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Agile Manifesto in Operational Improvement Projects

agile principles in project management

Traditionally Agile approach (and its components, such as Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP)) are associated with software development projects. Management Consulting projects typically follow a more traditional Waterfall methodology, based on PMBOK® guidelines. However, our clients today are operating in a more dynamic environment, that requires a higher degree of flexibility in delivering projects. Here are some elements of the Agile Manifesto that we, at Trindent, are using in our operational improvement engagements.

  1. Satisfy Customers Through Early & Continuous Delivery: One of the key focuses of our engagements is in identifying and delivering “quick wins” early in the engagement. This helps to motivate teams, build early buy-in from stakeholders, and start delivering value to the customer.
  2. Deliver Value Frequently: This becomes especially noticeable when we develop and install Management Operating system elements, like dashboards, performance trackers, etc. Trindent consultants work closely with client team members to deliver system tools on weekly basis through multiple iterations. This allows clients to test the tool, provide feedback, modify requirements or needed functionality. The result is a system tool that fully satisfies client needs, and the client takes ownership early in the process.
  3. Break the Silos of Your Project: All Trindent engagements span across multiple departments in the client organization. It becomes vitally important for the success of engagement for all these departments and stakeholders to work in a coherent and synchronized way, focusing on aligned goals
  4. Regularly Reflect and Adjust Your Way of Work to Boost Effectiveness: One of the key project governance elements of Trindent engagements is the weekly Engagement Status Report meeting. This highly structured event brings together all engagement participants to review engagement progress, schedule, and develop corrective actions as required.

These are just a few of the Agile Manifesto elements that we use on our engagements, that allow achieving planned results while maintaining a high degree of flexibility and adapting to changing business environments.

The author of this blog, Anas Dabbakh is a Senior Consultant at Trindent.