Developing role clarity in projects with a hybrid approach

Abstract

Several studies report that today, the majority of projects follow some kind of hybrid approach that aims to combine the adaptiveness of an agile approach, with a predictiveness of project results, costs and timelines. Hybrid approaches are seeking ‘the best of both worlds’, however, this does not come without challenges. One of these challenges is the creation of role clarity in a project organization in which agile roles need to be integrated into project roles. The paper identifies the ‘touching points’ and overlaps of roles defined by the different approaches, and discusses the questions that arise from that. As role clarity impacts team performance, it is important that roles in a project organization are well understood and agreement is reached over the demarcation of their responsibilities. The paper concludes that there is not a single universally applicable solution for role clarity in different types of hybrid approaches, and proposes a role clarification and design process, that can support the project manager in creating role clarity in a hybrid project organization.