During the course of over 3 decades in IT, I have been "blessed" with the opportunity to be exposed to multiple project management methods. Coming from a family background in the construction industry during the 1970's, the Waterfall method was - and still is - the most comfortable.
Critical Path Management in IT is like building a house where grading comes before foundation, foundation before framing, utilities before walls, walls before fixtures, etc. Building subcontractors are just like specialized programming teams requiring scheduling on and off projects at just the right time. At their core, every other IT methodology flows from the Waterfall (pun intended) with various enhancements, overlays, and specialized tools.
GE used Waterfall before the Zombie Apocalypse introduction (and ultimate demise) of Six Sigma which is discussed in another article. Citi Financial Services used Waterfall and Andersen Method One. At PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Consulting) it was whatever the customer wanted with an overlay of Stage-Gate quality management and Balanced Scorecard System reporting. At IBM, it was again whatever the customer wanted although IBM's purchase of Rational Software in 2003 forced a brief but futile dalliance with Rational Unified Process. Some of PwC Consulting's Balanced Scorecard and other methods were integrated into IBM Cognos after the IBM/PwCC acquisition - but only where the customer wanted to pay for the implementation of Cognos on the projects they were paying IBM to develop!
The "Projects Well In Hand" (PWIH) hybrid framework evolved from long years of ping ponging between "mandatory" methodologies, needing a way to keep sense of it all - regardless of methodology - and still deliver successful projects on time at or under budget. The resemblance to DevOps was kismet as the elements of PWIH simply evolved into a repeating rhythm regardless of the steps required by the methodology ostensibly in use at any given time. It was also the answer given to management every time they asked: "How's the project coming?" The answer: "It's well in hand, no worries!"
Successful project management is about process and discipline - without respect to the methods followed.
This quote is commonly attributed to Abraham Lincoln, though its origin is uncertain. Regardless of the orginal source, It illustrates the necessity of proper planning and preparation before beginning production.
Fail to plan, plan to fail - prepare for the consequences!
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