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Non-Traditional Project Planning

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Summary

This article discusses different project planning methods and how traditional project planning is often discarded in favor of Agile methodology, yet there is no universal way to plan a project and ensure success. The author shares his experience of a project where planned hours were too far removed from actual hours, yet the project manager had no discretion to deviate from the plan. He then introduces prime numbers as an alternative method to estimate project efforts, and shares a story of his experience with this method which resulted in the most successful project planning he had ever seen. He then goes on to discuss the making of the movie Pinocchio, and how the crew used physical scheduling boards with rubber bands to communicate and track progress. He concludes that the question of how to approach project planning is unanswerable, as each project is different, and suggests making small changes to benefit the teams.

Q&As

What different project planning methods are available?
Many different project planning methods are available, including Agile, Waterfall, and other methodologies.

How can prime numbers be used for project estimates?
Prime numbers can be used for project estimates by assigning 1 day for low effort tasks, 3 days for medium effort tasks, and 7 days for high effort tasks.

How did the crew on Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio manage their production during the pandemic?
The crew on Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio managed their production during the pandemic by transforming their homes into workshops, communicating through virtual check-ins and digital schedules, and creating physical scheduling boards with rubber bands to track progress.

What is the Code MF phase of project planning?
The Code MF phase of project planning is a heads-down development approach where bureaucracy is ignored and the team focuses on writing code and getting the solution out-the-door.

How can organizations implement incremental changes to benefit their teams?
Organizations can implement incremental changes to benefit their teams by objectively evaluating what they do and identifying where small changes can be made.

AI Comments

👍 This article provides great insight into different ways of project planning that can be used to ensure success. It is a comprehensive overview of different methodologies and how they can be applied to different projects.

👎 This article fails to provide clear guidance on how to apply these methodologies to different projects. It is too general and does not provide much useful information.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about non-traditional project planning. It talks about different ways of project planning and how Agile isn't always the best option. It also discusses different methods of project planning, like prime numbers and physical boards which can be beneficial in certain situations.

Friend: That's interesting. What are the implications of the article?

Me: The article suggests that there is no universal way to plan a project and that different methods are more suitable for different projects and teams. It also encourages us to evaluate our organization's current methodology and identify areas where we can make small changes to help the team. Ultimately, it suggests that the most successful project planning is one that is tailored to the project and team.

Action items

Research different project planning methodologies and evaluate which one is most appropriate for the project, team, business domain, customer, etc.
Consider using prime numbers to assign number of days to complete tasks and prioritize them.
Evaluate the current project planning process and identify where small, incremental changes can benefit the teams.

Technical terms

Project Planning: The process of organizing and scheduling tasks and resources in order to complete a project.
Agile: A project management methodology that emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement.
CORE: A project management methodology that focuses on the customer experience and emphasizes collaboration and communication.
Story Pointing: A method of estimating the effort required to complete a task or project.
Fibonacci Numbers: A sequence of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers.
Gantt Chart: A type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule, showing the start and finish dates of each task.
Scrum-of-Scrums: A project management methodology that uses a series of scrum teams to coordinate and manage a project.
Stop-Motion: A type of animation in which individual frames are photographed one at a time and then played back in sequence to create the illusion of movement.
Two-Pizza Teams: A team size concept popularized by Amazon, in which teams should be small enough that two pizzas can feed the entire team.