In order to respond to customer requirements, companies can implement an infinity of project management or product development methodologies, which can be classified into traditional methodologies and agile methodologies. In traditional methodologies, planning at the beginning of the project is fundamental, since it determines the direction to follow throughout the project, regardless of whether the needs of the clients change during execution or if they were not interpreted properly. The important thing is to comply with the planning and document the entire process in detail. This style of management worked for a long time, especially when customer requirements were fairly static, but given the speed of change, it was imperative to have methodologies that generate incremental, cooperative, easy, and adaptive development.
Agility arises as a response to that business need to adapt to their own changes and those of their customers, to solve the challenge of delivering value early, to adapt to technological transformation, to seek efficiency in processes and motivation. of the teams, in order to guarantee the profitability of the business, customer satisfaction and be competitive.
How do they do that? Agile methodologies strengthen project management by enhancing its strongest aspects and updating its most rigid aspects: firstly, they work with flexible and adapted planning; Instead of trying to plan in detail the tasks of the work team at the beginning of the project, planning is done based on iterations during the project. Its implementation is adapted to the nature of the project and not the other way around: the type and objective are the most important and not the rigidity of a standard methodology.
As for the value, it is built and delivered at each stage of the project: this allows to reduce uncertainty, identify differences and validate the value added of the results on time (make mistakes quickly and cheaply). They also focus on the importance of work teams: organization and clear and transversal communication for all participants, whether internal or external. Customer participation in work teams ensures that their voice is heard. They allow to have a detailed follow-up of each stage of a project, both at a personal and group level and to prioritize activities according to the objectives pursued. And fundamentally, success is the perception of quality: the customer is the one who validates that the result is what he requires.
The corporate reality is immersed in this transformation process in the conception of business project management. We work in changing environments where flexibility and adaptability become essential ingredients for daily performance. All this has a direct impact on the professional profiles that will be and that are already being more in demand.
This constitutes a new teaching challenge and objective: to train our students in flexible and agile work dynamics that provide them with the appropriate tools to be able to adapt to the uncertain needs of the future business world.
The answer to the questions posed at the beginning of the article is at the discretion of each reader. However, it is clear that agile methodologies present a strong alternative to the adaptation and flexibility that organizations and businesses require to present results that meet their own and their clients’ expectations.
Professor of the Bachelor of Business Administration UADE
Source From: Ambito
