The Extreme Approach to Managing a Project

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The Extreme Approach to Managing a Project Until recently, the traditional project management style was the go-to approach when creating and managing a project. But technology advancements now get ideas to market faster than ever. Because of this, newly created project management approaches take more change, risk and lightening speed timelines into consideration. In his book Effective Project Management Robert K. Wysocki defines extreme project management as “projects that include characteristics of high speed, high change and high uncertainty.” Consider the differences between the traditional and extreme styles prior to creating your project plan. Commit to the extreme approach if your project fits the bill. Traditional vs. Extreme Traditional project management follows a straightforward approach to planning a project. It utilizes what’s called the waterfall method. This method plans project activities one after the other, in a direct line. When change happens, the project resets itself at a previous point in the project timeline and starts over again with the same waterfall method. The waterfall approach is very linear. Once a schedule is reset because of change, the entire schedule and final deadline shifts accordingly. If you are working in a fast paced environment with strict market launch deadlines, this approach most likely won’t work. You’d likely be knocked off schedule and miss your deadline. The traditional approach is most successful when a project does not include a lot of change and most details of the project are realized at the beginning. The extreme approach differs from the traditional project management style because it actually allows you to plan for change and uncertainties. Timing is also a big difference between the traditional and extreme approach. Whereas traditional projects tend to take months and in some cases even years,
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