A Degrees of Implementation or DOI can facilitate the controlling of the individual measures and provide information on the phase in which the individual components of a project are located. Here you will find tips and tricks for choosing a hardness degree system. In addition, we explain why agile project management methods are used in the software development of Nordantech's products - and not degrees of hardness.
From phase 1 to 4: The DOIs
Now a small introduction to DOIs (degrees of hardship): Those who wish can organize their measures within the framework of the process in so-called Degrees of Implementations or degrees of hardship. These are phases that all measures go through. The aim of this classification is to ensure simple implementation controlling and to make the progress of the project as well as the outstanding progress manageable.
These phases are common:
- Idea
- Identification
- Validation
- Planning
- Implementation
- Realization
Measures are proposed in the idea phase and roughly planned and quantified during identification. This is followed by validation, for example, by Controlling or the person responsible for the project. This is followed by detailed planning and release, as well as the actual implementation. At the end there is the realization, during which it is determined which advantages have arisen from it.
In general, DOI 1 and 2 - especially for bottom-up measures are completely free. There are suggestion phases in which nothing is yet carved in stone. One can and should proceed quite roughly. If it is within the framework of DOI 3 - validation - it is decided whether the measure should also see the light of the implementation phase. If this is the case, DOI 4 is followed by detailed planning and then finally implementation (DOI 5). In this phase, the measures are usually the longest. Once all activities have been completed and all effects have been achieved, the measure is deemed to have been implemented.
Important: Do not throw ten different management manuals at the project. The leaner and more efficient the management method, the more effective the project.
Because the attentive reader may ask himself now, or even before, who should coordinate this entire process. Mostly there are project managers - they have a tough task. But sometimes it makes sense to set up a PMO, which is short for Project Management Office. The PMO is a kind of staff unit that follows the progress of the project and centrally consolidates, processes and disseminates information. More about this later in a separate post.
And now a bit about Scrum/Agile...
Now we have gained a small overview of how project management with DOIs works. In this case, however, we assume that we are concentrating on so-called classical project management. The whole sermon of goal setting, planning, execution and debriefing in one long process. At some point, however, more modern methods also make more sense. Yes, right, we mean Scrum, Agile and other agile methods. These methods come from the more short-lived software and product development. The premise is that the project environment is so volatile and fast-moving that a long plan for months or years is virtually impossible or makes little sense. More important is a long-term goal, the achievement of which will be newly planned and directly implemented in regular and very short sprints.
That's what we do at Nordantech. Our goal is to make products like Falcon as good as possible - absolutely always state of the art and then a bit better. We cannot achieve this goal with a 3-year plan with partial steps. In our world, the tech stack and the requirements are changing rapidly and severely. That's why we organize our development agilely in weekly sprints. These are kinds of mini-projects with all the phases described. It is important that the implementation takes place immediately and is much more limited in time. At the end of each week we check what works and what doesn't. Are we still on course? That is our sole task and mission.
However, the strict separation between linear, classical project management and agile methods is becoming increasingly blurred. Agile methods are increasingly finding their way into conventional project management and for good reason. We deal with these hybrid forms in detail in some posts and later on!