For all but perhaps the largest firm with seemingly unlimited resources, I am not clear why organizations want too choose too many project management methodologies. Yes, some methodologies are more appropriate for some projects. But each methodology requires significant investment of time and learning, especially to use it well. Worse, when different teams within the same firm using different methodologies need to work together, process conflicts become one of the biggest challenge. I also believe the need to keep things simple – firms should adopt two maybe three methods but make sure they are flexible enough to fit, even if imperfectly, most projects. For example, if a firm adopts a waterfall, DSDM, and Scrum, then as far as I can see, easily 95% of the projects can work well within these three methods. These methods are foundational, and they are highly flexible. After all, most projects, like implementing Six Sigma, Stage Gate or enterprise resource planning tools are just specific application using these methods.

Te Wu’s comment on the Moira Alexander article How to pick a project management methodology for CIO (see below).

Moira Alexander for CIO writes:  Think of project management (PM) methodologies as blueprints, step-by-step instructions that guide your team on how to build a successful project. With so many different – and in some cases, overlapping – approaches to managing the complexities of any given program, how can you know which one is right for your project, team or organization?

Let’s start by taking a look at some of the key PM methodologies:

• Agile was developed for projects requiring significant flexibility and speed and is comprised of “sprints” – short delivery cycles. Agile may be best-suited for projects requiring less control and real-time communication within self-motivated team settings. Agile is highly iterative, allowing for rapid adjustments throughout a project.

• Waterfall methodology is sequential in nature; it’s used across many industries, most commonly in software development. It’s comprised of static phases (requirements analysis, design, testing, implementation and maintenance), executed in a specific order. Waterfall allows for increased control throughout each phase but can be highly inflexible if scope changes may be anticipated later. SNIP, the article continues @ CIO, click here to continue reading….