Put yourself in the role of a project manager collaborating with MTD, an events company.
Considering the difficulties and problems that MTD encounters in their projects, what insights have you gained this week that could offer assistance?
If an iterative approach were employed in organizing an event as a project, what would be the consequences? Similarly, what are the implications of adopting an agile approach? If the company sought your advice, what would you recommend?
Contribute your thoughts and ideas to the discussion.
If I were managing projects at MTD Events, I would recognize that event projects face changing client expectations, tight deadlines, vendor coordination challenges, and budget constraints. An iterative approach would allow the team to break the event into smaller phases, review progress regularly, and gather feedback early, reducing the risk of major last minute issues. An Agile approach would encourage short planning cycles, frequent team communication, and quick adaptation to change, improving collaboration and responsiveness. I would advise adopting a hybrid approach, using structured planning for budget and logistics, while applying Agile principles to creative and client facing elements, ensuring both control and flexibility in project delivery
As a project manager with MTD, the following implications will happen if i make use of an iterative approach:
1. Flexibility i.e plans can be adjusted based on feedback, logistics, or stakeholders’ input.
2. Early problem detection
3. Improved stakeholder engagement
4. Better risk management.
Implications of adopting an agile approach for the company
The company becomes more adaptive and innovative, a strong communication and coordination system is developed, and a skilled team that can handle change is employed.
My advice to the company is to use a hybrid approach that involves marketing campaigns, stakeholder engagement, vendor testing, feedback collection, event dates and timelines, budget control, venue booking, logistics, and safety arrangements.
If MTD was to apply an iterative approach to their projects, it would make for a more refined and improved decision-making and quick response to risks as a result of improved project feedback. It would also make for a better project outcome, though it would require proper planning and project ownership. My suggestion would be that MTD should apply a mixed or hybrid approach to their projects, which will make for a quicker response to changes and orderly flow of activities, but with some flexibility.
An Agile approach helps MTD adapt, collaborate, and reduce uncertainty during planning, but without firm controls and a traditional execution phase, it can introduce risk in a time-critical event project.
My advice:
MTD should adopt a hybrid project management approach, using Agile iteratively during event planning and design to absorb changes and stakeholder feedback, but switching to a traditional, fixed plan for logistics and execution to protect timelines, costs, and event-day success.
If I were the project manager with MTD, using the iterative project approach would enable starting with idea and vision which would be the best choice, because the environment, the business strategy, and the project scope are likely to change, based on feedback from the environment (customers), and these projects are done all at once in a shorter period of time. Applying agile principles to project management, feedback remains the key characteristic, and the most widely used principles in projects are derived from agile software development.
As a project manager,
1. The insights I could offer would be to encourage MTD to clarify early with clients, lock in decision deadlines, and build contingency buffers into the budgets and schedules. A simple risk log and post-event retrospectives would help the them from recurring supplier, logistics, or last minute change issues. And lastly, to sustain a stronger cross team communication habits like short weekly check-ins that could prevent surprises.
2. If an iterative approach were employed in organising an event as a project, the following consequences are likely to occur: an iterative approach would allow MTD to refine some elements such as program design, layout or marketing in cycles based on stakeholders feedback. I think this could improve quality and client satisfaction, but may increase coordination efforts and make the contracts more flexible. An iterative approach can work best when the event concept can flow without jeopardising fixed deadlines.
3. Some of the implications of adopting an agile approach by MTD would be making the company more responsive to client changes and emerging risks, especially in dynamic environments like experiential events. Agile approach would demand the team to be empowered, rapid decision making and strong client collaboration to avoid scope creep. However, without discipline, this approach could blur accountability and strain budgets.
4. My suggestion would be to deploy a hybrid model which entails solid upfront planning for venues, suppliers, and compliance, combined with agile sprints for creative and experiential elements. Have a defined change control and continuous stakeholders engagement to balance flexibility with control as this will keep delivery reliable while still allowing innovation.