One of the common threads of conversation in project management these days often starts with some variation of “Agile vs Waterfall, which is best for your project?”.
This is absolute rubbish and simply demonstrates that the people asking the question do not really understand project management. Their only defence is perhaps that this tendency to create a polarised false dichotomy is human nature. Whether it be Republicans vs. Democrats in the US or Brexiteers vs. Remainers in the UK, people love a simple (and very simplistic) binary choice, but life just isn’t like that.
Since the people who ask this damaging question tend to be from the Agile community, let’s draw an analogy with the sport (Rugby) where Agile derived the name of one of its most iconic techniques (Scrum).
In the current Rugby World Cup, the smallest player is Fumiaki Tanaka of Japan, coming in at 5’ 5” and 11st 5lb (166 cm and 72kg). To those of us who follow the great game of Rugby it is entirely predictable that he is a Scrum Half – a player who needs high levels of agility and speed in both thought and movement. He is the link between the powerful heavyweights in the scrum and the fast runners in the back line.
The heaviest player in the competition is Ben Tameifuna of Tonga, coming in at 6’ 2” and 23st 11lb (188cm and 151kg – or a nice round 333lb if you’re reading this in the USA). Predictably, once again, he is in the front row of the scrum, known as a Prop – a player that needs enormous power and strength. So much so that, to avoid injury, without the correct experience and stature, it is against the laws of the game to play in that position.
No one will deny that Fumiaki Tanaka would make a rubbish Prop and Ben Tameifuna would make an equally rubbish Scrum Half. They are each adapted for their position in the team.
These two represent opposite ends of the scale. The 15 members of every team in the world cup will be somewhere between these two in terms of their speed, power, agility and strength. Each position in the team and each situation in a game demands different levels of agility and power. It would be patently ridiculous to ask if our game plan needed 15 Tanakas or 15 Tameifunas.
It is equally ridiculous to ask if a project should be 100% Agile or 100% Waterfall, it does not make sense at any level. What every good project manager should be asking is “What level of agility do the different components of my project require?”. Don’t approach any project with a fixed mindset. Be prepared (as the commentators would say) to “play what’s in front of you”. Respond to the context and scope of the project and adapt your agility to suit.
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