Getting the right project management method for Web Development

Many web development companies would accept that their approach to managing projects could be improved. But the project management methodologies that are out there don't seem to fit well with the real experience of delivering web development projects:

PRINCE2 (initially designed for large government IT projects) seems to focus almost entirely on the production of documentation and seems to have almost nothing to say about getting things done.

Agile methods (initially designed for large corporate IT projects) have a much better focus on getting software written, but seem to have very little to say about the integrative nature of web development.

My own solution, based many experiences of helping web development companies is to derive inspiration from Lean. Lean is the name given to a set of project management principles derived from the hugely successful way that the Toyota Motor company produce cars. Car manufacture might seem like an initially unpromising place to look for ideas on how to run a web development company, but concentrating on the principles of the Toyota Production System, Value, Flow, Poke Yoke (mistake proofing) and What is it? rather than the practices, produces a powerful set of approaches for substantially improving the effectiveness of a web development team.

Find out more about my course, and book a place here: "Building the Lean Web Development Team".


For further information, contact mark.stringer@gmail.com (07736 807 604)

Do you speak organisation?

Having gone to Andy Murray's Prince2 refresh talk at the BCS, I'm starting to think that the issue between Prince2 and Agile might be slightly more subtle than I thought. Prince2 is a method of talking to organisations.  Agile is a set of methods for delivery, especially for software.  Both methods claim to be able to do the job of the other.  Both are bluffing.

Yeah right, I know, Scrum of Scrums.

Also, as far as I can see (my knowledge of Prince2 is very sketchy) there's nothing in the method to say how you actually get the work done, so what's to stop prioritised lists, Kanban-style displays of work in progress and strict limits to how much of that work is in progress?  I think this is what the guys at e2x were trying to tell me last time I talked to them, but I wasn't ready to get it.

Maybe Prince2 is a bit like Old Entish. Maybe arguments between Agilistas and the gentlemen of Prince2 is a bit like the battle between materialists and idealists in philosophy of mind.


For further information, contact mark@agilelab.co.uk (07736 807 604)