Project management is common in both the public and private sectors. And while project management does not require agile methodology, agile does require project management, according to Suresh Ashani, a program manager at VIP, who has led several public-sector projects in California.
Ashani spoke at the Project Management Institute's Technology Forum on Tuesday night in Sacramento. The forum focused on agile methodology within public-sector projects.
Agile methodology has been a topic of debate, especially in the public sector, but the forum was an open discussion about the challenges, successes and myths of using an iterative approach.
One complaint heard about agile is how often things change on a project. Having a project manager to oversee scrums and product development can keep the project on track, according to Ashani.
Ricardo Cervantes of California's Employment Development Department worked on an organizational change project before joining EDD and felt agile fit the project because of its flexibility.
"In the realm of organizational change management, assignments require frequent inspection and adaption due to the constant change in projects," Cervantes told Techwire in an email. "This methodology suited the team well because we were able to break down assignments into manageable chunks. The team held stand-up meetings every morning and we were always aware of each other's work status."
"Blending traditional SDLC [software development life cycle] processes such as analysis and testing into each sprint cycle in an agile development project is the key to success in public sector," Sundar Rajan, chair of the Project Management Institute's Technology Forum, wrote to Techwire.
But Charles Schaefer, a project manager on IT infrastructure projects at the Department of Health Care Services, believes that agile cannot be applied to every project.
"I don't believe that it's time to abandon the waterfall methodology completely anytime soon," Schaefer wrote to Techwire. "However, in retrospect, I can see where the agile method could have been applied to several projects that I have managed in the past. Although most IT infrastructure projects are well-suited for the waterfall method, in certain instances, one could easily employ agile."
Ashani also recommended a blended approach in the public sector. Breaking a project into smaller chunks, based on RFP requirements, allows a team to plan an implementation with some parts waterfall and some that are agile.
"Using work order authorization [WOA] processes to wrap up all the work in a sprint together with the acceptance criteria for that sprint provides the state with an accurate assessment of work and cost," Rajan wrote. "The signed WOA serves as the contract and is especially useful when an SI [systems integrator] vendor is implementing an agile project."
A hybrid system could also assist in restricting cost and scope creep.
"When procurement and oversight processes become more agile aware, project success in the public sector will increase. Committed product owner and an experienced scrum master is another key factor," Rajan wrote.
