem an uncomfortable exercise for managers who are used to controlling projects entirely themselves, but is, in fact, in line with the concepts of "progressive elaboration" and "rolling wave planning" from the PMBOK® Guide. Agile methods parallel the leadership recommendations of inspiring the team with a common vision, jointly creating a plan, and then empowering the team to organize and deliver. Also, since projects with uncertainty around the full requirements need more frequent checkpoints to ensure the customer goals are being met, we see how agile techniques for customer engagement and mid-project retrospectives can yield important re-planning information for any project.

The Declaration of Interdependence

APLN is founded on the principles contained in the Declaration of Interdependence. You can check out the full text of the DOI at http://www.pmdoi.org.

We are a community of project leaders that are highly successful at delivering results. To achieve these results:

• We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus.
  
• We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership.
  
• We expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation, and adaptation.
  
• We unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate source of value, and creating an environment where they can make a difference.
  
• We boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness.
  
• We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes and practices.