PROJECT Management explored

It could very well be coming soon if the Conservatives get their way.  The party's shadow minister for science and innovation, Adam Afriyie, floated the idea in a recent speech as a way of addressing the risk attached to large scale IT projects.  Saying "if several suppliers are asked to come up with working solutions, they can then be piloted, and the most successful can be scaled up and rolled out nationally".

This is an idea that “borrows a lot” from Agile thinking and could have real legs if implemented in the right sort of way, getting projects off to a flying start with innovative approaches and lean developments which would also give smaller players a chance to break into a previously closed market.  In fact it could be the break that DSDM Atern has been waiting for to be seen as an equivalent method to PRINCE2, rather than a way that parts of PRINCE2 projects are delivered.

I have some experience in this area.  On a government IT project I was involved in we pushed to provide a prototype for a key part of the system.  We did this because although the customer had approved the spec but we were sure it wasn't what they actually wanted or needed.  The prototype brought the issues into focus and resulted in a significant re-specification of the capability early in the process not when the budget had already been spent....

Agile approaches have significant benefits in areas of uncertainty where requirements are emerging or there isn't sufficient consensus on the requirements to document them to the required level of detail for development.  From the number of changes seen on many Government IT projects Agile and DSDM Atern could help significantly so it looks like the conservatives might be onto a winner here....

No need to worry if Agile and DSDM Atern are new to you.  All PROJECT in a box products (including the free Community Edition) come with the official DSDM Atern method template providing structured, processes, templates and guidance materials to help you start your journey and our colleagues at the DSDM Consortium will be delighted to provide further details on DSDM training and certification.