Comments on: Are Project Managers not needed with Scrum?

By: Cheryl Aday

Cheryl Aday — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:21:34 +0000

I think you might mean “customer”, not “costumer”.

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By: Jochen

Jochen — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:39:03 +0000

Hello, I would like to add something to the discussion about Project Management. Actually I want to give an example about how different it can be to what you are suggesting with scrum.
OK, I am not working in a Software development project, but in a project to build up a complete IT-environment including developing services for that environment. But I think this should not make a big difference.
Due to resource problems I am the only one working on all issues. There are lots of open issues which have to be prioritized, estimated etc. As usual.
But since management wants exact forecasts about how many working days we will still need, about when we will finish what etc., I have a Project Manager which is busy working with the Project-Management-Tool (JIRA) and Excel full time. Additionally one manager has an eye on the status of these project-sheets. Additionally we have to meet every three weeks with a management team to discuss the status. Additionally one Controller has an eye on the progress.
So I think my project is about 30% development and 70% project management.
What do we learn from this: There is a price for having exact numbers as a manager. Of course they would like to know exactly what utilization they will have in the next three months. But the cost for this information is very high.

By: Manuel Küblböck

Manuel Küblböck — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:50:10 +0000

Also compare Mike Cohn’s blog entry: The Role of Leaders on a Self-Organizing Team
(http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/the-role-of-leaders-on-a-self-organizing-team)

By: Robert Dempsey

Robert Dempsey — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:44:27 +0000

Great post Manuel. There is a place for project managers in an Agile team, however the “manager” part of the title is what changes. So rather than telling people what to do and when to do it, as you say, their job becomes creating environments for the team to work in. This includes removing impediments to keep the team productive, rather than watching hours and needling developers about their progress. The role is there, it’s now different, requiring different skills.