Agile Project Management in the Trades: Working More Efficiently with Scrum and Kanban

The benefits of project management

The basic goal of project management is to make projects successful. That covers leadership tasks, leadership structures, leadership techniques and the tools for initiating, defining, planning, controlling and closing projects.

There are many reasons why project management has become impossible to imagine today's business world without:

1. Efficiency and productivity

Whether on the job site or in the office: good project management provides a clear structure and organisation for tasks and processes. That helps the team doing the work to work more efficiently and more productively. At the same time it gives a better overview of resources. You can make adjustments more easily and calculate your resources better in advance.

2. Quality control

Good project management documents, learns and improves. Sticking to proven methods and keeping the numbers and facts in view means securing quality.

3. Reaching goals and focusing on results

Good project management helps you define and reach clear goals and milestones. Working in a targeted, results-oriented way means delivering concrete results and meeting project goals.

4. Risk management

If you do everything right, you have already accounted for possible risks in your project management plan. Or you have at least drawn up a plan B. Project management lets you identify these risks early. That way you can act in time. You can also develop strategies and plans to minimise risks. That way you can respond effectively to challenges.

5. Flexibility and adaptability

Modern project management approaches allow teams to respond quickly to change and adapt to new requirements. By reviewing and adjusting the project plans regularly, teams respond more flexibly to outside influences.

The basics of project management

To help you understand the individual parts of project management better, we want to introduce the project life cycle and various project management methods.

What is the project life cycle?

The project life cycle covers the “life” of a project, from beginning to end. Classically it covers the four phases of initiation, planning, execution and closing.

In the first step, initiation, the project idea is developed and worked out. You look at whether the project is feasible at all. In landscaping and gardening, for example, that means a first customer visit. At this visit the customer's ideas and wishes are discussed. The site is inspected. After that, feasibility is checked and a first cost estimate is drawn up.

If the decision is made to actually carry out the project, it moves into the second phase, planning. Here a work breakdown structure and a schedule with milestones and tasks are created, and the resources are planned. Risks are also analysed in order to develop prevention strategies. On top of that, communication strategies are defined in this step. That helps enable the exchange of information between the individual parties.

The third phase is then about execution. The project team is put together and the plan is carried out. What matters for running the project here is coordinating and leading the project team. The quality requirements must also be secured. And communication between the teams and the employees has to run smoothly.

In the final phase the project is closed. There are three important steps to take in this phase. First the project has to be signed off. That means going through the finished project with the customer and making sure the result matches their expectations. Once that is done, a comprehensive project file should be put together. Ideally you started creating it back in the first phase. Now it only needs to be checked, adjusted slightly and completed. Project documentation and archiving mean you can always get at the data. That way you can learn from the data for future projects. Learning also means evaluating the project honestly. Drawing useful conclusions for the future from successes and failures. Last of all comes the invoice.

Project management methods

Waterfall - a traditional project management method

The central point of the waterfall method is that no phase starts before the previous one has been completed. The order of the phases does not change. It is called the waterfall method because the water falls downwards without any way of changing direction. At the same time, one phase flows “seamlessly” into the next.

Advantage:

• Clear structures
• simple management
• good for projects with stable requirements

Disadvantages

• little flexibility
• not suitable for every project
• difficult when things change
• potentially long waits until completion
• not agile

Scrum - an agile project management method

Scrum is an interactive and agile project management method that allows flexible, fast adjustment to change. The individual teams work in short sprints and deliver interim results at the end of each sprint.

Advantages:

• very flexible and adaptable
• transparency through regular meetings
• encourages teamwork
• regular, clear interim results allow earlier customer feedback

Disadvantages:

• requires strict adherence to the rules
• clear roles and hierarchies
• very complex for large projects
• time-consuming
• the method requires a lot of management and usually has to be coordinated by one person

Kanban - an agile project management method

Kanban is a method meant to encourage a continuous flow of work. Tasks are visualised on a Kanban board and moved through the different stages of the workflow.

Advantages:

• easy to adapt to change
• clear overview of the workflow
• steady progress and continuous flow
• easy to implement on top of existing processes

Disadvantages:

• hard to stick to task limits
• difficult prioritisation of tasks
• requires a lot of discipline
• complex with large teams

Hybrid approaches to project management methods

Hybrid approaches mean combining traditional and agile methods in order to use the advantages of both. In the planning phase a project clearly follows the rules of the waterfall method. In the development phase it then switches to agile methods such as Scrum or Kanban.

Advantages:

• flexibility and structure
• a better fit to the individual project

Disadvantages:

• more complex to set up and manage
• a high degree of adaptability required
• both approaches have to be understood

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How can modern project management methods be put into practice in trades businesses?

These project management methods all sound well and good, but many of them grew up in offices and classic desk jobs. So how can trades businesses benefit from these methods in their project work? Here is a guide to help you optimise your project management:

1. Build a basic understanding

Not only you, but your employees too, need to know a few things first. With short workshops or seminars you can teach your team the principles of Scrum or Kanban.

And be sure to start small! Introduce the agile project management methods step by step so you do not overwhelm your team.

2. Adapt agile principles

The various project management methods are not rigid concepts. They can be adapted individually to your business. For example, you can put a strong focus on the customer: customer wishes are put centre stage through regular customer visits. They are used to gather feedback and to make sure the projects match the customer's requirements.

3. Scrum in a trades business

In your trades business you could put the Scrum method into practice like this: you call very short meetings every day. These could also take place digitally. In them you get a short report from the team leaders on what they are working on and whether there are any obstacles. This meeting really is just a very short update. That gives you an overview of where you stand in the project plan and where there may still be loose ends.

You could use the sprints of Scrum by dividing the work into short, defined periods of time. At the end of the sprint the interim result is presented and feedback is gathered. That way you set more interim targets for your employees and so make sure the schedule is kept.

4. Kanban in a trades business

The big advantage of the Kanban method is that it visualises clearly how tasks are divided up. You can show the various tasks digitally or on paper, that is with a digital tool or on a whiteboard. You can introduce columns such as “to do”, “in progress” and “done” and assign the relevant tasks to them. How fine-grained and detailed you make it is up to you. What matters is that you set limits. That defines how many tasks may be worked on at the same time. It helps you avoid overloading your employees.

5. Tools and technology

One step that can make it easier to introduce modern project management methods is using digital tools. At the same time it can increase the efficiency of your business even further.Use digital tools, for example to map methods such as Kanban digitally. But also to keep an overview of your projects.

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Agile project management methods for trades businesses - yes or no?

Introducing agile and modern project management methods in  trades businesses definitely requires adapting the methods to the specific needs and circumstances of the business. Nevertheless, through training, a step-by-step introduction and continuous improvement of processes, you cannot enable any trades businesses to work more flexibly, more efficiently and in a more customer-focused way.