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dsdm atern - fully fledged agile project management methodology

DSDM® Atern - A fully fledged IS Agile Project Management Methodology

Is DSDM® Atern significanly different, particularly in terms of Agile methodologies?  At OCS, we believe so.

Most IS Agile methodologies were borne within the technical engineering component of strong structured governance frameworks such as  PRINCE2® work packages.  The focus of many IS Agile methodologies is for improving resource utilisation via less bureaucratic teams relying on and accessing communal capacities.  The compromise is all too often the business drivers underpinning the project are not the primary focus.  From a business perspective the result might be coined as "Water Sprint" project governance.  The major weakness inherent in Water Sprint governance is in how to bridge the difference between the project management approaches and objectives, i.e. business impact vs technical team productivity (the two don't naturally align).

DSDM® Atern is a full lifecycle business Agile governance methodology well suited for IS systems.  The Achilles Heel of DSDM® Atern is in how it immediately, concisely and with confidence challenges whether the business is really seeking to have more effective, efficient and controlled IS projects.  Many businesses play lip service, seeking to comply with often procurement led tick boxes, hence the confused Water Sprint approach.

So what is the big business challenge that DSDM® Atern tackles head on?  Accepting successful projects don't see scope as a predetermined outcome.  Aligning to clear defined strategic goals with a focus on early delivery of real benefits via an incremental and iterative project approach enables scope to be fluid and controlled with the overriding drivers being does this meet our business requirements.

DSDM® Atern recognises that scope (features) provides the business with the most effective tools for securing quality assured outcomes from an agreed level of resources deployed during a given period of time.  A dogma for making scope dominant, features as immovable, may be best suited to formal, structured and set functional output led projects, but totally inappropriate for achieving highly focused, productive and business outcomes driven IS projects.

DSDM® Atern is the most fully fledged IS Agile Project Management Methodology available today, and OCS is proud to have practitioners and to have adopted DSDM® Atern as our project methodology of choice.

Let OCS help you bring DSDM® Atern to your business.

Let's talk DSDM® Atern

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