Are There Project Managers In Agile?

Are There Project Managers in Agile?

That’s a great question! Many people wonder if project managers still have a place in agile environments. The short answer is: yes, but their role is often different than in traditional project management. Let’s dive deeper to understand how project management works within agile.

The Shifting Landscape: Traditional vs. Agile Project Management

Think of traditional project management like building a house with a very detailed blueprint. Before you even start, you know exactly what every room will look like, where the doors and windows go, and what the final product should be. The project manager is like the lead builder, making sure everyone follows the plan and finishes their part on time. They make most of the decisions, assign tasks, and keep things moving in a specific direction.

Agile, on the other hand, is more like exploring a new land. You have a general direction, but you might change your path based on what you find along the way. It’s about being flexible and adapting to new information. Agile teams work in short cycles, called sprints, and they review their work often, making adjustments as needed. This means the role of project manager shifts significantly.

Traditional Project Manager Responsibilities

• Detailed planning upfront
• Defining scope of work and making sure it stays that way
• Creating and managing the project schedule
• Assigning tasks to team members
• Controlling every aspect of the project
• Following a specific set of steps (waterfall approach)

Agile Principles

Before we talk about the agile project manager role, let’s quickly go through the main principles of agile to understand how they change the game for those in charge:

• Individuals and Interactions: It values team collaboration and face-to-face communication more than tools and processes.
• Working Software: It focuses on delivering a functional product instead of comprehensive documentation.
• Customer Collaboration: It values involving customers in every step of development over rigid contract negotiation.
• Responding to Change: It prioritizes being open to changes over rigidly following a pre-determined plan.

The Agile Project Manager: A Different Breed

In agile, there isn’t typically a single person with the formal title “Project Manager.” Instead, many of the responsibilities are shared among the team. While a dedicated “Project Manager” role may not exist, the functions they traditionally performed are still needed. In Agile, these functions are often handled by different roles or through a collaborative effort by the team.

Many times, a person in the team will take up the mantle of a “servant-leader”, they try to make things easier for the team. They will not tell people what to do, rather make sure they have everything to do it.

There are some common roles that we can see taking up that responsibility.

Scrum Master: The Facilitator

If you’re using Scrum, a popular Agile framework, you’ll often find a Scrum Master. This person isn’t a traditional manager telling people what to do. Instead, they help the team work together effectively. Think of them as a coach or facilitator, someone who helps the team remove obstacles and makes sure they can do their best work.

The Scrum Master helps the team adhere to Scrum processes and keeps them running smoothly. They guide the team to get things done by removing blockers, facilitating communication, and making sure everyone understands their role.

Here’s what a Scrum Master typically does:

• Facilitates meetings like daily scrums, sprint planning, and sprint reviews.
• Removes obstacles that are preventing the team from working well.
• Coaches the team on agile principles and practices.
• Protects the team from outside interference.
• Helps the team improve their processes over time.

Product Owner: The Visionary

The Product Owner plays a huge role in agile projects. They are in charge of the product itself, making sure it meets the needs of the users. The Product Owner is basically the person that know the ins and outs of what has to be done.

Instead of managing the people who build the product, they are responsible for the things to be built. They create and maintain the “product backlog” which is just a prioritized list of what needs to be created. They also help the team decide what to work on next.

Here’s a quick look at the Product Owner’s responsibilities:

• Defines the product vision and strategy.
• Creates and manages the product backlog.
• Prioritizes features based on their value.
• Works closely with the development team to clarify needs.
• Keeps stakeholders informed.

Agile Team: Shared Responsibility

A fundamental concept in agile is that the team is self-managing. It is very important for the team members to understand the agile value and principles, so that everyone can contribute.

Members take responsibility for their work and collaborate very closely. They don’t need a manager to assign tasks to them, rather they figure it out themselves.

Here are ways the team shares responsibilities :

• Planning their work for each sprint.
• Assigning tasks to each other as needed.
• Supporting each other.
• Taking ownership of the product.

What About Larger Projects?

In bigger projects, it is possible that we need some kind of central person to coordinate things in between several agile teams. There are many roles that come with large scale agiles that is beyond the scope of this discussion.

Program Manager: The Coordinator

In large organizations, you might see a program manager who oversees multiple agile teams working on related projects. The program manager focuses on the bigger picture and ensures the different teams are aligned with the overall project goals.

Program managers don’t manage individual teams, but they help multiple agile teams work together smoothly. They make sure all the different teams are aligned with the overall goal and they coordinate across different teams.
Here are some of their key responsibilities:

• Ensuring consistency and quality across multiple projects.
• Helping multiple teams coordinate their work.
• Managing larger risks that apply to many projects.
• Communicating updates to stakeholders and leadership.
• Guiding teams to work on the strategic goals.

Release Train Engineer (RTE): The Facilitator at Scale

In large scaling frameworks, like SAFe, you might find the role of the Release Train Engineer (RTE). The RTE is like a Scrum Master, but for a large group of teams. They are responsible for helping multiple agile teams and programs to deliver value together.

An RTE helps the train to work together effectively, keeps everything running smoothly, helps to remove roadblocks and encourages continuous improvement for each team in the train.

Here are the key activities of RTE:

• Coordinating the development of features across multiple agile teams.
• Facilitating program increment (PI) planning and events.
• Removing roadblocks that are impeding program progress.
• Guiding the different teams and program to work together.
• Fostering a continuous improvement mindset in the train.

The Agile Mindset: Teamwork and Flexibility

Regardless of the specific role titles, it’s important to remember that the agile approach is all about teamwork, flexibility, and continuous improvement. Everyone on the team contributes to the success of the project, and there isn’t a single person who controls everything. It is also very important for the team to take on an ownership mindset so that they take accountability.

It is important for the team to keep working together and communicate properly, so that the team can adopt agile approach fully.

Key Differences Summarized

Let’s summarize the key differences between traditional and agile project management in a table:

As you can see, while the traditional role of “Project Manager” may not always be present in the same way in agile, the responsibilities are still there. They’re just spread out among different roles and managed more collaboratively by the team. Agile embraces flexibility and teamwork, resulting in a different approach to project management than the traditional method.