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Five Reasons To Ditch Project Management For Product-Based IT

Forbes Technology Council

Allegion SVP and chief information and digital officer, responsible for IT and security, data and analytics, and digital programs globally.

For many years, project management has been a common methodology used to accomplish tasks within given constraints such as scope, time, quality and budget. While many IT efforts still rely on a project-based methodology today (such as ERP and infrastructure solutions), digital transformations are a top priority for many organizations, which require agility and collaboration.

In a recent article from Gartner, Inc., senior director analyst Deacon D.K. Wan recognized: "Now that all businesses are digital businesses, all enterprises should plan and begin to execute this transition to more agile product delivery teams. The majority of digital business leaders have already begun to pivot their organizations from project to product portfolio management, and this shift will continue through 2020."

While project management has been successful in accomplishing millions of business objectives over the years, in the age of digital transformations, product management is sweeping the corporate landscape — and for good reason. Here are the top five reasons enterprises leading digital transformations should ditch project management for product-based IT.

1. Product management focuses on creating value for the business and customer rather than on achieving milestones.

The project approach typically involves many outlined milestones throughout the duration of the project and long project timelines with a clear end date. On the contrary, the product approach is focused on creating value for the business. An organization using product management teams can create customer-centric value streams and can measure business outcomes such as revenue, cost savings and customer satisfaction instead of activities.

2. Product management allows for increased agility.

The basis of the product management approach uses the iterative strategy, which allows the business to be agile. By working in "iterations" or "sprints," the time to benefit is compressed, as is the time to actionable feedback. Ultimately, this allows the team to adapt more quickly to meet customer needs, resulting in better business outcomes.

3. Product teams gain valuable customer insights and interactions at every sprint.

The greatest measure of success for any product is the value it provides to the end user. That's why soliciting customer feedback should be a top priority in the product development process. Rather than create a product in its entirety and toss it into the market for customer feedback (as is typical in project management), the product management process solicits customer feedback continuously throughout the process, including during the discovery phase and at regular intervals. Because of the team's agility, it is able to test ideas quickly and more often — when the stakes are lower. It is also able to more easily pivot and adapt to the customer feedback at the time it is acquired to better meet the customers' needs.

4. Product teams are diverse in talent and collaborative — each member plays a unique role in the product's success.

Gartner noted that "by 2023, 80% of IT organizations will experience radical restructuring and mission change to embrace the product management operating model." The prescribed key to success? Hiring — and, most importantly, developing — the right individuals for these product management teams.

Product management teams are diverse in talent and experiences and align with strategic goals and a shared vision. While no two are the same, there are roles that every successful product team should have, such as a product manager, a product owner, a scrum master, a technical lead, a developer, a designer and quality assurance.

The product manager has a unique blend of business, technical and leadership skills and serves as the general of the group that keeps the team aligned to the overall vision. Their role is focused on big-picture strategy and meeting the company's objectives. The product owner role is typically more tactical in nature, providing day-to-day direction to the team, helping to prioritize work and the backlog and referring to the product manager's overall vision and roadmap.

The scrum master and technical lead also play important roles. The scrum master drives agile events and ensures the team remains focused and all roadblocks are removed, so it can operate at its highest potential. The technical lead is focused on the solution architecture itself and facilitates all technical activities, while the developer and designer execute on those technical activities. Quality assurance plays an integral role in helping to find problems before they happen and raising any flags to the product owner.

While each role is uniquely different, each must possess strong listening skills and have the ability to collaborate with one another to be successful.

5. Delivery and value ideation run in parallel, giving a steady stream of ideas.

While a project typically has a defined end date, product-based IT is more ongoing in nature. In the iterative approach, the delivery phase and value ideation (discovery) phase run in parallel. This is important, as it ensures a continuous stream of new ideas for the team — whereas a project team is often disbanded once the project has been completed. While team members may shift to work on other products and with other teams, the flow of work will remain steady and uninterrupted with the product management methodology.

While there are many benefits to product-based IT, project management isn't going anywhere. The tried and true methodology is still useful for a variety of projects, as mentioned earlier. However, if your organization is amid a digital transformation or preparing for one, or agility and collaboration are a top priority, consider adopting the product management methodologies.


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