Program Management Approaches: Valpak Company

Valpak Case Study

Project Management is becoming a critical aspect of business success. Project management entails experience, knowledge, skills, methods, and processes for achieving business objectives using the project acceptance criteria (Bergmann & Karwowski, 2018). Any IT organization must consider effective project management approaches to achieve better goals. Valpak is a company that considers reliable project management approaches to meet the success threshold by transforming its business to the Kanban process. The paper reviews the Valpak case study by analyzing its scenario, key principles of TPM and APM, triple constraint, and project management approaches.

Scenario Selection

The case scenario indicates Valpak as a direct marketing company established in 1968. It is headquartered in Florida and offers different services, such as digital coupons. Besides, it works with different businesses and 170 franchises to allow them to succeed in digital marketing (Cobb, 2015). However, the most crucial department for the company is IT. The department is responsible for the company's success due to its critical role in promoting customer satisfaction and establishing stakeholder support technologies. The company transformed into an agile scrum, accomplished using a sprint delivery cycle. Therefore, the transformation made the company recognized as an agile enterprise. Its SAF assumption is based on three layers: the team, program, and portfolio. However, at the team layer, the company uses Scrum and Canvas.

Key Principles of TPM and APM

APM is an approach considered to accommodate emerging project challenges. However, TPM is a well-established approach consisting of standard procedures to plan, estimate, and control tasks (Salameh, 2014). It considers various stakeholders during the project life cycle. For instance, Valpak considered three groups of stakeholders, customers, community, and government. Valpak used TPM to estimate a 2-week sprint delivery cycle which made it achieve its goals and become an agile enterprise. Therefore, TPM's goal is to complete the project within a specific budget and schedule, as evident in Valpak Company.

Additionally, APM is critical since it determines the success of the agile project. The key principle of APM is customer satisfaction. The intended outcome of an agile project is to embrace customer satisfaction by considering higher outputs. Valpak's transition adequately achieved customer satisfaction by increasing efficiency and cost-effectiveness (Cobb, 2015). The other principle is to welcome change. The principle states that the stakeholders must embrace change for higher competitive advantage. The key stakeholders Valpak considered ensuring change and transformation are the employees and the customers. Lastly, an APM principle that also aligns with the Valpak case study is project building by supporting the project team. Valpak's SAF considered a team layer and used Scrum and Canvas to achieve transition goals.

The major goal of Valpak was to have an efficient system that smoothly ran the sales and business operations. It also focused on maximizing and tracking ROI. The key stakeholder was Stephanie, the agile director, to ensure that the methodology used meets agile thresholds (Cobb, 2015). Therefore, the IT department effectively considered TPM and APM.

Triple Constraint

Valpak used the triple constraint model. The model analyzes a project using three major elements cost, time, and scope (Kandengwa & Khoza, 2021). All the elements are considered during change implementation. The triple constraint theory is triangularly established to show how a project cannot succeed without any listed elements. All the elements are also incorporated into the traditional project management to ensure the management of future challenges and establish a better plan.

Valpak Company applied triple constraint by implementing cost, time, and scope requirements to avoid possible risks. The key scope of Valpak was based on agile enterprise. However, the intention was to reduce costs and have a higher return on investment. Besides, the transition was based on a 2-week sprint delivery cycle. The triple constraint concept allows the project manager suitable trade-offs and their role in project success (Kandengwa & Khoza, 2021). Therefore, the company, through IT management, efficiently considered Triple constraints.

Project Management Approaches

Valpak considered agile project management approaches for effective transition and achievement of goals. The major project management is Kanban. The Kanban process is significant in visualizing work, maximizing efficiency, and improving the project. It is an approach used in agile projects to achieve customer demands. The second approach is the scrum which reduces the project cost and is initiated after establishing the project plan. The last approach is the adaptive project framework which focuses on change implementation and specific project requirements. It also ensures successful project phase transitions.

Valpak considered Scrum/Kanban process during the transition. For instance, it focused on

budgets, scope, and time (Cobb, 2015). The approach is significant since it is easily used to meet varying customer needs in larger companies such as Valpak. Valpak also used the approach to group the stakeholders depending on their needs for a successful transition.

Conclusion

Any IT organization must consider effective project management approaches to achieve better goals, as indicated by Valpak. Valpak considered reliable project management approaches to meet the success threshold by transforming its business into an agile enterprise. Triple constraints allow the company to manage its scope, time, and budget. Therefore, any agile must use TPM, APM, triple constraint, and reliable project management approaches.

References

Bergmann, T., & Karwowski, W. (2018, July). Agile project management and project success: A literature review. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 405-414). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94709-9_39

Cobb, C. G. (2015). The project manager's guide to mastering Agile: Principles and practices for an adaptive approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Kandengwa, E., & Khoza, L. T. (2021). Measuring agile software project success beyond the triple constraint. South African Journal of Information Management, 23(1), 1-8.

Salameh, H. (2014). What, when, why, and how? A comparison between agile project management and traditional project management methods. International Journal of Business and Management Review, 2(5), 52-74.