PROJMGNT2001 Project Management Methodologies And Concepts

In topics 1 & 2 you have been introduced to various project methodologies and processes. Demonstrate your knowledge of these.

Ensure you address the following areas:

1.Define what a methodology is and the role it serves in project management.

2.Familiarise yourselves with the various methodologies & processes in the list below. Choose two methodologies / processes from this list to compare and contrast, analysing the similarities and differences between them both.

3.Finally, identify how your chosen methodologies / processes relate to the project life cycle (PLC):

List of project methodologies and processes

•Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
•PRINCE2
•SDLC
•Waterfall
•Agile

The Project Management Methodology could be defined as the strict combination of logical practices, processes and methods that would be able to determine the best plan of the project, development process, and control over the processes within the project. It also includes the delivery of a sound output throughout the continuous process of implementation till the successful termination and completion of the final work of the project (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017). The manager of the project would make use of the proper form of methodology for achieving certain goals for within the proposed budget of the project. There are several form of methodologies of project management, which would be very much helpful for the managers of projects within every stage of the project. The proper form of use of project management methodology would be easy as it would provide guidance throughout the completion of the project.  

(b) Role of Methodology within Project Management

The methodology would provide a framework for the proper planning, doing of the tasks within the project and the proper delivery of projects irrespective of size of the project, nature and type of the project. The framework of the methodology would also be able to focus on the identification and defining the best form of changes for the better of the project. The use of methodologies would be of great help for defining the outline of the tasks (Joslin & Müller, 2015).

2. (a) Different Project Management Methodologies and Processes

Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) – The PMBOK would be able to describe the theory and the proper learning of the various practices within project management that would include the formal frameworks of practice. The PMBOK is the collection of the practices within the project, terminologies, processes and some major guidelines, which would be accepted majorly as they are the best standards within the industry of project management (Rose, 2013).

PRINCE2 – It is abbreviated as Projects IN Controlled Environments. The PRINCE2 is defined as the form of methodology that is primarily based on the processes of projects that would be extremely helpful for the effective management of the processes within the project.

SDLC – The Software Development Life Cycle could also be termed as Application Development Life Cycle. This methodology is used within the information systems, systems engineering and also within the software engineering methodologies.

Waterfall – This model is also referred as the linear-sequential model of life cycle. In this method, each of the phases is completed before the successful implementation of the previous steps.

Agile – This form of methodology is a combination of the iterative and the incremental models of processes that mainly focusses on the aspect of customer satisfaction with faster delivery of projects.

(b) Comparison of Two Methodologies

Similarities between Agile and Waterfall Model

The Agile methodology would be able to propose the process of separation within the development processes within the life cycle of the project. On the other hand, the Waterfall Model divides the entire process into different phases that would be completed in serial processes (Abrahamsson et al., 2017).

Differences between Agile and Waterfall Model

The Agile Model provides a very flexible approach for the development of the project whereas the Waterfall Model follows a structured methodology for the successful development of the software.

3. Relation of the Methodologies with Project Life Cycle (PLC)

The Agile Methodology follows the iterative process without the use of sequential process for the development of the project. There are several form of requirements within the project. The Agile methodology is efficient enough to grip the serious changes that are occurring within the life cycle of the project. The team concerned for the development of projects divide the lengthy requirements within the projects into several smaller segments. This helps in the testing of the smaller phases of projects and thus tests the small phases efficiently (Burke, 2013).

The Waterfall Methodology mainly focus on the logical progression of the different steps within the entire project during the successful completion of the project life cycle. The developers within the project are wholly responsible for the completion of the project and thus they iterate each of the steps before progressing to the next step of the project. This helps in minimizing the chances of errors within the project and thus helps in delivering proper outcomes (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).  

References

Abrahamsson, P., Salo, O., Ronkainen, J., & Warsta, J. (2017). Agile software development methods: Review and analysis. arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.08439.

Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.

Joslin, R., & Müller, R. (2015). Relationships between a project management methodology and project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project Management, 33(6), 1377-1392.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Routledge.

Rose, K. H. (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fifth Edition. Project management journal, 44(3), e1-e1.