Project Management and Methodology

TPM and Agile Traditional Project Management (TPM) is the familiar system of project management that begins with identifying the total project, the steps to completing the project, and then setting out the time frames and the resources to bring that project to completion. It is an approach based on the idea that the project is laid out at its beginning, and then the organization works through the steps to bring the project to its conclusion. This approach is often juxtaposed with agile project management.

Agile has a few elements that are quite a bit different than TPM. One of these is that agile is iterative. It recognizes that it is very difficult to conceive a perfect project right from the outset. A more iterative approach allows for improvements and adjustments to be made to elements of the project, or to the project in its entirety. This requires substantially more flexibility on the part of the organization, but in theory it should get the organization closer to a more perfect project outcome (Anderson, 2016).

Another difference between the two is that agile often involves the end user. In TPM, the project is basically finished before the end user is involved -- they might get involved only at beta-testing, but sometimes maybe later than that. In Agile, end users are involved earlier, as this allows for issues to be identified earlier in the process. Instead of issues being addressed via a patch system, the fixes can be built into the product in a more comprehensive manner (Waters, 2007).

Agile is often considered for use in software, while TPM is often used for hardware sorts of projects. While there are certainly those who disagree that agile is an either/or approach (Cobb, 2012), agile seems more suited for software or other projects with intangible outcomes. Such projects are never really perfect, so an iterative approach can be utilized to push them closer to the ideal. Updates are used to bring improvements to the consumer. With physical goods, the agile approach is less useful, because of logistics considerations.

Goods have to be ordered, prototypes and products built. There are production schedules, and shipping considerations. A deliverable cannot be dramatically altered once the process has begun, and it might take a considerable amount of time to make adjustments. To determine which approach is better, some of those issues have to be taken into consideration during the decision-making process. One of the reasons is that there are always critical variables and bottlenecks in any project -- when those involve physical goods the project will typically utilize a TPM methodology.

Consider building a new museum in your city -- that is a project that, once the design has been chosen, it not iterative in the least, does not involve the end user until it is finished. The advantages of an agile methodology are basically lost on that type of project. So the type of project has a lot to do with what methodology is best on the project management side of things. As such, if you were building a new data center, you would be looking at a TPM approach.

You can forecast the capacity of this new center, which will allow for understanding what the center looks like, more or less. The TPM methodology still allows for some adjustments, but once the specs for the data center have been established, the TPM methodology provides a.