Three Styles Of Project Management
Any project manager in any business will tell you that strong project management is key to a project’s success, and it is also necessary that you choose a style of project management- and more importantly the right type, so here is a breakdown of three main methodologies in a nutshell to help you choose.
Traditional
Traditional project management takes a phased approach, with a particular sequence of steps being carried out which lead to the completed project. There are usually five components to a project when this methodology is adopted and they are initiation, design, creation, monitoring and closing, although not every project will go through every stage and many projects will require additional stages, such as pre planning or concept designs. When related to software development traditional project management is often referred to the waterfall mode.
Critical Chain Project Management
Critical Chain Project Management has more emphasis on the required resources to complete a project and the tasks that make up this project, and looks at project management with reference to the Theory of Constraints. The Critical Chain methodology is different from the traditional methodology in the way project uncertainty is managed. When using the Traditional Project Management style uncertainty is managed by starting tasks as soon as possible, multi tasking and other time saving strategies, whereas in the Critical Chain model we manage uncertainty by estimating based on averages, using buffers and scheduling backwards from the required completion date rather than forwards from the start date.
Extreme Project Management
Extreme project management is a style often employed in cases of very complex or uncertain projects. It differs widely from traditional project management in that it has a much more elastic approach and is more concerned with the human elements of the project. This humanistic approach puts more emphasis on managing the interactions between the humans involved rather than on precise scheduling and formal timescales.
Whether you choose one of these styles or another, your projects efficiency can be improved by using project management software, which has an issue tracker as issues are flagged automatically, meaning you can take action more quickly.