Project management can be a religion, depending on your point of view. We have true priests of some frameworks, who practically execute a daily rule. Proof of this is Agile with its "Rituals" that are vital for the functioning of its concepts. But in the world of agile management we also have Atheists and Agnostics, and usually you can identify them when the subject is Waterfall.
For those who think Agile is a religion, Waterfall is actually the antagonist in this story.
The little rascal disguised in a Gant chart who took the Scrum Master and Product Owner out of paradise, turning Eve into the sponsor and Adam into the project manager. This little rascal walks between the lines of lessons learned, annual strategic planning, and portfolio management. And once in a while he makes a Project Charter that makes you sell your soul to the client.
In this world we have the people of good faith, who believe that Waterfall exists, and that it is indeed a problem to be combative, an extremely predictive and totally bureaucratized system, with documentation of every step that has been taken. Such people follow as commandments:
1. Love Agile above all things;
2. Not to use Sprint in vain;
3. Sanctify the Planning poker and MVP's;
4. Honor the Scrum Master and the Product Owner;
5. Don't Gant (aka, make the Gant chart);
But those who are against, who read the Batman comics but root for the Joker, who at the end of the Karate Kid movie cried when the Kobra kai lost. Those who have been seduced by the mundane desires of predictive management. These people like to see themselves as more rational beings, who need long-term planning, a sign-off. For these people Waterfall is a God to be followed, and one that is constantly belittled and misinterpreted by today's modern culture. These people don't care if the team is unmotivated, as long as they get the job done in the way they expect.
Then there are those who don't believe much in this religion story, don't know a Waterfall system, and argue that they don't know a framework that classifies itself as Waterfall. For them, the teachings of each framework can be applied and used well depending on the type of environment they are in. Perhaps they prefer agile methods for start-up cultures, or the American model for large corporations, or Prince 2 for governments. After all, why not? Each one has its value.
And finally we have the Agile Agnostics, people who don't believe but don't doubt either. They are skeptics, who preach that there is no black and white, but different shades of gray. For them, project management must follow the values and instructions that each group/company defines, and as long as they are properly qualified, they will find the best way.
The truth is that there are different types of beliefs for one reason: nobody has the right answer. But just like in religion, we can't let ourselves be carried away by radicalisms, because when we close ourselves to a way of thinking we end up creating barriers that limit us and make us a poorer version of ourselves.
Comments