Effective project management ensures that the requirements are implemented within the planned budget and time and that the processes are adhered to. Effective project management ensures that the reason why a project is executed is understood. This is an essential prerequisite for making the right decisions and prioritizing; The interests and needs of all stakeholders must be understood and considered. Successful project management sets clear goals, enables good collaboration and creates satisfied stakeholders . 

Waterfall, Incremental, Agile and Hybrid are possible approaches for project management . They differ in the way they are executed and at the beginning of the project.

Waterfall starts with a detailed planning with sequential activities that are defined in time, budget and scope. Risks are quantified. Changes to be made with costs and should be processed via the predefined change management process. Waterfall project management is called “predictive project management”.

Agile , on the other hand, starts with a defined budget and time frame, but the scope is only roughly defined. Risks are often assessed qualitatively. Agile decides iteratively and orients itself on the added value for the customer. Activities to minimize risks are prioritized like normal features. The iterative approach enables almost feedback, which can be considered directly for the next iteration. In this sense, changes are welcome in the agile approach. Agile project management is therefore called “adaptive project management”.

If the approach is incremental , finished features are delivered iteratively. Unlike agile, no rework or feature completion is expected in the incremental approach.

The use of a project is a hybrid , if eg the main planning with waterfall is Approached but single releases Agil are listed.

The approach to project management should be decided individually for each project. An important role in the selection is played by the clarity of expectations and how dynamically the environment changes. Projects with a clear set of requirements and a small room for uncertainty (eg building on aircraft) benefit more from a waterfall approach; while eg implementing a new business process in a container terminal. Agile can be helpful to experiment with innovative ideas.

An important challenge in project management is to ensure traceability

Why what what done? Can a system requirement be traced back to its business requirement? Are all requirements covered by test cases? What is being worked on? When should it be ready? Is the planning in time and budget? Are risks under control?

… The success of the project and the results of the above-Mentioned questions can be answered and Their traceability is guaranteed throughout. Some of the most important areas of knowledge and activities in project management are: eg requirements management (survey, validation), scheduling management, cost management, quality management …

Conclusion: Managing and leading projects is challenging and requires expertise and experience.