How to optimize your software development project’s workflow? Moving forward with the modern software project management methodology is essential, leaving old-school approaches behind for your operational processes to be more efficient, less time-consuming, and, consequently, less costly.
What is a project management methodology?
In a word, a project management methodology guides you in managing the software development process. It is the combination of rules, principles, tools, communication platforms, as well as techniques that companies follow to work on a project. Generally, Project management methodology types depend on the project you are working on.
Major project management types
We described some of the best practices in software development project management previously. With numerous PM types at the present time, there are 7 primary types of project management methodology that companies use most often.
Waterfall project management
Waterfall project management methodology is based on the traditional approach that focuses on plans, documentation, linearity, and sequence of actions.
What is the success rate for a project using the waterfall methodology? It is believed to have 49% of success and is suitable for small, simple projects as well as for those with sufficient documentation.
Agile project management methodology
The Agile approach was developed in 2011 as a response to the traditional method when it proved ineffective for complex projects.
Agile project methodology sticks to the principles of flexibility and puts working software over documentation and people interactions over procedures.
What is Agile project management methodology? It is a change-driven and people-oriented approach in project management that involves continuous cooperation with the customer and, thus, better control. Clients choose Agile companies when there’s no clear documentation about the future product, and it is necessary to change requirements throughout the process. Agile has a 51% success rate compared to the Waterfall project methodology.
The following IT project methodologies use the Agile model:
Scrum project management
Agile project management with Scrum has some modifications for improved efficiency in IT PM.
What is scrum project management? In brief, it is a fast-paced team-driven approach utilizing time-limited sprints for task fulfillment. The scrum project management methodology PM organizes small teams of people to work on the sprints aiming to make the project workflow as easy as possible.
Kanban project management
Kanban uses visualizations in the form of tables (Kanban Boards) in order to control the progress of tasks and workload. The cards may include the status, description, and date of delivery of each task. Kanban categorizes the types of tasks in Swimlanes depending on the responsible person, the specifics of each task, etc. Kanban provides an equal load of work and transparency to the teams and applies to projects of any complexity.
Modern companies can also combine a few of the PM methodologies, most often Agile and Scrum methods or Scrum and Kanban, known as Scrumban, by incorporating the essential elements of each method.
Lean project management
Lean project management methodology is another resource-saving PM method and is about delivering more with less. It relies on waste elimination, team engagement, fast delivery, and as-late-as-possible decisions.
eXtreme programming (XP)
This project methodology type focuses on improving software quality, cost savings, and responsiveness to changes in requirements.
XP implies pair programming of two developers writing and reviewing the code to eliminate unproductive activities. It takes the speed of task delivery to extreme levels and makes the cycles very short.
Which type of project methodology to choose
Depending on your project, there is a wide variety of methods to stick to in software development. ELITEX is an IT outsourcing company incorporating Agile PM methodologies to deliver high-quality projects on time and at less cost. Contact us in order to power up your IT project development processes.
You may also be interested in the following article: Best RFP Practices in Web Development + RFP Template.
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