PMI-ACP Study Notes: Declaration of Interdependency

[PMI-ACP® study notes] Following the publication of Agile Manifesto in 2001, a number of authors worked on the management principles for the adoption of the Agile principles. In 2005, the Declaration of Interdependence was published put forward six essential principle for modern project management (and management as a whole).

Below is the Declaration of Interdependence in its entirety:

Article Highlights

Declaration of Interdependence

Agile and adaptive approaches for linking people, projects and value
We are a community of project leaders that are highly successful at delivering results. To achieve these results:

• We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus.
• We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership.
• We expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation, and adaptation.
• We unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate source of value, and creating an environment where they can make a difference.
• We boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness.
• We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes and practices.

©2005 David Anderson, Sanjiv Augustine, Christopher Avery, Alistair Cockburn, Mike Cohn, Doug DeCarlo, Donna Fitzgerald, Jim Highsmith, Ole Jepsen, Lowell Lindstrom, Todd Little, Kent McDonald, Pollyanna Pixton, Preston Smith and Robert Wysocki.

Elaboration to the Declaration of Interdependency

The Declaration of Interdependency outlines the leadership approaches used to manage the interdependency of people, processes and value to enhance the performance of work. The six principles are:

1. Focus on Value
2. Engage Customers
3. Expect Uncertainty
4. Unleash Creativity
5. Group Accountability
6. Improve Effectiveness

1. Focus on Value

• value is determined by how close the requirements of the users / customers are met
• only work on features that are actually requested by the users / customers
• changes requested by users / customers will always be embraced

2. Engage Customers

• customer feedback is critical to success of the project
• interact frequently with the customers to understand and gain trust
• treat customers as team members

3. Expect Uncertainty

• prepare for changes in requirements and environment through short development iterations
• changes would add value to the final product

4. Unleash Creativity

• team members are motivated to contribute their best
• members understands their values to the project and are presented with a common goal
• feedback from each individual is highly encouraged

5. Group Accountability

• the team is empowered through self organization
• empowered team members are committed to working together to the final success
• the success or failure of the project would be borne by the team as a whole

6. Improve Effectiveness

• though the environmental conditions will never be perfectly suited to Agile way of project management, the team will try their best to tune the processes and strategies to improve effectiveness situation by situation
• review and evaluation will be performed often to gain new insights into how to best implement the Agile principles

These six principles provides the guidelines on the six interdependent aspects of any projects to link people, processes and value. These aspects must be well managed to give the best project results.

Conclusion: PMI-ACP® Study Notes – Declaration of Interdependency

This PMI-ACP® study note has given an overview of the Declaration of Interdependency, which was written to provide management guidelines on how to best implement Agile principles to link people, processes and value.