Maintaining Agility in a Crisis: Chronicles of a 'Waterfall' PM in an Adaptive World

By Kenisha Carnegie

Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

We can all agree that a health crisis has the potential to disrupt not only our personal lives but also our professional disposition. It also has the power to erode daily norms, sending us in a state of panic, while propelling us to be adaptive to changes and finding creative ways to operate and maintain relevance.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 virus into a pandemic across the globe, compelled organizations to accept a paradigm shift in their modus operandi. In Jamaica, with the first case of the virus being reported in early March, stay at home orders for the populace were quickly enacted by the Government. Many companies have since had to either reduce their workforce or make the difficult decision to lay off workers amid this socio-economic crisis. Thankfully, this has not been the case in my company. 

Although the operations of our financial institutions are seen as ‘critical’ to the sustainability of the economy, not all departments were required to be physically present for duties, especially with space being a constraint, due to social distancing laws being enforced. As a Project Manager in one of the nation’s banks, I, along with a significant portion of the workforce, was directed to work from home. This was in order to preserve the health and well-being of employees and adhere to social distancing regulations. This also afforded businesses the opportunity to strategize and devise ingenious ways to maintain their customer base and earning power in the face of the crisis, ensuring their viability and operability.

When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.

Whilst the field of Project Management has fast evolved to vastly relying on the various Agile frameworks, I now work predominantly on regulatory related initiatives, using the traditional Waterfall methodology. The Waterfall model generally requires that deliverables are completed in a linear sequential manner, whereby one phase has to be completed, prior to moving on to the next. Essentially, the model follows the pattern of requirements gathering, design, implementation, verification and maintenance. In my current capacity, I have been constantly trying to infuse Agile elements throughout my assigned projects, in order to extract maximum value on scope, time, quality, cost, stakeholder involvement, issues and risk management.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

With the inception of virtual work as my ‘new’ norm, I became compelled to accelerate on a more adaptable trajectory to manage my teams, considering that I am in charge of a program with no less than 5 initiatives operating simultaneously. Agility is therefore a must for me in this current climate. Having a strong mindset is the best recipe to implementing successful projects during a crisis. I am reminded of Dr. Seuss’ quote, “When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.” I choose resilience, an open and agile mindset, diligence and creative communication as my tools in the face of this current adversity. 

Let me share with you a few methods that I employ to ensure that I am able to deliver successful projects, during this time of remote working. I employ a hybrid approach in completing my duties, as well as how I manage my teams, where I fuse elements of Agile (some may say the spirit of Agile), with the traditional waterfall method.

Photo by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash

• I start the week by having sessions with my project teams to determine and agree on deliverables for focus in the week. This ensures buy-in and commitment from the team members.
• Individual sessions are held with the project managers of our vendor partners to ensure alignment with the weekly vision. We also strategize on ways to “tag team” on deliverables, that can be fast-tracked or compressed, to facilitate completion of tasks at an advanced pace in some instances, or where a risk of schedule slippage is noted.
• Daily Action Items are shared with individual team members.
• We have periodic and at times, ad hoc, check-ins daily to advise of any issues or items for escalation. These sessions are not always formal as we utilize communication services such as WhatsApp, text messages, telephone calls and WebEx. 
• A virtual colocation session is held two to three times per week to troubleshoot issues through to resolution.
• I have an ‘open door policy’ where teammates can contact me to assist with any challenge, big or small. The aim is always to seek resolution quickly, as the work must go on. 
• Teammates are encouraged to take breaks throughout the day to preserve their physical and mental well-being. Tips are also shared with team members on how to maintain a healthy outlook, as well as to practice continuous learning.
• Based on the number of initiatives and the fact that multiple team members work on the same set of projects, we stagger certain aspects to ensure that concurrency can be maintained without clashes. For example, whilst development is being done for one project, user acceptance testing (UAT) is being done on another project. In other instances, UAT may be staggered to start on one initiative, after round one testing is completed on another. Assessments are also done to determine dependencies of initiatives on each other, as well as to determine how environment availability will affect more than one initiative operating concurrently.
• Based on the nature of a particular deliverable, the team will opt to work outside of prescribed hours to ensure that targets can be met. Let me hasten to say this is not the norm, but based on team dynamics and the value that we ascribe to delivering, a decision may be taken by the team to put in an extra hour, where the need arises.
• Communication is maintained with senior stakeholders on a weekly basis through a “Weekly Digest”. This provides an update on the activities completed for the week and outlines the major challenges and deliverables for the upcoming week. Bi-weekly reports are also shared with all stakeholders. Ad hoc sessions are also held with any stakeholder with a vested interest, based on need.

It is vital that stakeholder communication remains paramount during this period of challenge and uncertainty. Stakeholders must be assured that value can and is still being derived throughout flexi-work. It is up to us as project managers to employ greater agility in the execution of our duties and to ensure that value can be extracted from our daily tasks. Whilst not confirming our indispensability, it allows for our employers to view our jobs as essential to the viability of the organization, especially in the rebuilding process, as the socio-economic threat dissipates.