What is project management?

Project management methodologies

Project management (PM) is how organizations plan, execute, and deliver work with clear accountability, timelines, and stakeholder alignment. Chrono PM ships twelve industry frameworks as first-class Gantt templates — each with phases, dependencies, and demo portfolios you can explore in the live workspace.

Waterfall Agile Hybrid Stage-Gate Lean PRINCE2 Kanban Critical Chain SAFe Scrum DevOps PMBOK

Waterfall

Demo project: Platform Rollout (Demo)

Waterfall

What it is

Waterfall sequences work through defined phases (initiation → planning → execution → closeout). Scope and schedule are baselined up front; change is controlled through formal gates.

In Chrono PM

Phase summary rows chain dependencies automatically; gate milestones mark phase completion. Ideal for regulated or capex programs with fixed deliverables.

Enterprise SaaS platform rollout across four sequential phases — charter through closeout. Demonstrates phase-chained dependencies, department staffing, and gate milestones for a $485k program.

Agile

Demo project: NovaPay Mobile Release (Demo)

AgileSprint cadence

What it is

Agile delivers in short iterations with feedback loops. Teams prioritize a backlog, ship increments, and adapt based on customer or market learning.

In Chrono PM

Sprint bands overlay the Gantt; discovery and release phases bookend iterative delivery with product, engineering, and QA rostered by phase.

Consumer fintech mobile app delivered in three two-week sprints with product discovery upfront and a production release gate. Shows sprint bands, backlog phases, and cross-functional product/engineering/QA roster.

Hybrid

Demo project: Horizon Bridge Program (Demo)

HybridSprint cadence

What it is

Hybrid combines predictive milestones with flexible execution between gates — common when leadership needs dates but teams need room to iterate.

In Chrono PM

Fixed gate milestones anchor the timeline while work packages flex between them — suited to integration-heavy enterprise programs.

Fixed phase gates with agile delivery between milestones — ideal for regulated industries needing predictability and iteration. Two delivery phases separated by a formal gate and go-live milestone.

Stage-Gate

Demo project: Helix Medical Device (Demo)

Stage-Gate

What it is

Stage-Gate (NPD) moves ideas through stages separated by go/kill decisions — typical for product development and R&D portfolios.

In Chrono PM

Each stage ends in an explicit gate milestone; departments and stakeholders shift as the product advances through discovery and launch.

New product development for a Class II diagnostic device — discovery, scoping, and development stages with Idea, Go-to-Develop, and Launch gate milestones. R&D, marketing, and manufacturing departments engaged per stage.

Lean

Demo project: FlowLine Manufacturing (Demo)

Lean

What it is

Lean focuses on value streams and waste elimination — flow, pull, and continuous improvement rather than big-batch planning.

In Chrono PM

Value-stream phases map to the Gantt with continuous-improvement departments and gemba-style observation built into the schedule.

Lean transformation of a packaging line — value definition, flow implementation, and perfection via kaizen. Tracks waste elimination milestones and continuous improvement department ownership.

PRINCE2

Demo project: Crown IT Transformation (Demo)

PRINCE2

What it is

PRINCE2 is a stage-based method with defined roles (board, PM, team manager), tolerances, and exception-driven governance.

In Chrono PM

Stages like Starting up, Initiation, and Delivery appear as summary phases with board-level oversight and exception reporting.

PRINCE2-managed ERP replacement with starting-up, initiation, delivery stages, and closing checkpoint. Demonstrates stage tolerances, PID deliverables, and board-level oversight departments.

Kanban

Demo project: Support Pipeline Ops (Demo)

Kanban

What it is

Kanban limits work in progress and optimizes flow — no fixed sprints; cards move from backlog to done as capacity allows.

In Chrono PM

Continuous-flow phases replace sprint bands; WIP is modeled through backlog, in-progress, and done columns in the timeline.

Continuous-flow support engineering pipeline — backlog refinement, in-progress WIP, and done/release. No sprints; models ticket flow with upstream, delivery, and support departments.

Critical Chain

Demo project: Data Center Migration (Demo)

Critical Chain

What it is

Critical Chain Project Management protects the schedule with resource-aware critical paths and explicit time buffers instead of padding every task.

In Chrono PM

Critical and feeding chains are visualized separately; buffer consumption is tracked against the core deliverable chain.

Critical-chain schedule for a zero-downtime data center migration — critical path work, feeding chains, and explicit project/feeding buffers. Resource-constrained tasks with buffer consumption tracking.

SAFe

Demo project: ART Atlas Program (Demo)

SAFeSprint cadence

What it is

SAFe scales Agile across the enterprise with Agile Release Trains, PI planning, and synchronized iterations across multiple teams.

In Chrono PM

PI planning, iteration execution, and inspect & adapt phases align to ART cadence with RTE and system team lanes.

SAFe Agile Release Train for a multi-team platform program — PI planning, three iterations, system demo, and inspect & adapt. Sprint cadence aligned to PI objectives with RTE and system architect roles.

Scrum

Demo project: FinOps Web Platform (Demo)

ScrumSprint cadence

What it is

Scrum organizes work in time-boxed sprints with Scrum roles, events (planning, review, retro), and a potentially shippable increment each sprint.

In Chrono PM

Sprint rows, review, and retrospective milestones are first-class; product owner and dev team map to framework departments.

Pure Scrum delivery of a FinOps dashboard — product goal, three sprints with review/retro milestones, and release increment. Scrum Master, product owner, and dev team mapped to framework departments.

DevOps

Demo project: CloudNative CI/CD Rollout (Demo)

DevOps

What it is

DevOps extends delivery through plan → code → build → test → release → operate → monitor with automation and shared ownership between dev and ops.

In Chrono PM

Pipeline phases mirror the DevOps loop with platform, development, QA automation, SRE, and security owning successive stages.

DevOps pipeline transformation — plan through monitor with automated build/test/release stages and production gate milestones. Platform, SRE, and security teams own successive pipeline phases.

PMBOK

Demo project: Metro Transit Expansion (Demo)

PMBOK

What it is

PMBOK (PMI) organizes work into process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling, and closing — applicable across industries.

In Chrono PM

All five process groups appear as linked summary phases with M&C overlap for steering large public or capital programs.

PMBOK process-group lifecycle for a light-rail extension — initiating through closing with M&C overlap. Five process groups chained sequentially with compliance and stakeholder milestones.

Every framework below is available when you create a project or browse the Chrono Demo Org after signing in to the demo workspace.