The first thing I would like to look at is the concept of a "project" and its relationship to Agile. If we are to manage an Agile team using PMBOK base techniques we must first make sure we understand how a project is defined in Agile. The PMBOK defines projects as having the following characteristics:
- Temporary
- Unique Product, Services or Results
- Progressive Elaboration
We can look at how these characteristics line up with Agile one at a time.
Temporary
We can think of the scope of the Agile release or iteration as the bounds of the temporary work which will be performed. In Scrum this is defined during the Release Planning session, in XP it is defined in the Planning Game and in FDD this is typically done in the Plan By Feature phase.
Unique Product, Services or Results
Of course the work that is being performed by an Agile team will be unique, if it weren't we wouldn't waste the time on it. This characteristic simply reinforces the fact that a project will produce something that the organization does not already have in its possession.
Progressive Elaboration
This characteristic is probably the most interesting and relevant to Agile as it is really what it is all about. The PMBOK says "Progressive elaboration means developing in steps, and continuing by increments." This definition is in direct alignment with the Sprints contained within Scrum, iterations in XP and weekly releases in FDD.
So it appears we may have a chance to align the PMBOK with Agile practices after all.
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