What are the differences between Agile and the following project management approaches: PDCA, DMAIC, and the Five Ds?
Each of these continuous improvement approaches are defined in the Agile & Lean Glossary. As approaches for conducting continuous improvement programs each represents a cycle of implementation steps or stages; and all are typically represented as wheels. Although each defines what is included in each stage/step slightly differently, the overall contents of each are roughly identical. Whether you use one of these approaches or some other variation, it’s important that: • It be done continuously • There are sufficient measurements to insure progress is made • Nothing else is broken The primary difference between each of these approaches and Agile, is that Agile uses what is known as a time-boxed approach. Any project has three variables: 1) scope, 2) resources, and 3) time. PDCA, DMAIC, and the Five Ds fix the scope and the resources assigned to a project and then determines the time it will take. An Agile time-boxed approach fixes the time and the resources, and then allows the people a
