Discussion Replies

Discussion 1

Hi,

First of all, I commend you for explicitly discussing your position. I agree with you that having a single project management methodology might not effectively work as each project is unique in its ways. For example, even though an organization has the same vision and goals, it seeks to accomplish them using different projects. Each project has its own deliverables and must follow a specific methodology. Your discussion is interesting and very informative, citing concrete examples that make your argument more sensible. I have grasped some points, the primary one being that agile methodology is mainly used in global organizations. Besides, Chidyiwa (2020) found that the method is also primarily used in software development projects as it is easily adaptable and accommodates frequent changes prone in software development projects.

However, as much as your discussion on your position of an organization adopting a single methodology is profound and exciting, you have not discussed the pros and cons of a single versus multiple methodologies. Although the discussion seems to mention some of the cons of a single method, I feel that it also has some pros over having multiple methodologies. One of the pros of a single methodology you could consider is that it reduces risks, enhancing a project’s success because using it repeatedly results in a project manager identifying its weaknesses and dealing with them. Employing multiple methodologies could also be advantageous because an organization would be forced to adjust to each method’s specifics every time it uses it, which can be time-consuming. Nevertheless, the discussion is quite educative and only needs to add the pros and cons of using a single methodology versus multiple methodologies.

Reference

Chidyiwa, O. (2020). An investigation of the best practices for implementing an e-commerce software engineering project comparing two common methodologies, viz. Agile and Traditional.

Discussion 2

Hi,

This is a good and exciting discussion. You have clearly stated your reasons for positing multiple methodologies rather than a single one, which I strongly agree with. Particularly, I like the point where you have stated that applying the same PMM to every project might not lead to a desirable outcome. I strongly agree with this because the ultimate goal of employing a methodology on a project is to gain desirable outcomes from the project. Hence, the right methodology should be employed for the right project. However, there are two points that I would not mind if you explain further or clarify. Firstly, in the first paragraph, you stated that some projects are risker, simple, challenging, and come in different sizes and shapes as one of your reasons for advocating for multiple methodologies. It would be more exciting if you gave examples of which methodologies accommodate what type of projects.

Secondly, you have not contrasted the pros and cons of employing single and multiple methodologies. Contrasting the two could make your argument stronger and show that, indeed, having multiple methodologies is effective. You could also pair this with more examples that clearly show how projects and methodologies differ by citing methodologies such as agile and waterfall. Nevertheless, your discussion is on point, especially the last statement, which states that the ultimate goal is to reap more benefits than negatives from a project. This is also supported by Kerzner (2019), where book reveals that the best project methodology is one that enables an organization to meet the set objectives and goals of a project.

Reference

Kerzner, H. (2019). Using the project management maturity model: strategic planning for project management. John Wiley & Sons.