Part Three: Considering the Flavors of Agile

You will be best positioned to incorporate the different attributes of adaptable project management approaches into your work if you can think critically about what each offers to you and make sound decisions about when your projects' characteristics demand them. In this part of the course project, you will demonstrate your understanding of the different flavors of agile.

Answer the following questions, using as much space as you need.

1.Lean is, philosophically, a little different than agile. It offers some control. It asks you to try to eliminate waste everywhere you can. How do you see the principles of lean being helpful to you in your work?

2.Scrum is an implementation of lean. Do you have a project you could use scrum on? How do you think using scrum for that project might help you? Why would scrum make sense in that context?

3.If you don't have a project for which scrum would be helpful, then describe the kind of project you think it would it make sense for.

4.What might a project backlog look like in your work? Try to design a backlog for your purposes. What would you want to include? Note: Rather than listing work items in a backlog, focus on the properties of the backlog items, i.e., the column headings in a table, as opposed to the row titles.For example, the reference number, title, completion status, etc.

5.Describe your understanding of how lean principles help to complement project management efforts.

6.How do you think an understanding of kanban and extreme programming will help you in your project management efforts? Offer your ideas.

7.What kind of soft skills do you think a project manager coming from a more traditional environment would need in a lean environment? Remember that they can't act the same way. Lean is not based on command and control; it's based on individuals making choices and decisions. The project manager is more of a facilitator than an enforcer. What soft skills would be necessary?