In the end our approach turned out to be a hybrid The way

In the end, our approach turned out to be a hybrid! The way we updated the model framework is a bit too knowledge domain oriented for my taste, but it can be used to support the organic growth of agile thinking in the organization. This poses some challenges because there are few directions between the agile world and knowledge domains and no direct correlation.   It took some effort to think through how to put the model into practice in the most useful way for our clients. So our model is practical in the sense that it can help organizations understand where they are in their organic evolution to the agile enterprise and what steps they can take on their transformation journey. Jeannette Kabanis-Brevin is editor-in-chief of PM Solutions Research and has written, co-authored and edited more than 20 books on project management, including the AMA Handbook of Project Management, second edition, which won the PMI Literature Award in 2007. To give you an overview of the model, I interviewed the lead developer of the agile portion of the model, PM Solutions senior consultant Brad Clark, PMP. The Project Management Maturity Model, fourth edition, is due out later this year. We’ve taken that model and updated the assessment tools associated with it, and now, from a consulting perspective, we have the tools to show our clients where they are and what their next steps might be. Not only have we adapted this powerful tool to PMBOK® 6, but we’re anticipating principles based on PMBOK® 7 next year to expand the use of the model and assessments for different types of organizations and situations. There are two schools of thought: the first takes an organizational approach, looking at the ability to integrate Agile into a product or function, then into an organization and finally into an enterprise. Ultimately, if you are an Agile company, the whole organization works with Agile thinking: you are able to adapt quickly to changes in the marketplace without spending a lot of time gathering requirements. Working with our brilliant consultants, Brad Clark, Sidney Neptune, Alan Fine, and Gary Alvord, during the six-week PPP course was a crash course in Agile for me. Today we see it in organizations that have scaled Agile, it involves other tools, but the focus is on Agile, whether we’re talking about projects, products, programs, or portfolios. PM College® provides project management training and professional development programs for clients around the world. They used some Agile techniques, but they weren’t Agile. However, the more they dug in, the more they realized they weren’t getting the improvements and flexibility they needed. Many organizations think Agile sounds fun, but they don’t think about what they need to do to change their organization.