An Agile coach’s journey into PMI country – Day 1 – I’m very disappointed!
It feels good to have a common enemy, someone or something to hate or discredit. What this usually does is create a sense of unity between individuals who share a common view. We do this with programming languages (Java vs. .Net), philosophies (Waterfall vs. Agile) and even within those philosophies (Scrum vs. DSDM vs. Crystal vs. …).
One of my preferred antagonists was the all mighty monolithic Project Management Institute (PMI) and its PMP disciples. In an attempt to keep my friends close and my PERCEIVED enemies closer, a colleague and I decided to attend the PMI bootcamp – a five day course to prepare for the PMP certification.
As an Agile coach, helping medium to large organizations transition away from traditional methodologies, I am continuously confronted and challenged by Project Managers armed with a PMP certification. Don’t get me wrong, I like being challenged! It actually makes my job easier and greatly increases the chances of a successful transition. That said, I’d like to understand where he or she is coming from. What is the driving force behind a PMP certified Project Manager? Do they have their own manifesto and maybe Project Management Charter? And who knows…Maybe this five day course would offer some additional tools to work with within an agile context.
One of my preconceived notions was that the PMI trainer’s underlying message would have been: “You must plan software projects exactly the same way as you would a high rise project” You must plan the living daylights out of the project, execute that plan and all we be fine in lala land. With my past experiences with PMPs, can you blame me?
I was very disappointed!
What we saw and heard as not an evil empire headed by an evildoer with acute asthma, but an open minded, experienced project manager coupled with a great deal of common sense. Mind you that this refers only to our first day and we get a different trainer every day (BTW, I like the “different trainer every day” concept and thinking we could do this with our Certified ScrumMaster Training – Food for thought and maybe a future post)
What we saw is a slide similar to this one…
…and the trainer actually said: “In I.T., we don’t even know what we are doing next week so don’t start planning to much ahead”.
I almost got teary eyed!
On the other hand, there is also the strong notion that the project manager is fully responsible for the success of the project. As an Agile coach continuously working to establish shared responsibility between the ScrumMaster, Product Owner and development team members, this notion rubs me the wrong way.
Some of the things I did like were:
- Project versus Product Life Cycle
- The Rolling Wave
- Progressive Elaboration: “Continuously improving and detailing a plan… ”
- The 9 knowledge areas
- Process assets (Lessons learned)
- Including “Expert judgment” in most processes
So I guess Project Managers who keep telling me that their sound PMI practices does not allow them to adopt an “Agile” way of doing things are just pulling my leg – some kind of bad joke. Next time it happens I’ll be ready with a full hearted laugh and a high five. Hopefully he/she doesn’t leave me hanging 
I’ll be elaborating on the Knowledge Areas and Process Groups in future posts, but for now, suffice to say that I’m prudently putting aside my perceived dichotomy between PMI and Agile.
Stay tuned…
Eric, upon hearing about your post on Twitter, I was so prepared to defend the PMP and to ask for you to keep an open mind when dealing with it. Too many times, (bad) project managers hide behind the certification and quote the PMBoK like it’s some kind of religious doctrine. I apologize for reading your headline “I’m very disappointed!” and (internally) jumping to conclusions. I really enjoyed reading about your experience. I’m both a PMP and a CSM. As a practitioner of both, I think it’s very important to see similarities and differences in approaches and pick the best of both worlds. When it comes down to it, we want to arrive at the same result. Who am I to tell you how you should get there?
Best Regards,
Derek Huether, PMP, CSM
http://twitter.com/derekhuether
@Derek Huether
Hi Derek,
Thanks for the response!
The “I’m very disappointed!” was actually a running gag between my colleague (who is also an Agile Coach) and I. Every time a trainer would say something that connected directly with our own core values, we’d turn to each other and express our disappointment – As a joke of course.
The whole mindset was a shock to us because where expecting the preaching of an inapplicable and disconnected gospel, at least from an I.T. point of view. It becomes difficult to pick a fight with a PMP trainer who says “CPIs, WBS’ and Financial analysis mean nothing if the project is not supported by motivated and competent individuals”. Amen!
Now if we can only figure out how to abstract the WBS process…
Cheers!
Eric
Everywhere there are good and bad Agile coaches, and everywhere there are good and bad PMPs. With such messages received in their class, no wonder why so much PM resist to change! Our arrogance can make us lose a great deal of credibility sometimes.
Good thing you guys went there, it will make you better coaches
Now can you explain to me if there is a place for an “Agile Project Manager” in a Scrum project? It’s my belief that PMPs have to become Product Owner, ScrumMaster or Team member. But I hear a lot about these “Agile Project Manager”, the “servant leaders”, that are not really defined anywhere _in the context_ of the 3 official roles in a Scrum project. What do you think about it?
@Isabelle Therrien
“With such messages received in their class, no wonder why so much PM resist to change!”
What messages are you referring to?
What can be the role of a classic PM in regards to a Scrum Team? Good question.
I consider this individual in the same way I consider a developper, QA, business analyst, functional analyst, DBA, etc. That is, are they part of the Scrum Team or are they part of the supporting cast – Individuals that help (or impede) the Scrum team.
On one project, the PM became the ScrumMaster because we felt that she had the required skills and attitude to do the job. On a more recent project, the PM was part of the supporting cast, thus not in the Scrum team. In both cases, these individuals had a good communication channel with upper management (which helps a lot!) and skill sets that would the help the team deliver a quality product.
Both PMs in these large organizations were needed for procurement management and assisted and coached the Product Owner and/or ScrumMaster with scope management, communication plans, financial analysis, and more. We, of course, assisted the PMs in transitioning from the WBS to a Product Backlog and helping them let go to his or her traditional responsibilities.
In the end, there is no PM in Scrum. There are only ScrumMasters or Product Owners with an extra and very useful PM toolbox. Just like sometimes we work with ScrumMasters or Product Owners with technical, marketing or functional skill sets.
So I guess my final answer is : It depends.
It usually is not the organization or the disciplines, but the implementation of these in a command and control driven structure that drives PM’s mad. As a SM, I had the opportunity to work with a PMO not too long ago. It was sad to see that the PM’s were treated so badly, they could not help but evoke frustration and pain with their body language – at all the PMO meetings. On one occasion, after the 10 minute mandatory butt chewing, one PM asked – “Is there anything we do that is good?” The answer solidified the fact that I will NEVER be a PM again – it was “PM’s are like Garbage Men. When you don’t hear anything, things are going well. If we hear something, there is something wrong”. THAT is the difference between PMI and Scrum.
@Isabelle Therrien
http://www.infoq.com/presentations/agile-pmp @ Time Index 1:01:08
@eric laramee
thanks for your point of view about it. Of course this kind of answer is hard to explain in a methodology document, but it’s true.
To answer your question, by “With such messages received” I was referring to the positive messages you’re referring to. Those that are surprinsing you. If they listen to Agile coaches continuously refering to PMI as “absolute control”, “planning all the project in advance and not changing a bit of it”, we lose credibility and have a good chance to meet resistance. I’m not sure it is more clear that way….
This is very interesting.
My experience with certified PMP PMs is only that of the “evil” kind: Gantt charts, resource matricies, contract gates, estimates that must be 90% accurate, assign detailed tasks for 4+ months out, etc. seem to be held as the only way a project can succeed. The plan is the most important thing to the ones I know, not the work, customer or people.
And your PMP trainer said not to plan too far ahead. Amazing. How do PMP certified PMs get so far afield?
I anxiously await further reports from “PMI Country!”
@Alan Dayley
I feel your pain
I’d recommend you purchase the PMBoK v.4 and post a few chapters up on the walls, with special emphasis on The Rolling Wave concept and Progressive Elaboration.
Cheers!
There’s a great discussion on LinkedIn’s Scrum Practitioner Group :
http://www.linkedin.com/news?home=&gid=52030&trk=anet_ug_news
Good insights. I am doing a PMI course at the moment and feeling the same “disappointment”. I was hoping for more opportunities to waterfall-bash, but it seems the PMI has a deeper understanding of real Project Management. Looking at it now as a complement to my Project Management “toolkit”, and I am now considering getting the PMP certification.