The progress<\/strong> indicators are frequently reported by the project manager, and project are reported consistently in form across projects. The actual progress is reported by a proxy; currently best evaluation we have, but it is subjective. It is indicated on a scale from 0-100%. <\/p>\n

The actual spending<\/strong> is quite accurate, adding up salary and other direct costs.\u00a0 Also, waterfall is very effective at mapping risks,<\/strong> making plans for their remedy and keeping track of their status.<\/p>\n

Knowing whether we build the right thing, is tricky to know before the \u2018thing\u2019 hits the user or the market. In waterfall we can test preto- and prototypes on users, and get a proxy for fitness of use<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

\n
Waterfall<\/div>
\nA phase-gate model, where each stage is completed and signed off, before the next is started.
\nThe stages are Analysis, Design, Implementation, Test and Deployment. All requirements are described and approved before the design is started etc. <\/p>\n
Shippable output is not available until all phases have completed (end of Deployment).<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
How well do agile address the governance indicators<\/strong><\/p>\n
In agile governance the indicators are addressed differently. Actual progress<\/strong> is evaluated by the aggregated delivered and deployed, product increment and no credit is rewarded for \u2018work in progress\u2019. The Product Owner<\/a> is key in this, as he is responsible for the approval.<\/p>\n
\n
The actual spending<\/strong> is evaluated similar to waterfall, as the sum of actual salary and direct costs. In agile, risks<\/strong> and blockers are removed as they are identified, or, escalated. The remedy, that is the actual work if not done immediately, will be part of the product backlog. A dedicated registration of risks is only done, if needed, as focus is on reducing\/removal of risks rather than registration.<\/p>\n
At the end of every sprint, a shippable product increment is delivered. This may be deployed to end users\/ customers to get real end-user feedback, a feedback that will have direct impact on the scope of the project. Therefore, the fitness for use<\/strong> is evaluated by end users on an ongoing basis, and not only after project completion.<\/p>\n
Forecasting (what may be developed by when) can be done based on the known delivery speed and estimates<\/a> on most important items.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>
\n
Agile<\/div>
\n
A group of methods which operate by the agile manifesto<\/a>.
\nIn agile all design, development, test and deployment takes places within sprints. Each sprint last 1-4 weeks and the output of a sprint is potentially shippable.<\/p>\n
Requirements are added and prioritised on an ongoing basis, wherefore the team always work on the most important feature, that has not yet been done.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Comparison of governance for agile and waterfall<\/strong><\/h4>\n
In the figure below, we have added up the accuracy of responding to the governance indicators, where green is (close to) full accuracy, yellow is medium and red is low accuracy.<\/p>\n
$\"Agile$
Comparison of Agile and Waterfall Governance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Project governance is more than just four key indicators, but for the sake of simplicity, these have been selected. In a similar way, programme governance can be compared across waterfall and agile methods.<\/p>\n
Summary<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Governance is just as relevant for agile as for waterfall projects. Although we evaluate them differently, both agile governance and waterfall governance seek answers to the same <\/em>underlying questions. We may just have grown so used to one way of answering the question, that we left out attention to the original question in our daily routines.<\/p>\n
As a trick, when presented with a metric to report on. ask your self why you report on this specific measure<\/em>. If the answer is not clear, or is not the root of the reason, you most likely report on a proxy. If you are reporting on an agile project on a waterfall-proxy, you might end up reporting on a proxy-proxy.<\/p>\n
The change from waterfall governance to agile governance is best facilitated if you have strong insights into how the value adding activities relate to another. Or, you should consider engaging with an agile specialist<\/a> to maximise value and smoothen transition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So good luck getting started with agile governance!<\/p>\n
Majken Vildrik Thougaard<\/em><\/strong>, Independent Agile Specialist & Owner of VILMA Consulting<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
PS:<\/strong> If you look at your KPI structure, you most likely will find similar patterns of approximations, that reduced your awareness to the original question.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Projects are started and completed every day, for the right and the less attractive reasons. Governance of projects and portfolios is focused on making the right decisions at the right time. And governance is relevant irrespective of whether you apply one of the agile methods or waterfall. But let’s just take the conclusion, so you … <\/p>\n
Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":62,"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":637,"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions\/637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vilma-consulting.dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}