I'm a firm beliver in Agile/XP approachs and have found them very
effective. Short term deliverables are added, reprioritized, etc. -
based on cost/benefit as determined by the stakeholders. The project
ends when $ run out or x% of benefit is realized or dramatic change in
direction (company folds for example). But what is used to track the
ever changing goal(s)? and to show increasing/decreasing benefit
trending as the project progresses. For example as functionality is
delivered the overall benefit of any new functionality could decrease
based on the changing goal -- as more is provided it becomes less
meaningful - not base on what is being delivered, but what the goal is
changing into. Agile provides the flexability to change and the goal
value can be tracked - but is there a tool to handle both of these
things?

-meade

--- In pmtr@yahoogroups.com, "Alex Pukinskis" <Alex.Pukinskis@r...> wrote:
>
> Thatıs a great observation! Using the tools most of us are familiar
with,
> itıs easy to lose sight of the business value, since there are so
many tasks
> to be tracked, and those tasks donıt always have intrinsic value on
their
> own.
>
> The intention of Agile Project Management is to focus tracking and
project
> management around small units of business value, not tasks. Rather than
> deliver projects in phases of tasks, the agile approach advocates
producing
> increments of business value every 1-4 weeks; in each of these short
> iterations, we complete all phases of the project (analysis, design,
> development, test, etc) for a small increment of business value.
We keep a
> prioritized list of these small chunks of business value, and at the
start
> of each iteration, we select the highest-priority chunks to work on.
Every
> few weeks, we deliver some of the benefits promised by the goal of the
> project. Priorities of the other chunks lower down on the list can be
> changed at any time to ensure we deliver the most business value we can.
>
> Tracking progress is a lot more effective with this approach,
because you
> can easily measure, every 1-4 weeks, exactly how much value youıve
> delivered.
>
> There are a lot of tools out there for doing this; many agile teams just
> plan their projects with simple spreadsheets or even on index cards
on the
> wall (one chunk of functionality per card). The company I work for
produces
> a web-based tool designed to help software teams keep track of business
> value. But to use a tool thatıs effective at tracking real progress
towards
> a goal, you need to make this fundamental shift in how your project is
> organized. With phased development you never really know where things
> stand, because you donıt really deliver any usable piece of the goal
until
> the end. Working in smaller chunks helps you get around this.
>
> -Alex
>
> --
> Alex Pukinskis - Agile Coach
> Rally Software Development
> http://rallydev.com/
> 303.565.2846
>
>
>
> On 01 27 2006 6:49 AM, "Meade Rubenstein" <meader_nj@y...> wrote:
>
> > Often the focus of a project is changed from the goal - such as better
> > customer service, reduced costs, increased performance, etc - to the
> > delivery of the tasks. These tasks are those that are 'guessed' at
> > during the project definition phase and in many cases become etched in
> > stone. This often results in projects being delivered 'successfully'
> > but without meeting hope for benefits (which could change over the
> > course of the project). Has anyone had any experience with a PM tool
> > that focuses on the goal and set's diviations to it instead of
> > predefined tasks, value, costs, etc.?? Is such as tool possible?
> >
> > -meade
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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