AgilePM Practices, Techniques, and Tailoring
Practices and techniques
AgilePM includes several practices that support the principles. MoSCoW prioritisation is used to define the importance of requirements. Timeboxing is used to manage work in fixed periods. Iterative development allows refinement through cycles. Modelling is used to visualise and communicate. Facilitated workshops bring stakeholders together to collaborate. Daily stand-ups keep the team aligned. Retrospectives enable continuous improvement.
Tailoring is a key concept: AgilePM is designed to be tailored to the project's size, complexity, and risk. For example, in a small project, some roles may be combined, or some products may be simplified. However, the principles must never be compromised.
Traps and worked example
A common trap is thinking that tailoring means dropping principles. Tailoring only applies to roles, products, and practices, not to the eight principles. Another trap is confusing MoSCoW with a simple ranking; MoSCoW is about categorising requirements by their importance for the current timebox, and the 'Won't have' category is explicitly out of scope for now.
Worked example: If a project is small and low-risk, the Business Visionary and Business Sponsor roles might be combined, but the business case must still be owned and the vision still defined. This is tailoring roles, not principles.
Rule of thumb: When tailoring, always ask: does this compromise a principle? If yes, don't do it.