Getting the Most from Agile for Project Sponsors, Product Owners, and Business Analysts

Agile methods are growing in popularity, and recent industry studies show that nearly 2/3 of organizations are already using agile methods for some projects, and most of the remaining companies have plans in place to pilot the agile methods in the near future. With this growing acceptance of agile in business, more and more projects are being kicked off using agile methods where the business has specific responsibilities to help define the project scope and vision, to set project priorities, and to actively work with the team to resolve issues, provide guidance, and engage business stakeholders as necessary to keep the project moving.

With the widespread adoption of agile methods such as Scrum, Extreme Programming, Feature-Driven Development and OpenUp throughout the business world, more and more non-IT people are being drawn in to these new agile processes. For non-IT folk, the terminology, roles, and expectations are new and often confusing. What exactly is expected of a project sponsor, business analyst, or business subject matter expert in the agile paradigm?

This session will teach non-IT project participants how their role changes in an agile world. Special emphasis is given to governance mechanisms for agile projects and how to maximize ROI.

Learning Objectives:

  • To understand the differences between agile, iterative, incremental, and linear ("waterfall") methods of project organization including the risks and benefits of each.
  • To understand the changing role of business participants such as sponsors and business analysts in planning and controlling projects.
  • To understand how agile projects fit into standard stage-gated governance models including the impacts on project financial approvals and baselining.

Endorsements

Students of this Course

"An excellent speaker with a wealth of knowledge. This presentation actually encourages me to change how I want to work."
- Anonymous Evaluation Form Feedback, ProjectWorld Atlantic Canada 2011