Extreme Project Management Workshop 2010

In a recent advertisement for Microsoft Project, a Project Manager is shown alone in a high-tech room looking at 20 computer screens on a wall with project plans, tracking reports and other project information produced by Microsoft Project. The caption reads “Excellent”. The project is going to plan. In the client-driven, Internet-speed world of contemporary world of new Business, nothing could be further from reality than the Microsoft advertisement. With the evolution of XP (Extreme Programming and Lite or Agile Methodologies), the need for appropriate Project Management techniques to support the radical development approaches involved in Extreme projects has become critical. Traditional Project Management focused “downwards” to the technical content of the project. In other words, the Project Manager focused on issues such as schedule, deliverables, costs and so on (the Microsoft advertisement). Extreme Project Management balances the internal focus on the content with an external focus on the context of the project. Simply, what used to done with the project team is now shared fully with the project stakeholders. In addition, the broader context issues such as Business impact, Change Management, Business drivers, benefits realisation, organizational politics, communication, relationship and expectation Management are the main focus of the new Project Manager.
In a recent US survey, Robert Charette reported that Project Managers were struggling to cope with the changing Business environment. Challenges facing Project Managers include:

• Lack of budget or time to establish stable processes in highly compressed schedules
• The need for innovative new solutions to Business initiatives
• Insufficient planning
• Redundant work caused by sudden changes in priorities
• Too many dependencies with other projects
• Competition for resources with other projects
• Slow decision making

In this highly-provocative and challenging Ma