Is Your Sponsor Ready for Agile?

A critical factor for using agile methods successfully is the mindset of the sponsor. With the wrong attitude about how agile works, you might as well forget about using an agile approach. A sponsor who is ready for agile must:

• Support a “learning organization.”  Learning organizations spend some time on activities that don’t directly create business outcomes. That time is used to develop capabilities within the organization that produce better outcomes in the future. This learning organization philosophy is pivotal for agile. The agile approach is itself a learning philosophy. With agile, you learn, adjust what you produce, and reprioritize features based on the knowledge you’ve gained. You learn about the product as it’s built.

Sponsors must embrace a learning mindset to support agile initiatives. In many instances, agile teams don’t do well at the start, because agile is so different from traditional project methodologies. A supportive sponsor will give teams the time and opportunity on a couple of agile projects to get into the agile flow. 

• Be open to new metrics. Sponsors with traditional PM leanings depend on Gantt chart schedules, pre-determined risk management plans, and specific milestones to measure progress. They might struggle with agile, because Gantt chart representations and fixed milestones aren’t very relevant to agile projects. Features are produced in a sequence that can change with each sprint. Agile uses measurement techniques like burndown charts and traditional budget management to provide schedule and cost status. Embedded testing and feature validation addresses the need to reduce risk. So, agile is a managed methodology — but it requires a sponsor who is open to different ways to assess progress.
• Focus on what’s needed, not how to achieve it. Agile is not the ideal approach when you have a fixed set of requirements and details for how the solution will be constructed. In an agile project, you define an objective, and then explore ways to achieve it. It’s typical for direction and approach to change along the way. Sponsors who are uncomfortable with the speculative and explorative nature of agile will struggle with its methods.
• Be willing to dedicate resources. Agile teams need to make decisions quickly and flexibly to be…well…agile! To do that, knowledgeable senior staff members need to be dedicated to agile teams. Sponsors need to assign the proper team members to agile projects and take other business activities off their plates. If junior staff members lead agile projects, teams might jump to inappropriate conclusions. This can create rework and reduce the team’s velocity. 

If you have experience with agile Projects, share your tips about sponsors in the comments section!

For more about agile approaches, check out Doug Rose’s Agile Foundations course.

Coming Up

My updated Project Management Foundations course is live! This version includes info about PMBOK7, clarifications to confusing items from past versions, a few corrections, more templates, and a new look.