Summary
This article provides a quick, practical overview of common delivery approaches used to plan and deliver work. Use it to align expectations on how work will be structured, how teams collaborate, and what to expect across the project life cycle.
Body
Table of Contents
This page provides a quick, practical overview of common delivery approaches used to plan and deliver work. Use it to align expectations on how work will be structured, how teams collaborate, and what to expect across the project life cycle.
Mindset: Sequential steps producing consistent results in a predictable and repeatable way.
Typical Team Characteristics
- Shared services or cross-department teams
- Less need for daily coordination
- Work is completed based on planned tasks and hand offs
Work Characteristics
- Fixed requirements
- High effort in upfront planning across project phases
- Sequentially defined tasks completed before the next work starts
- Optimized sequencing and resource allocation across functional teams
Tools: TeamDynamix (TDX)
Mindset: Continuous incremental value, constant feedback and improvement, embracing change, people communication over process and tools, and team empowerment.
Typical Team Characteristics
- Smaller, dedicated, self-managing teams
- Required delivery skills within the team
- High degree of coordination and synchronization
Work Characteristics
- Iterative planning cycles with shorter release iterations (sprints)
- Daily check-ins (scrums)
- Fail fast to determine early whether to continue or adapt the approach
Tools: Microsoft Planner, Jira
Mindset: Start with the end goal, outcome, or value and work backwards by envisioning the desired outcomes and methodically plotting the reverse steps to reach that outcome.
Typical Team Characteristics
- Single-threaded autonomous team
- Little to no dependencies on other teams
- Moves quickly and makes decisions without lengthy coordination or approvals
Work Characteristics
- Dependency elimination: Identify and remove dependencies so the team can focus on delivering the initiative
- Alignment checks: Regular check-ins to ensure objectives align with University objectives
- Countermeasure processes: Ensure consistent, high-quality functional expertise across decentralized functions
Tools: TeamDynamix (TDX), Jira
- Choose Waterfall when requirements are stable, scope is well-defined, and work can be planned end-to-end.
- Choose Agile when requirements evolve, you need iterative value delivery, and frequent feedback is expected.
- Choose Working Backwards when you’re driving toward a specific outcome and need fast decisions with minimal dependencies.