Something as simple as choosing the right PM methodology for each project can make a huge impact. A formal waterfall approach may be a perfect choice for a project with fixed requirements and timelines, and experienced project managers will be comfortable using this method. What if a project doesn’t need a Gnatt chart, or the people working on the project are unfamiliar with waterfall? Enter Kanban.
Kanban (also known as Card Walls)
Card Walls are gaining popularity for a few reasons:- They are simple. Anyone can use a card wall – it’s essentially a to do list. People involved in the project can easily see tasks that are assigned to them, and how they fit into the workflow.
- They are visual. People can glance at card wall and get an idea of what tasks are in progress, what is finished, is anything running behind, etc.
- They can communicate a lot. Software that includes Kanban can take physical card walls to the next level. Under the visual display of tasks and progress, users can drill down to see sub tasks, dependencies, WIP limits – pretty much everything you might want to know about a project.
Having a complete view of all work being done is essential for IT leaders, and if projects are being managed in different areas, or not being managed at all, resource capacity planning becomes impossible. Because if their simplicity, cards walls are a great option for project managers that are struggling to get people onboard with formal project management. Teams that only occasionally work on projects will also find them accessible, so ad hoc projects that were not being formally managed in the past will be more visible when using card walls.
The key to driving project management adoption is making it easy for everyone. Agile methods like Kanban make project plans accessible to anyone, PMP certified or not. Using a flexible tool that allows users to select the methodology that best suits the project is going to ensure that the most complex plans to the simplest card walls can be tracked in the same place.
If you are interested in how using Kanban can benefit your organization, check out ProjectManagement.com’s whitepaper, Something About Kanban: Improving project delivery with nothing more than a card wall.