Agile methods emphasize trust, empowerment, and collaboration-moving us away from command and control project management to harness the passion, creativity, and enthusiasm of the team. In established organizations, success with agile practices hinges on how well traditional project managers adopt new ways of thinking about project structure and control. Building on the principles of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®), Mike explores how PMPs with experience in traditional development can adapt their styles and practices to become effective agile project leaders. Mike tackles the hidden assumptions behind the PMBOK and explores agile approaches for managing time, cost, and scope. Taking an in-depth look at PMI Processes and Knowledge areas, he also explores ways to adapt them to agile projects.

Project retrospectives are challenging enough when the software development team and stakeholders are together in one location. What happens when the team members are spread across multiple locations, time zones, and continents? John Terzakis describes the key challenges of retrospectives for geographically dispersed software teams and provides solutions he has used to address each challenge. Beginning with a brief overview of the retrospective process, John introduces the concept of a “virtual retrospective” and offers techniques and tips for successfully facilitating them. He identifies cultural, geographical, and site-based issues and risks that can imperil virtual retrospectives and demonstrates collaboration tools to overcome distance barriers. Find out how to conduct retrospective exercises, including a valuable project timeline exercise, when participants are not co-located.

Leaders can stifle progress when they unnecessarily interfere with team processes. However, as a leader, you don't want your project to go over the cliff and fail miserably or deliver the wrong results either. There are times when leaders should stand back and let the team work things out for themselves-and other times when leaders should step up and really lead. How do you know which is which? Pollyanna Pixton focuses on collaboration as the key and teaches you how and when to step back and unleash the hidden talent in your organization and teams. Learn how to create an open environment that fosters innovation and creativity and how to let your team members take ownership and hold themselves accountable. Equally important, develop the techniques to step up and lead to keep the project on track without impeding the flow of ideas.

The CMMI® model was written to apply to a variety of project environments-defense, commercial, development, maintenance, services, and small to large project teams. Its authors used words like "adequate,” "appropriate," "as needed," and "selected." When a project or organization adopts the CMMI® model for process improvement, they consciously or unconsciously make choices about how it will be implemented-scope, scale, documentation, and decision-making to name a few. These choices have a profound effect on the speed and cost of CMMI® adoption. Rick Hefner describes the strategic implications of CMMI® on planning and implementing project processes. He identifies the decisions to be made, the options available, and the relationships between these options and project contexts and business objectives. Take away a deeper understanding of the model and better strategies for its adoption.