Metodology#

Project management is a complex task, and to deal with that complexity we must follow a methodology.

But which methodology do we choose?

Project management methodologies#

The main project management metodologies, oriented to processes, and which also have certification are the following:

• PMBOK: The most widespread and prestigious.
• PRINCE 2: Mainly in Europe.
• ISO 21500: High similarity with PMBOK.
• CMMI: Broader scope than project management.
• Métrica 3: For the planning, development and maintenance of information systems.

Agile metodologies#

Agile methods are those that try to be very flexible and incorporate the customer in the development.

There are theirs characteristics:

• User collaboration, business people and developers work together.
• Attitude to embrace change.
• Response to changes on top of follow-up of plans.
• Flexible project plan.
• Frequent system deliveries (demos)
• Simplicity is essential.

The most widespread and prestigious is Scrum.

PMBOK knowledge areas#

Project constraints#

The projects are subject to many constraints, many of them contrary. So adding or modifying one of them implies having to modify others as well, and therefore implies a risk.

Any constraints fit in one or a combination of these constraints:

• Scope
• Time
• Cost

They are typically represented in as a triangle.

The project manager tries to meet the expectations of the customer, who is looking for the broader scope, the shortest time and the lowest cost.

As they say: To get all three is impossible, choose two.

Registration#

Project management implies take records of many things:

• Risks.
• Improvement opportunities.
• Tasks and actions.
• Problems, changes requests.
• Errors and improvements.
• Communication and meeting management.

In order to efficiently manage all these tasks, project management tools must be used. There are some of them:

• Microsoft Project / Projectonline
• JIRA (Atlassian)
• Redmine (open-source)
• TFS (Team Foundation Server - Microsoft)
• Trello (Atlassian)
• Slack
• Asana
• GitLab (open-source)
• GitHub