There are many different project management methodologies out there for you to choose from, and it can be confusing to figure out which one to use. Here's a rough guide on some of the top project management methodologies, and the pros and cons of each one.

What are project management methodologies?

Project management methodologies are sets of principles and practices that help guide your projects. These frameworks help you map out your product’s development and give you strategies for managing your products in the best way possible.

There are many different project management methodologies to choose from based on your team type, project and overall goals. No two software development projects (or products!) are the same, and that means the way you organize your projects will often be different, too.

How do you choose the right project management methodology?

Many different factors will affect what project management framework you use. Here are a few things to consider:

• Cost: what kind of budget are you working with? Is your budget flexible if necessary or do you have hard limits?
• Team size: how many people are working on the project? Do you have a small core team, or will you need to collaborate with larger groups or other product teams?
• Risk: how carefully does this project need to be managed? Do you need to flesh every detail out, or can you experiment as you go?
• Flexibility: do you anticipate your project changing during the process? Do you need your methodology to be easily adaptable or are things more set in stone?
• Timeline: how much time do you have for each part of your project’s progress? Are you working with quick turnarounds, or is the end goal more important than the time frame?

The project management methodologies list

Let's go over some of the most popular methods in project management and how best to use them.

Waterfall methodology

Waterfall is one of the more traditional approaches in project management; each phase is linear and sequential, and all tasks must be completed before the next phase begins.

Waterfall project management generally has six stages: Requirements, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing, and Deployment & Maintenance. Each stage flows into each other like—you guessed it—a real-life waterfall.

Waterfall methodology is great for consistent, predictable projects with clearly-defined end-goals, and projects that need extensive tracking and documentation. But this framework may not be a great fit for projects that are liable to change and require adaptation along the way, or projects without clearly-defined end goals. Because everything is mapped out from the beginning in Waterfall, it can be hard to switch direction or go back to fix things as well.

Agile methodology

Agile project management was created as an alternative to traditional, more linear methodologies that often offered limited flexibility. In contrast, agile frameworks are quick, collaborative, and open to change; usually, they involve short phases of work (often referred to as development cycles) with frequent testing and adaptation. Within agile teams, all the work to be done is added to a product backlog that is then prioritized into an agile roadmap based on project needs.

Agile principles are great for fast-paced projects that are liable to change and have less-defined end goals or solutions. While they’re great for collaboration and keeping groups like stakeholders involved, they’re less useful for teams that require a lot of documentation or predictable deliverables or ones that work on strict deadlines.

Scrum methodology

Scrum is a subset of agile project management and one of the more iterative approaches. Within Scrum, work is split up into short cycles that last about 1-2 weeks called ‘sprints’. Like agile, work in Scrum frameworks is taken from a product backlog that has been reprioritized for each sprint iteration. This is often done by the Scrum Master, who organizes each sprint and then reviews the team’s progress in a sprint retrospective at the end.

Scrum methodology is great for teams that strive for continuous improvement, and it’s one of the most popular forms of project management today. But Scrum requires full commitment from the whole team in order to work successfully, making it less appealing to some teams. 

Kanban methodology

Kanban is another subset of agile methodology that originates from the manufacturing industry.  In this framework, progress is visually represented through columns on a Kanban board that represent different stages of the process. Tasks are continuously pulled from the backlog as the team has the capacity to tackle them.

Kanban methodology is great for giving teams a quick visual overview of where everyone’s progress stands at any given time. Because of this, Kanban boards can help you notice potential bottlenecks and roadblocks before they become bigger issues so you can keep up a steady workflow.

Within this framework, it’s important to make sure you implement work-in-progress (WIP) limits to prevent task overload. This ensures that there can only be a certain number of tasks in progress at any given time in each column so your team doesn’t get burned out or spread themselves too thin.

Kanban is great for teams that require frequent status updates or those that work on a continuous “pull” basis, but they can be less helpful for complex or multi-stage processes. 

Lean methodology

Lean methodology is another project management framework with origins in manufacturing. By applying lean principles to your project, you can maximize value while minimizing waste.

Waste in lean frameworks falls under three categories: wastefulness from using up resources without any value benefit for the customer; unevenness, or overproduction in certain areas that causes inefficiencies in other parts of production; and overburden, which occurs when too much strain is placed on your resources (including your team itself) and breakdowns occur.

Lean methodology is great if you’re looking for core principles that help you optimize your workflow, or if your focus is on improving value and ultimately decreasing costs. But lean frameworks can cause problems if you don’t have room for error or extra budget to invest in the process.

CIRCLES Methodology

CIRCLES is a linear problem-solving framework that helps product managers respond to design questions. The acronym is formed from the seven steps of the process:

• Comprehend the situation
• Identify the customer
• Report the customer’s needs
• Cut through prioritization
• List solutions
• Evaluate trade-offs
• Summarize your recommendations

This sequential structure lets product managers asks questions to explore what needs to be designed and why. It can also function as a checklist to help product teams properly respond to any design questions that may come up.

This method helps you clarify your goal, understand your constraints, and understand the context of the situation you’re in. It helps you use mental cues to structure responses to product design questions so you know what elements to include in your response regardless of the question.

The CIRCLES method is best used with design teams.

Kano Model

The Kano Model prioritizes features on a product roadmap based on how likely they are to satisfy customers. This allows product teams to weigh high-satisfaction features against their costs or the investment required to implement them in order to decide what to include in a given iteration.

Kano identifies three types of initiatives your product team will want to prioritize: basic threshold features, excitement features, and performance features.

Basic threshold features are features your product needs to include in order stay competitive; these are often foundational features your customer will expect to be included.

Excitement features are those that create a disproportionately positive response for the effort they require; these features often excite your customers but aren’t strictly necessary. Excitement features may not be missed by customers if they were left out, but can help you attract and retain customers. This could include UI updates or additional functionality.

Lastly, performance features give a proportionate increase in customer satisfaction as you invest in them. While they may not help you attract new customers or excite them, but they can make your product more worthwhile for your audience and in turn keep users loyal to your product. Examples of performance features include additional storage space or further customization.

The Kano Model also specifies that features your customers will be indifferent to and features that will cause dissatisfaction should be kept off the roadmap. These features can be identified with the help of customer feedback.