Relationships among Agile Project Management Kanban, and Six Sigma methods

Relationships among Agile Project Management Kanban and Six Sigma methods

Project management includes combining practices relating to processes, logic, and methods that determine the best way to develop, plan and control a project in the project implementation process and successful project completion. There are various project management approaches used to manage small and large projects. The approaches are divided into modern and traditional approaches. Traditional approaches include various sequential steps in project management. The steps include initiation, planning, execution, control, and closing. Modern approaches include dividing the project into different phases. Each phase has to be completed before moving to the next phases. The main project management approaches in modern-day projects are Kanban, Agile, and Six Sigma. The agile approach is defined as an iterative approach that focuses on delivering value frequently and getting feedback from the project owners within the shortest time to make necessary changes quickly. Six Sigma includes determining how to improve the quality of services or products by removing errors and defects. The Kanban approach visualizes and improves workflows, reduces inefficiency and waste, and increases team focus by reducing work in progress. The three approaches may be used independently or combined to enhance project success. This research reviews how the Agile approach enhances organizational capabilities in project delivery, how Six Sigma and Kanban techniques enhance Agile project management common difficulties project managers might encounter, and how to overcome them.

Relationship between the Agile PM and organizational capabilities in project delivery

The Agile project management approach enhances the clarity of the project planning processes, enabling project managers to break down projects into manageable steps. The approach also promotes customer involvement in decision-making within the project. Keeping the customer involved in the project planning and initiation phase enhances organizational capabilities in project delivery because the organization applies customer feedback to enhance project success. The agile approach also gives project managers better control over the project by promoting feedback integration, transparency, and quality-control features. Project managers can continuously improve quality through the project implementation phase through stakeholder involvement to create ideas that can be used to enhance project success. The approach also improves project predictability by predicting risks, increasing visibility, and creating mitigation plans to deal with risks that may affect project success. The agile PM also increases organizational capabilities in project delivery by increasing flexibility because project teams can work in small groups and collaborate with project owners to maintain constant involvement and feedback. Continuous improvement also enhances organizational capabilities in project delivery because every phase is completed before moving to the next phase, every phase is implemented better than the previous one, and that past mistakes are not repeated.

The use of Kanban and Six Sigma techniques to enhance Agile PM

The Kanban approach divides a project into different stages, enabling project managers to start with lean practices to reduce waste. The Six Sigma and Kanban techniques are also used to set calculated work-in-progress limits. Project managers set the limits on a Kanban board and apply Six Sigma to fine-tune the limits to lean practices. The two techniques also enhance the Agile PM by effectively tracking the project’s progress and introducing change. According to Whitaker & Project Management Institute (2014), combining the data gathered from the Kanban boards using Six Sigma helps efficiently measure and monitor project progress. Six Sigma enhances the Agile PM by enabling the project team to begin the project by identifying a project goal. This enables the team to work towards a shared goal, thus promoting collaboration to successfully complete every project phase before moving to the next. Problems such as missed deadlines, frequent need for change, high defect rates, and scope creep can be eliminated in the first phase to avoid limiting the success of the stages in the project implementation process. According to Schmidt (2021), Agile and Six Sigma are complementary. However, project managers must balance flexibility and rigor to create a more structured system for creativity, problem-solving, and process optimization. Six Sigma also provides project managers with a structured approach to solving problems using specific tools and techniques.

One of the common difficulties that project managers encounter is scope creep. According to Wu (2020), scope creep occurs when a project’s requirements change from the original requirements provided during the project initiation phase. The main causes of scope creep are lack of stakeholder and sponsor involvement, unrefined or ambiguous definition of the project scope, inconsistency in the collection of product requirements, lack of formal requirements or scope management, and the length of a project. Schmidt (2021) argues that long projects are likely to have scope creep, particularly if many stakeholders are involved. Scope creep can be overcome by involving stakeholders in the project implementation process and constantly applying stakeholder feedback to ensure that stakeholder requirements are met. The second measure that can be taken to overcome scope creep is using scope models such as the Use Case Diagrams and Business Process Models to clarify the project scope in the initiation phase.

Conflicts among project team members also limit the success of many projects. Project managers must constantly deal with conflicts among project teams due to disagreements on what should be done and the share of resources. Conflicts are also connected to impractical deadlines. According to Whitaker & Project Management Institute (2014), unworkable deadlines are a major difficulty encountered by project managers because they have to keep the project owners happy. In some instances, project managers may be forced to put pressure on the project teams and overwork them to meet the unrealistic deadlines set in a bid to secure the project. To overcome unrealistic deadlines, project managers can create a work breakdown structure during the project initiation phase to set realistic times for various activities within the project and agree with the project owners on the specific time needed to complete the entire project. Project managers can also use project management software to set realistic deadlines and ensure that the project team adheres to the timelines set for various activities within the project. Another measure that the project manager can use to overcome unrealistic deadlines is constantly updating project managers on issues that may affect the project deadline.

Conclusion

Project management approaches play a vital role in project success. Therefore, project managers need to choose the right approach or a combination of approaches based on the nature of the project. The Agile project management approach enhances an organization’s capabilities for project delivery by enhancing the clarity of the project planning, promoting customer involvement in decision-making within the project, promoting feedback integration, transparency, and quality-control features, and increasing flexibility. Project managers can also use Six Sigma and Kanban to enhance Agile PM. Project managers must also be prepared to deal with scope creep and unrealistic deadlines to enhance project success.

References

Schmidt, T. (2021). Strategic project management made simple: Solution tools for leaders and teams. John Wiley & Sons.

Whitaker, S. D., & Project Management Institute. (2014). The benefits of tailoring: Making a project management methodology fit.

Wu, T. (2020). Scope management – Defining scope and determining requirements. Optimizing Project Management, 125-135. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003001119-13a:link {text-decoration: none;}a:visited {text-decoration: none;
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Discuss the relationships among Agile Project Management, Kanban, and Six Sigma methods.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper (introduction, body, conclusion – not a Q&A) addressing the following questions:
How does Agile PM enhance organizational capabilities in project delivery?

Relationships among Agile Project Management Kanban, and Six Sigma methods

How can Kanban and Six Sigma techniques enhance Agile PM?

Consider at least two types of difficulties project managers might encounter and provide ideas about how to overcome them. Use the course textbook, research, or your own experience to define the difficulties, supporting your ideas with at least three APA references.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.