Timeless leadership and project management methods

AI or no AI: in the end you also need some sensible ways of working.

In recent years I have witnessed the argument more than once: agile or classic project management? That discussion is completely pointless. It is as if I asked you: fruit or vegetables? There is no 'or', you need both. There is no contradiction at all.

I was an Agile Coach for many years, and I am trained in classic project management.

Classic project management covers:

Risk management, stakeholder management, quality management, definition of deliverables, cost and finance, resources, procurement and contracts, communication, leadership, motivation, self-control, assertiveness, creativity, results orientation, efficiency, problem solving, conflict management, negotiation, reliability, appreciation, ethics, portfolio orientation, business orientation, systems and technologies, human resource management, health, safety, occupational protection, law, environment, compliance…

What often falls under the term governance is really nothing other than good old project management methods, cleanly implemented.

Tell me which of these areas contradicts the attitude of living agile values? Agile values means: I orient myself by the agile principles. Perhaps you have heard of them. The interesting thing is: I can use Scrum and be completely non-agile.

The agile principles think toward the customer, toward collaboration, that business colleagues and engineers work together daily. That alone shows whether you have merely introduced Scrum or are really agile. Or: the best, most effective and most efficient method of conveying information is face-to-face conversation. Or Simplicity: the art of maximizing the work not done is essential. That is reminiscent of Lean, the reduction of waste. There are indeed Scrum teams that do not reduce the various kinds of waste.

Working in an agile way means living these principles — and for the daily doing you still often need complementary methods.

Planning alone is different, and now with AI you can take the whole thing to a new level.

You need a combination of Lean thinking, classic project management, timeless best practices and new methods, sensibly combined:

• Hypothesis-driven work with kill criteria
• Adaptive planning and learning as a corporate rhythm
• Robust risk management adapted to AI
• Effective stakeholder management built on trust
• Problem-solving skills: distinguishing real problems from emotionally inflated tasks
• Teamwork — if you see the team only as the lowest career step, you make it unnecessarily hard for yourself
• Conflict management: the more thought that goes into shaping leadership, the fewer conflicts arise later. 80% of all conflicts are symptoms of unclear leadership!

In the workshop “Timeless leadership and project management methods” I offer to present those competencies that are important for your company and to explain how it all sensibly fits together. As preparation for the workshop we therefore hold conversations together, so that I understand your company better.