Agile and Traditional Project Management – 10 Benefits of a Hybrid Model

Agile and Traditional Project Management – 10 Benefits of a Hybrid Model

The following content is a subset of data that will be presented in an upcoming webinar – Agile and Traditional Project Management, Homogeneous or Hybrid?

Most organizations today are delivering both agile and traditional projects within their project portfolio, but are these projects segregated or unified? In many cases, they remain in disparate systems simply because the teams that deliver them have differing objectives. The challenges that leaders face with this approach far outweigh the impact of implementing a hybrid model. So how do we address these challenges in order to bring benefit/value-add to the business? Take a look at our top 10 benefits of bringing both Agile and traditional projects together in a single environment.

  1. Respond Quickly to Change – In today’s businesses, technology plays a crucial role in our success, but technology also makes things more uncertain. This uncertainty has given us the motive to be more flexible and requires a “think on your feet” mentality. For this reason, we have seen a big spike in Agile PPM over the last few years. With a hybrid model, you can deliver stability and efficiency, the result of traditional style PPM, while also giving in to necessary risks that lead to innovation and competitive edge, the common results of responding quickly to change.
  2. Provide the Right Tools for the Right Teams – Anyone that tells you that there is a “one size fits all” tool for every team in an organization is most likely selling a product that might be ok at managing all work across the enterprise, but won’t be the perfect fit for any one team. Every team has a focus, and that focus requires different tools. Most PMOs have been built on process, while New Product Development teams require flexibility and agility. You don’t hire a salesperson to build a software product and you don’t give marketing HR tools to manage their campaigns. In a hybrid model, all teams have the project tool that works best for them, while the data integrates seamlessly to deliver a unified project management solution.
  3. Better Decision Making- Managing a strategic portfolio is hard enough when all the right information is in one place. Controlling resources, costs, and time to market can be nearly impossible when the data you need to make decisions is fragmented and disconnected. A hybrid model allows you to bring all your projects together into one portfolio so you can make the right decisions for your business.
  4. Global Visibility – This ones pretty simple. If you want to have visibility across all the work that is going on across the enterprise, you have to have a hybrid model that will consolidate the data. As I mentioned previously in benefit #3, it is very easy to make the wrong decision if a critical piece of information is missing.
  5. Just the Right Amount of Process – Asking every team to follow the same process would be detrimental to the business. A PMO thrives on process and typically sees themselves as disciplined and structured. That same PMO team may see an application team as undisciplined with a lack of process. If we forced the application team to follow the same process as the PMO, we may be throwing out the benefits of agility such as competitive edge, rapid time to market, and the ability to experiment. Working the way teams work best is a critical aspect of productivity. I will note here that I believe all PMOs should broaden their practices to include both traditional and Agile methodologies. Every project is different and has a different set of needs.
  6. Engaged and United Teams – Disconnected teams usually comes from teams who have completely opposing views and processes which then creates distance, which then results in conflict. Teams that work well together aren’t forced to do things a certain way, they are brought together via a united front that allows them to work together in their own way while all contributing to the value that is delivered to the business. A hybrid model does just that.
  7. Common Goals – Better Results – Can you imagine how much work we would get done if we were all on a different page? Working towards common goals and a shared understanding of the business is key for any project’s success.
  8. Highly Productive Teams – As I mentioned above in benefit #5, allowing teams to work in the way they work best is an important aspect of productivity. Familiarity is also a common element of highly productive teams. Giving each team the right tool for their business allows them to get their job done but also gives them the ability to collaborate and communicate with others in the organization, which heightens engagement and fosters productivity. Bringing all the information together in one solution also helps teams and individuals make better decisions. Connected teams produce more than disconnected teams every time.
  9. Enterprise Resource Management – Have you ever gone to assign resources to a particular project and found out later that the resource you assigned is already fully allocated to another team’s project? More often than not, its because the resources are being managed in multiple systems which segregates the information you need most to optimize your resource decisions. Ensuring the right people are assigned to the right work can make the difference between 1st and 2nd Resources are your most valuable assets – a hybrid model ensures there is visibility across all resources in one location for better resource decisions.
  10. Happier Employees – Simply put, protect your resources from entering data into multiple systems, spending extra time searching for information that could be used getting work done, and bring your employees together on a united collaborative front. The result – happier employees, higher productivity and a much bigger return to the business!