I’m reading with real interest the recent new blog from Chris Spagnuolo. It’s a really refreshing addition to my blog roll as its not necessarily focused on technology. I’ve worked on and managed a number of GIS projects over the past four years so it’s good to see a blog dedicated to the discussion on how to do it well.
My involvement in GIS related project management begun with going on a couple of PRINCE2 (Projects in controlled environments) training courses. I’m not sure but I think PRINCE2 has gathered particular momentum within the UK, especially within the central and local government sector and that’s where I came across it. (I’ve noticed it’s now a staple requirement on many UK GIS related job postings.)
Anyway as an introduction to project management its been very useful, however the initial projects I worked on which used the PRINCE2 approach were dogged by too much control, but more recently friends who use the approach have begun to streamline it, and this, I guess is one of the skills in using PRINCE2 – effectively this means scaling the approach to the project. In particular selecting the right amount of controls and using the right PRINCE2 tools to make sure the project is not smothered by the management process trying to keep it on track.
PRINCE2 is built around processes which some people argue is not what SCRUM is about, however it seems that SCRUM has a core process (an empirical one built upon transparency, inspection and adaptation) which is fairly critical to its success. What really draws me to SCRUM is it immediately appears lightweight. I find that I manage projects better when I only have a very small set of controls which I need to help me understand the overall position of the project, SCRUM seems to advocate this sort of approach by being lean on meetings and paperwork (anyone who’s ever worked on a PRINCE2 project will know the mountains of paperwork that it can generate!).
At the moment I’m working on a number of projects, some of which aren’t software development so I’m keen to begin to dip into SCRUM and especially see how it can be applied to smaller scale projects (even small projects regularly go over budget, targets etc). Can SCRUM work for projects where the team is very small? (1 or two people). Where there isn’t a seperate ‘scrum master’? Where the ‘product owner’ needs to be part of the team? What happens when the team doesn’t deliver?
Experience over the past year tells me I need a more adaptive and ‘agile’ approach to managing projects so cheers to Chris for being a SCRUM ‘evangelist’ – not the crazy type:) and blogging about his valuable experiences.
Anyone know a good book about it ????? 
Glad your enjoying my GeoScrum! blog. I started writing because there are so many blogs about GIS and .NET development but none really on how to effectively manage GIS and GIS development projects. Scrum has been working great for our Team and I hope I can provide good insight into things that worked for us and things that didn’t.
Funny you asked about a good book about Scrum. My latest blog post is on just that subject. Check out the book Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber. Its excellent. I gave a brief overview of the book at http://www.chrisspagnuolo.com/2007/08/24/OffTheShelfAgileProjectManagementWithScrum.aspx .
Hi Chris, Ha ha, yes i’d seen your recent post, hence the comment about the book! Like i said in my post its refreshing to see a blog about something other than the technical side of GIS, there are a couple of other interesting blogs out there which I enjoy reading like Kevin Pomfrets http://spatiallaw.blogspot.com/ which avoid the technical side of things.
Look forward to more posts on GeoScrum and I’ll try to update mapbutcher from time to time with some more project related content. I think it’s really relevant as the mechanics of working on projects, whether you’re actively managing them or taking part as a member of a team is something everyone has to deal with irrespective of the technology they choose to use.