Posted on June 12, 2018May 24, 2018 by Mike Clayton

Agile Project Management

How do you adapt traditional project management into a rapidly changing environment? One that is characterised by shifting priorities and high uncertainty. Arguably, you don’t need to – project management has always had the tools for this. But, with the Agile Manifesto of 2001, software projects have a new paradigm. A modification of traditional approaches, called Agile Project Management.

And make no mistake… Agile has become a ‘Big Thing’. In fact, it bears some of the hallmarks of a fad, while also having a lot to offer an informed organisation with wise and pragmatic project leaders to call upon. But, as with all good ideas, it also attracts its converts and zealots.

Of course, here at Management Pocketbooks, we tend to eschew extreme and simplistic ‘right versus wrong’ arguments in management. We’re here to suck out the good stuff and brief you on what it is and how to benefit from it.

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Kanban

Toyota is a powerhouse for developing ideas that you’ll find around the world. Take for example, Lean, Kaizen, Seven Wastes, Just in Time, Jidoka, Six Sigma and, indirectly, Scrum. And one more: I give you Kanban.

Pronounce Kanban as kaahnbaahn with long aah sounds. It started out as part of Toyota’s ‘Just in Time’ lean production system. The word refers to cards that visibly represented the flow of parts through the manufacturing process.

Now, we use Kanban tracking project work. It has risen in popularity over recent years with the rise of Agile project management. It is one of the more popular Agile methodologies. And it’s also often combined with the most popular approach: Scrum.

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Japanese Management Lingo

In last week’s Pocketblog, we looked at the 5S approach to ordering and organising a workspace, introducing five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke.

It struck me that there are an awful lot of Japanese terms that have enriched our business language, so I thought I’d list a few more. Of course, readers of the Pocketblog will also probably be familiar with gemba too.

I think that some of the concepts that they raise are absolutely fascinating – and necessary to us in the West. Let’s look at a few more, some familiar, some little known.

Hourensou

Collaboration and information sharing. Keeping others informed.

Kaikaku

Radical change. The opposite of…

Kaizen

Continuous flow of incremental improvements.

Kanban

A progress tracking approach that follows instances through a process. Literally ‘billboard’. Increasingly used in project management and team workflow. There is a lovely (free) web-based app called Trello that works on Mac, PC and mobile app formats.

Karoshi

Literally: ‘death from overwork’. Don’t!

Kyosei

The spirit of co-operating for the common good.

Meikiki

Perception and foresight, coupled with good judgement.

Mottainai

The sense of regret when we become aware of waste and failure to use well any things of value. (I am so glad I now have a word for this). It comes from the concept, ‘mottai’ that things have inherent value, or dignity. Nice.

Muda, Mura and Muri

… are the three forms of waste

Muda
Wasted effort
Mura
Inconsistency
Muri
Unreasonable – even ridiculous – requirements

Nemawashi

Literally, ‘going around the roots’. Refers to the informal stakeholder alignment and political process that lay the groundwork for effective consensus or change.

Pecha Kucha

Currently popular style of presenting, with 20 slides, each lasting 20 seconds. Gives a fast and dynamic way to present an idea. Pecha Kucha nights often consist of a dozen or more presentations. Literally, ‘chit-chat’.

Poka Yoke

Making error proof. Creating something so that mistakes cannot be made.

Tatemae

Public truth. The things that are appropriate to share in a public situation. It literally means ‘facade’ and we might contrast it with ‘honne’, meaning your true feelings. Puts me in mind of the Johari Window.