Project Management

Instructions

Plan, execute, and deliver projects using methodology-appropriate practices. Select the right framework for the project context, maintain clear communication with stakeholders, and manage risk proactively.

Methodology Selection

Choose based on project characteristics:

Method	Best For	Cadence	Key Artifacts
Scrum	Complex product development with evolving requirements	1–4 week sprints	Product backlog, sprint backlog, increment
Kanban	Continuous flow work, support/ops, maintenance	Continuous	Board, WIP limits, cumulative flow diagram
Waterfall	Fixed-scope projects with clear requirements upfront	Phase-gated	Requirements doc, Gantt chart, milestone plan
Hybrid	Projects needing Agile flexibility with Waterfall reporting	Sprint + milestone	Backlog + milestone plan + status reports

Most projects benefit from Agile practices even in non-Agile organizations. Default to Scrum for time-boxed delivery and Kanban for ongoing operational work.

Project Planning

Every project starts with these foundational elements:

1. Project charter — problem statement, objectives, scope boundaries, success criteria, key stakeholders, and constraints
2. Work breakdown structure — decompose deliverables into tasks small enough to estimate (ideally 1–3 days of work)
3. Dependency mapping — identify which tasks block others; flag external dependencies early
4. Resource allocation — match tasks to team members based on skill, availability, and growth opportunities
5. Timeline — build the schedule from estimates, dependencies, and resource availability; add buffer for unknowns (15–25% for familiar work, 30–50% for novel work)
6. Risk register — identify risks before they become issues (see Risk Assessment section)
7. Communication plan — who gets what information, how often, and through which channel

Sprint Management (Scrum)

Sprint Planning

• Review the product backlog with the team
• Select items the team commits to delivering within the sprint
• Break selected items into tasks with effort estimates
• Ensure the sprint goal is clear and achievable
• Capacity: account for meetings, holidays, on-call, and focus time — teams typically deliver 60–70% of total available hours

Daily Standup (15 min max)

• Each team member answers: What did I complete? What will I work on today? What’s blocking me?
• Not a status report to management — it’s a team synchronization tool
• Follow up on blockers immediately after standup; don’t let them persist

Sprint Review

• Demo completed work to stakeholders
• Gather feedback on the increment
• Update the product backlog based on what was learned
• Celebrate what was accomplished

Sprint Retrospective

• What went well? What didn’t? What will we change?
• Identify 1–2 concrete action items (not a laundry list)
• Assign owners and follow up in the next retrospective
• Rotate facilitation to build shared ownership

Kanban Practices

• Visualize the workflow — columns represent stages (To Do, In Progress, Review, Done); every work item is visible on the board
• Limit work in progress (WIP) — set WIP limits per column to prevent context switching and expose bottlenecks (start with team size × 1.5)
• Manage flow — optimize for cycle time (time from start to done); track and reduce it over time
• Make policies explicit — define what “done” means for each column, who can pull items, and how priorities are set
• Improve collaboratively — use cumulative flow diagrams and cycle time data to identify improvement opportunities

Risk Assessment

Maintain a living risk register:

Field	Description
Risk	What could go wrong
Probability	Low / Medium / High
Impact	Low / Medium / High
Risk score	Probability × Impact
Mitigation strategy	Actions to reduce probability or impact
Contingency plan	What to do if the risk materializes
Owner	Who monitors and responds to this risk

Review the risk register weekly. Escalate high-probability, high-impact risks to stakeholders immediately. The most dangerous risks are the ones nobody has identified — actively seek them out through team brainstorming, pre-mortems, and lessons from past projects.

Stakeholder Communication

Status Reports

Provide clear, concise updates tailored to the audience:

Executive summary (for leadership):

• Project health: Green / Yellow / Red with one-sentence explanation
• Key accomplishments this period
• Decisions needed
• Top risks

Detailed update (for project team and direct stakeholders):

• Sprint/iteration progress vs. commitment
• Completed items with any notable details
• In-progress items with expected completion
• Blockers and mitigation actions
• Updated timeline if anything shifted
• Upcoming milestones

Communication cadence

• Daily: Standup (team)
• Weekly: Status report (stakeholders), risk review (PM + leads)
• Bi-weekly/Sprint: Sprint review (stakeholders), retrospective (team)
• Monthly: Steering committee or executive update
• Ad hoc: Escalations, major blockers, scope change requests

Resource Allocation

• Avoid 100% allocation — people need time for meetings, email, ad hoc requests, and thinking; plan for 70–80% utilization
• Skill-based assignment — match tasks to strengths, but also create stretch opportunities
• Single-tasking — people assigned to one project deliver faster than those split across two or three
• Capacity planning — track team velocity (Scrum) or throughput (Kanban) to make data-driven commitments
• Dependency management — when team members depend on external teams, build that lead time into the schedule

Critical Path Analysis

Identify the longest sequence of dependent tasks from start to finish. This is the project’s minimum duration. Any delay on the critical path delays the project. Use critical path awareness to:

• Focus management attention on high-risk critical path items
• Identify where adding resources could shorten the schedule
• Find tasks with float (slack) that can absorb delays without impacting the deadline
• Make informed trade-off decisions when scope or timeline pressure arises

Backlog Grooming

Maintain a healthy backlog through regular refinement:

• Frequency: Weekly or bi-weekly, 1 hour per session
• Activities: Clarify requirements, add acceptance criteria, estimate effort, split large items, re-prioritize based on new information
• Ready definition: An item is ready for sprint planning when it has clear acceptance criteria, effort estimate, no unresolved dependencies, and team agreement on approach
• Backlog hygiene: Archive items untouched for 3+ months; they’re either not important or need reframing

Examples

Sprint planning output: Sprint goal statement, list of committed backlog items with effort estimates, task breakdown for each item, total capacity vs. committed effort, and identified risks for the sprint.

Risk register entry: “Key developer unavailable during critical integration phase — Probability: Medium, Impact: High — Mitigation: Cross-train second developer on integration layer by sprint 3 — Contingency: Bring in contractor with relevant experience — Owner: Tech Lead”

Status report: One-paragraph executive summary with health indicator, 3–4 bullet accomplishments, 1–2 items needing decisions, risk summary table, and updated milestone timeline.