Difference between SCRUM and Waterfall Project Management
Friends,
I have gone thru substantial theoretical material on SCRUM and I am a seasoned waterfall PM. Seasoned means I have successfully managed multiple projects/programs with 5M+ budget.
I have the following questions -
(1) What are the top 3 responsibilities of a SCRUM Project manager that are NOT his responsibilities in Waterfall ?
(2) What are the top 3 deliverables a SCRUM Project Manager produces that he will NOT product if the project was following Waterfall ?
(3) What are the top 3 decisions a SCRUM Project Manager will have to make which he will NOT make if the project was following waterfall ?
Top 3 may be a confusing term. But what I mean by that is "most frequent", "most usual", "most likely to have positive impact on the success of the project".
-Vikram
Are you sure that Scrum has a project manager, or that there is necessarily even a project to manage?
Yeah... you must have read that Vikram. It's one of the fundamental differences. Other Agile methodologies like AgilePM have it and might use elements of scrum but it's not scrum as we know it here.
Scrum focuses on proDUcts, not proJEcts. Instead of attempting to fix/project time, scope, budget for a long period of time, long term forecasts can be made while managing risk, eliciting feedback, and ensuring quality in shorter intervals. Therefore the RIGHT thing can be built in a more cost effective way. Adjust course at less cost every 30 days or less or pay to correct work months later?
Within the framework, the Scrum Team (Development Team, ProDUct Owner, and Scrum Master) self-organize which means that extra levels of overhead are removed in order to more quickly design, develop, test, release, and communicate with the customer regarding the results.
Each Sprint might be viewed as a project in which the Development Team self-organizes (therefore self manages) to complete the work that they have projected for the Sprint. Once again there is no need for additional levels overhead.
I often use this idea to provoque "old-school" people :
If you manage to deliver the initial scope, on time, on budget, you consider having a succefull PROJECT, right ? Let's celebrate :-)
For me, it is a good clue of having miss the right PRODUCT, so it is a failure ! Give the champagne back :-(
Why ? Because you did'nt learn anything, otherwise you should have deliver something else that the inital scope, probably also with a different time/budget boundary.
Vikram,
You will enjoy SCRUM only when you stop assuming the role of a Project Manager if you are working in SCRUM environment. Scrum does not have PM, it has Scrum Master, PO and dev team and Scrum Master it is not equivalent role for PM, because the responsibility to 'Commit', 'Deliver' and 'Demonstrate' lies with Dev team (not with Scrum Master) . In Waterfall, it typically lies with PM.
In Waterfall, typically business asks PM to organize plan and commit to deliver, in Scrum, it is outcome of collaboration between PO and Dev team, with Scrum Master merely facilitating.
In Waterfall, typically PM takes many decisions (ex: what requirements to build/deliver first, resource related decisions etc.), whereas in Scrum, PO decides the priority of user stories and Team takes decision on resources as they supposed to be cross functional and self organized.
Pankaj