You might have heard of “agile project management” before. It has spawned an entire industry of coaches and consultants. There are a lot of different flavors of “agile.” We would rather not use “agile” to describe our project management philosophy. It has a lot of baggage, some good and some not-so-good. Instead, we are calling it “flexible project management” to emphasize our goal of maintaining as much flexibility as possible. Flexibility lets us meet people where they are rather than requiring them to change who they are. Flexibility lets us be as empathetic as possible while still achieving our goals. Rather than relying on command-and-control, sometimes referred to as “C2,” we rely on discovery and discussion.
Flexible project management involves negotiating the project’s work from start to finish while remaining open to change. This means being patient and delaying decisions until you have to make them. This means gathering as much information as you can in the meantime. And it means taking action with the information you have rather than the information you want. All of this while keeping alternatives in mind in case your first plan of action doesn’t pan out. The flexible project manager continually adapts to changes in the project environment. But it’s about more than just negotiating within the rules. It’s about changing the rules of the game to ensure a successful project.
We don’t need to use flexible project management for everything. If we know exactly what we need to do and have the time and money to do it, then we just do it. However, if all the questions aren’t answered, or we don’t have more time and money than we need, or we face a “garden of forking paths.” Flexible methods can help us stay focused and do those things that are most likely to bring success—understanding our audience’s needs (Lesson 3), creating stepping stones to our goals (Lesson 4), finding the core value of our project (Lesson 5), breaking tasks down into smaller, manageable chunks and estimating the time they might take (Lesson 6), prioritizing them (Lesson 7), and finally scheduling them (Lesson 8). Each of these is valuable, but when combined into a single workflow, they become powerful in reshaping any project.
We bookend Lessons 3-8 with two other lessons. Lesson 2 explores our experience, examining what worked well and what didn’t. Lesson 9, the final lesson, guides you in creating your own approach to flexible project management, tailored to your strengths and your team’s.
