This talk was presented at the Project Management South Africa (Gauteng Chapter) Event on 20 March 2013.

1. Contemporary Project Management: A
Millennials Perspective
Prof Ernest Mnkandla 20 March 2013

2. This talk will cover:
• Introduction
• The Millenials
• Contemporary Project Management
• Agile project management
• Agile Adoption
• conclusion
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

3. Introduction
• How many of you have worked as Project Managers?
• How many of you have worked in project teams?
• What is project management?
– Definition of PM: application of knowledge and skills, tools
and techniques to the management of a set of processes in
a project environment in order to achieve the desired goal
(Schwalbe 2010:25).
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

4. Introduction
• If you were given a number of various SD tasks
and potential projects how would you
determine which ones qualify as projects?
– Project complexity determines the difference
between a project and some ‘difficult’ task.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

5. Introduction…
• Changes in technology and project complexity
• Reducing complexity through iterative
development
• So how do we continue to improve our
effectiveness?
– By increasing our rate of adoption of new
technologies and using them, we improve our
effectiveness. So you cannot avoid it if you want to
survive.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

6. The Millenials
• Who are they?
– Generation Y,
• There are no precise dates when this
generation starts and ends but they follow
generation X
• They were born anywhere from 1979 to the
early 2000s.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

7. Generations
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8. Generations Traits
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

9. Generations Traits…
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

10. The Millenials’ PM Challenge
• All these generations work in one place
• They may be in one project that you are
managing.
• Hence you need a revolutionary approach to
project management
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

11. The Millenials’ PM Challenge…
• Training across multigenerational workplace:
– We learn:
• 10% through formal training.
• 20% through materials and access to IT systems such as
books, manuals, procedures and systems.
• 70% of learning occurs on the job.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

12. Contemporary Project
Management
• Commonly used guides & standards:
– PMBOK
– APMBOK
– PMAJ
• Methodologies are developed based on
existing standards:
– A lot of research has been done to show that there is no
meaningful conflict between most methodologies and
standards.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

13. Contemporary Project
Management
• Examples of contemporary methodologies:
– Prince 2
– RUP
– Agile
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

14. Agile project management
• Definition:
– The application of agile principles to the management of
application development projects.
• Phases of Agile PM:
– Initiate (justify project, define requirements, document
requirements)
– Construct(Model project, create prototype, test)
– Deliver(Release, test, rework)
– Support (find defects , manage change)
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

15. Agile project management…
• Principles of Agile PM:
– Increase ROI (focus on flow of value)
– Deliver reliable results (engage customers)
– Expect uncertainty and manage it iteratively
– Unleash creativity and innovation: individuals are
the ultimate source of value
– Boost performance: group accountability ,&
shared responsibility
– Improve effectiveness and reliability
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

16. Agile adoption
• Adoption depends on significant changes in
three key areas:
• (1) The people:
– Must be empowered through training in agile
practices such as collaborative work.
– Collaborative work implies informing your project
teams about project changes as they happen.
– Use of tools for collaboration in cases where your
project teams are distributed.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

17. Agile adoption…
– Adopting agility implies change in culture, and
people may initially resist the change for various
reasons, this can be solved by hiring an agile
practitioner.
– Remember to introduce the agile culture change
to the executives as well.
– Executives need to understand that agile will
change the process and deliverables but the
release rates and product quality either stay
unchanged or improve.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

18. Agile adoption…
– Use of agile tools may change the roles for project
managers, e.g. instead of canvasing for progress
reports from individuals, tools track progress.
– Create teams, according to the types of
capabilities you are looking for.
• (2) The adopted processes:
– Apply agile to your entire production process not
just development.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

19. Agile adoption…
– Tune your agile methodology into consumable
practices that can be adopted easily.
– Work with stakeholders every iteration for timely
and effective feedback.
– Each activity, (e.g. going on vacation or writing
code or testing), must be a work item that’s
estimated and prioritized.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

20. Agile adoption…
• (3) The implemented tools for success:
– Provide tools for teams to exchange information
and stay on the same page (especially if your
organisation is large).
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

21. Conclusion
• According to the Millenials:
– A PM is a colleague, titles don’t matter
– Work is a social phenomenon
– Projects are a nice place to meet colleagues, show
kindness and still deliver quality products
– Clocking is pathetic
– Performance appraisal contracts are a violation of their
rights.
– Set goals, give me resources, free me, receive a quality
product.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

22. Conclusion
• So what must PM do?
– Sharpen your social skills
– Acquire soft skills
– Learn at least one tool from each of the most
commonly used communication technologies.
– Always remember to trust these guys to deliver
and therefore give them space.
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013

23. Questions
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24. References
• UN. (2009). Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y
(and Generation Z) Working Together. From http://tinyurl.com/cgbz7zl
• Cockburn, A. 2008. The declaration of interdependence for modern
management. Available from http://tinyurl.com/38f69he accessed 24
January 2013.
• Ambler, S.W. 2002. Agile Modelling. John Wiley.
• Tryon, C. A. (n.d). Modern Project Management. Tryon and Associates.
From http://www.tryonassoc.com/pdffiles/Paper%20‐
%20Modern%20Project%20Management.pdf
• This talk was presented at the Project Management South Africa (Gauteng
Chapter) Event on 20 March 2013, see:
http://www.projectmanagement.org.za/events/event_details.asp?id=307
578
PMSA Gauteng Event 20 March 2013