Project management can be difficult to get right – balancing the need to plan with the need to be agile is tough and the two main types of project management that have been used in recent years are unable to handle both of these requirements.

The waterfall method, which sees you plan every element of a project in great detail from the outset, doesn’t allow flexibility when it comes to accommodating changes from the customer or the market.

The agile method, where you get cracking without fully planning the project, enables you to incorporate changes as they arise, but it isn’t perfect either. While it gives you the flexibility that the waterfall method lacks, it doesn’t allow you to provide a defined project deadline.

Not to mention that fact that different people and teams work better in different ways. So, what is the solution? According to an article on CIO’s IDG Contributor Network, it’s hybrid project management. As its name suggests, this takes the best of both methods to enable projects to run on time and budget while allowing for some flexibility.

The hybrid approach sees you plan out the whole project like you would in the waterfall method, but you break it down into a series of short delivery sprints. The iterative nature allows you to incorporate changes as they arise, but the wider plan helps you stay on track in terms of time and budget.

For anyone still in doubt, the Project Management Institute recently urged project managers to consider a range of approaches to ensure they use the right method for that particular project. Taking a “holistic approach” is important to “maintain a competitive advantage regardless of market conditions and other considerations”, the organisation stated.

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