Explore project methods beyond Agile—compare frameworks, find the right fit, and build a practical approach that works for your team and industry.

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8.10.1: Variations on a theme

Agile may have started in software, but it’s not the only way to run flexible or structured projects. In this final topic, we’ll step back and look at other methods you might come across—some Agile by nature, some predictive by design, and others created for specific industries or environments.

Agile methods

By now, you’ve seen how Scrum, Kanban, SAFe and LeSS offer different ways to deliver Agile. But they’re not the only options out there.

Agile isn’t a single method—it’s a mindset. And over the years, that mindset has given rise to other frameworks tailored to different teams, needs, and working styles.

Let’s take a look at a few you might not have met yet.

Extreme Programming (XP)

XP is one of the earliest formal Agile methods, and it lives up to its name. It was designed for software development teams that needed to move fast and improve quality at the same time.

What makes XP stand out is its technical focus. It introduced practices like test-driven development (TDD), pair programming (two developers working together at one keyboard), continuous integration, and small, frequent releases.

The idea was simple: deliver working code early, keep it clean, and respond quickly to changing requirements. While many teams today borrow from XP without using it in full, its influence still shows up in how modern software is built.

Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)

DAD is less about specific rituals and more about decision-making. It’s a toolkit that helps teams choose their way of working, based on what’s best for their context.

Unlike Scrum, which focuses on the team level, DAD looks at the bigger picture, including architecture, governance, DevOps, and support. It’s especially useful in larger organisations that need to scale Agile in a structured way.

Think of DAD as Agile with guardrails. It supports flexibility, but within a framework that helps teams make good choices without reinventing the wheel every time.

Crystal

Crystal isn’t a single method—it’s a family of lightweight Agile approaches, like Crystal Clear (for small teams) and Crystal Orange (for larger or more complex projects). Each one is based on the size of the team and the level of criticality involved.

Crystal focuses on communication, collaboration, and team skill over rigid processes. It encourages teams to tailor their method, rather than follow a script. Documentation is kept to a minimum, and working software is always the top priority.

It’s a good choice when teams are small, co-located, and value flexibility over formal structure.

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While these frameworks aren’t as widely used as Scrum or Kanban, they reflect just how diverse Agile thinking has become.

Each one puts Agile values into practice in its own way, offering different paths to the same goal: delivering value early and often, while staying open to change.

In the next lesson, we’ll take a step in the other direction into the world of predictive project management, where structure and certainty still play a leading role.

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8.10.2: Predictive project methods that still work

As we saw in Topic 8.9, Agile isn’t the best fit for every project. Sometimes, structure matters more than speed. In high-stakes environments—where the outcomes are fixed, the risks are high, or the rules are tight—predictive methods can offer the control and clarity that Agile doesn’t.

And just like Agile, predictive project management isn’t a single method. It’s a family of good practices and formal frameworks designed to plan work upfront, monitor it closely, and deliver exactly what was promised.

Let’s take a quick tour through some of the most widely used predictive methods still shaping projects today.

PMBOK – The knowledge guide

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) isn’t a method as much as a reference guide. It’s published by the Project Management Institute and widely used around the world.

PMBOK sets out core knowledge areas—like scope, time, cost, quality, and risk—and maps out the processes and tools used to manage them. It’s a go-to for organisations that want consistency across projects, and it forms the basis of the PMP certification.

PRINCE2 – Structured delivery from start to finish

PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments) is a formal method developed by the UK government. It breaks projects into stages, with clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and documentation at every step.

PRINCE2 is best known for its emphasis on governance and accountability. It works well in public sector and regulated environments, where transparency and process matter just as much as outcomes.

ISO 21500 – The global standard

For those working across borders or under international contracts, ISO 21500 provides a common language for project management. It outlines best practices and guidance for managing projects of any size or type, and helps align teams working across different sectors or countries.

ISO 21500 doesn’t prescribe tools or templates. It simply defines the principles and processes that underpin good project management, wherever it’s used.

MPMM – Commercially structured control

The Method123 Project Management Methodology (MPMM) is a commercial framework that combines best practice templates with step-by-step guidance. It’s structured like PRINCE2 but designed to be easier to adopt in private sector organisations without formal PMOs.

MPMM walks teams through each phase—initiation, planning, execution, and closure—and is often used by consultancies, small-to-medium businesses, or organisations new to formal project methods.

Extreme Project Management (XPM)

Despite the name, XPM is actually a predictive approach—it just adds flexibility at the edges. It’s designed for fast-paced environments with rapidly shifting stakeholder expectations. Think of it as predictive with a twist: plan first, but leave space for change.

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These methods work well when scope is stable, outcomes are clear, and compliance is critical. They’re especially useful in infrastructure, construction, defence, or large procurement projects, where “getting it wrong” has serious consequences.

Next up, we’ll look at project methods specifically developed for particular industries and sectors, because sometimes the best tool is the one designed for your world.

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8.10.3: Fit-for-purpose project tools

Not all project methods are designed to work everywhere. Some were built for specific industries, shaped by the types of work, risks, and outcomes those sectors deal with every day. Others were designed to support particular priorities—like quality, safety, or innovation.

In this final lesson, we’ll look at some methods and standards that sit alongside Agile and predictive project management. They’re often used as complements, especially in complex projects where product, process, and performance all need to be managed at once.

Lean and Six Sigma – quality, efficiency, and waste reduction

Originally developed in manufacturing, Lean and Six Sigma are now used in sectors like health, logistics, and finance. Both are focused on improving quality and efficiency, but they come at it from different angles.

Lean is all about eliminating waste—anything that doesn’t add value to the end user. It encourages teams to streamline processes, cut down on unnecessary steps, and deliver faster with less.

Six Sigma, on the other hand, uses statistical methods to reduce variation and defects. It’s highly structured and relies on defined problem-solving phases (like DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control).

Together, these approaches support continuous improvement and data-driven decision-making. They’re often used in large-scale operations where precision matters.

Design Thinking – people first

Design Thinking isn’t a project method in the traditional sense—it’s more of a mindset and problem-solving approach. But it’s increasingly used in project contexts, especially when the goal is innovation.

Popular in product design, marketing, and service development, Design Thinking puts the user at the centre. It encourages teams to explore problems deeply, prototype ideas quickly, and test solutions before locking them in.

If you’re delivering something new, complex, or user-facing, Design Thinking can be a powerful way to guide early-stage project work, even before Agile or predictive planning begins.

ISO Standards – A global toolkit

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed a vast library of standards that apply across industries, sectors, and borders. While ISO 21500 covers project management specifically, many other ISO standards are used to shape the outcomes of projects, from the systems they build to the safeguards they put in place.

Some standards are general-purpose and widely adopted, while others are tailored to specific domains or regulatory contexts. Here are just a few examples:

• ISO 9001 – Quality management systems: Helps organisations deliver consistent quality and meet customer expectations.
• ISO 31000 – Risk management: Offers a framework for identifying and managing risk in any context.
• ISO/IEC 27001 – Information security management: Widely used in IT, health, finance, and government to protect data and systems.
• ISO 14001 – Environmental management: Supports sustainability goals and regulatory compliance.
• ISO 45001 – Occupational health and safety: Helps manage workplace risks and reduce incidents.
• ISO 22301 – Business continuity management: Prepares organisations for disruption, from natural disasters to cyber attacks.
• ISO 15489 – Records management: Provides a structure for managing information over time, especially in government and regulated industries.

These standards don’t dictate how to run a project, but they do influence what a project needs to deliver and how it should be managed. Many are used alongside project management frameworks to ensure projects meet industry, legal, or customer requirements.

In regulated sectors like healthcare, construction, defence, or finance, meeting the relevant ISO standards is often a condition of funding, approval, or certification. Even in smaller organisations, they offer a structured way to improve systems, reduce risk, and build trust.

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Together, these sector-specific methods and global standards give you extra tools to draw on, especially when your project has to meet a higher bar for quality, safety, or complexity.

Whether you’re designing software, building bridges, running a public health campaign, or launching a product, the key is the same: choose the approach that fits the work—not the other way around.

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8.10.4: So, which methodology is best?

That’s what you really want to know, isn’t it!

Regardless of their brand, most methods share a similar DNA. They differ mostly in naming conventions, templates, or where they place emphasis—be it people, process, quality, or risk.

Many also have formal, paid accreditation pathways for practitioners, and any touted superiority of one method over the other is usually driven by salespeople as opposed to actual project managers.

In fact, there’s an inevitable tension between using a generic method and managing a one-of-a-kind project. Every method offers structure and consistency, but no two projects are exactly the same. What works well in one setting might not suit another, especially when the people, priorities, or constraints are different.

That’s why experienced project managers treat methods as starting points—not strict rules. The real skill lies in adapting the method to fit the project, not forcing the project to fit the method.

The other problem is that these off-the-shelf methodologies are often marketed as ‘complete’ solutions. This is all well and good, but the chances are that your organization already has methods for performing tasks or managing processes.

Therefore, slavishly adopting a project methodology that you learned on a nifty course might cause inefficiencies and tension in a workplace with its own hard-won body of assets and knowledge.

None of this is to say that methodologies are irrelevant. On the contrary, they can bring valuable consistency to organizations and teams. But none are universal solutions, and none are truly one-size-fits-all.

Some aspects of your chosen methodology can be discarded entirely, while you might need to invent others from scratch, especially if your industry has specific performance or compliance requirements.

As with all things project management, balance is the key.

There is an old proverb that says if you give someone a fish, you feed them for a day; but if you teach them to fish, you feed them for a lifetime.

 Our expectation is that by the end of this program, you will be able to use the proven, good practices we introduce to develop an individually or organizationally unique best-practice project management framework.

In other words, you should take what already exists within your organization—along with what you find in courses, software, templates, AI and the Googleverse—and use your expert judgment to arrive at the optimal method for delivering successful results.

Keep in mind, too, that the global body of knowledge also expands and evolves every day. The best project managers stay plugged into industry news and developments, constantly refreshing their knowledge and organically improving their practice.