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Project Management Methodologies

Project management is the use of specific knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to deliver something of value to people. Depending on the type of project or industry, the project manager can choose a suitable project management methodology.

The main aim of project management methodology is to standardize, structure, and organize the work methods of a project. This helps focus on relevant project activities in the right way, at right time. This helps to maintain a systematic operating rhythm to replicate project success and learn from Return of Experience (ROE). ROE input helps the team in the continuous improvement project management process.

So, how does a project manager choose the suitable Project Management Methodology?

While there are project management methodologies a-plenty, the below table will help to choose the right methodology based on your Industry, Project type, and final Product.

Which one is the right methodology?

Most industries need project managers, and there is a constant need for robust project management process to achieve their business goals. Project Management concepts and skills are applicable in almost every known industry; however, we have chosen the top ten industries which are always looking to improve their project management process and excel in their business segment. We have shortlisted Research, Design, Construction, E-Commerce, Engineering, Financial Services, Information Technology, Healthcare, Law, and Service Industries.

Here, we have considered the top eight most popular project management methodologies for this suitability matrix.

Type of Industries		Product of Project (Examples)	Project management methodology (best suited)
1	Research	Study for new vaccine development, Study of Greenhouse effect on Planet Mars, Feasibility study for rocket launch	Kanban Methodology, Agile Methodology, PMI Methodology
2	Design	Designing a new Tesla electric car, Concept Designing of new commercial complex, Developing a new jet engine	Kanban Methodology, Lean Methodology,
3	Construction	Manufacturing a prototype car, Construction of new Railway bridge, Building a dam, road, office or residential complex.	PMI Methodology, PRINCE2 Methodology, Lean Methodology, Waterfall Methodology
4	Engineering	Detail engineering drawing for ship construction, Engineering for NASA space shuttle	Agile Methodology, Kanban Methodology, Six Sigma Methodology, Waterfall Methodology
5	E-Commerce	New fulfillment Centre development, Transport Vendor Selection, Distribution Network Deployment, Material Procurement	Kanban Methodology, Agile Methodology, PMI Methodology
6	Financial Services	New ERP or accounting system, deploying Internal cost booking systems.	Scrum Methodology, Agile Methodology, Lean Methodology, Waterfall Methodology
7	Information Technology	Developing new antivirus software or mobile application.	Scrum Methodology, Agile Methodology
8	Healthcare	Medication Management Tool, AI-Based Staffing Solution	Scrum Methodology, Agile Methodology, Kanban Methodology
9	Law	Law of Contract, Disputes Resolution of WTO In Comparison With ICSID, Study on The Jurisdictional Issues in Cyberspace-Indian & International Approach.	Agile Methodology, Kanban Methodology, Waterfall Methodology
10	Service industry	Tradesmanship (like mechanic or plumber services), computer services, restaurants, tourism, etc.	Kanban Methodology, Lean Methodology, Agile Methodology,

Waterfall Methodology: Waterfall project management is a sequential, linear process of project management. It consists of several discrete phases. No phase begins until the prior phase is complete, and each phase’s completion is terminal—waterfall management does not allow you to return to a previous phase. It is a very straightforward way to manage a project.

PMI Methodology: PMBOK stands for the Project Management Body of Knowledge and is a set of standard terminology and guidelines for project management. It states that there are five project management process groups that are prevalent in almost every project. Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing. Along with this, it includes best practices, conventions, and techniques that are considered the industry standard.

PRINCE2: It is based on seven principles while following the processes and this principle cannot be tailored. If a project does not adhere to these principles, it is not being managed using PRINCE2. The following are the seven PRINCE2 principles which can be described as a mindset that keeps the project aligned with the PRINCE2 methodology.

Agile Methodology: Agile project management has five essential attributes that form the building blocks of the Agile process including Transparency, Customer Focus, Adaptability, Sense of Ownership, Continuous Improvement. Agile is best suited for projects that are iterative and incremental. It’s a type of process where demands and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customers.

Scrum Methodology: Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. In a nutshell, Scrum requires a Scrum Master to foster an environment where a Product Owner orders the work for a complex problem into a Product Backlog, The Scrum Team turns a selection of the work into an Increment of value during a Sprint, The Scrum Team and its stakeholders inspect the results and adjust for the next Sprint, Repeat.

Kanban: It is a popular framework used to implement agile and software development. It requires real-time communication of capacity and full transparency of work. Work items are represented visually on a kanban board, allowing team members to see the state of every piece of work at any time.
It’s a method to manage and improve work across human systems. This approach aims to manage work by balancing demands with available capacity, and by improving the handling of system-level bottlenecks.

Lean methodology: It promotes maximizing customer value while minimizing waste. It aims to create more value for the customer by using fewer resources. Lean manufacturing principles were developed by Toyota in the 1950s and applied in the 1970s to combat the energy crisis. The term “lean” was coined in the late 1980s.

Six Sigma: It is focused on understanding customers’ requirements better and eliminating defects and waste. These objectives are achieved through profound knowledge of statistics, engineering, and project management, as well as the underlying processes and systems. The objective of Six Sigma projects is to improve the organization’s products, services, and processes across various disciplines, including production, marketing, finance, and administration.

If you want to find more details about the project methodologies. Please see the detailed post for Project Management Methodologies.

Conclusion

You cannot apply the same project management methodology to all projects. There is no one-size-fits-all methodology that can be applied to every project. These processes provide benefits especially if chosen correctly to match an organization’s requirements and project goal. Also, it is quite possible that the Project Manager follows multiple project methodologies to various phases or scopes of work. Which project management methodology you have applied for your project? Let me know by leaving a comment below right now. If you enjoyed this blog post, please share it with a friend!

Project Management Methodologies – which one to follow?