Agile Project Management A Silver Bullet or Boom

-By Jayati Agrawal MBATech (I.T) 152

Agenda
Introduction Literature Review Problem solving approach Lifecycle Agile Management Principles Further research Methodology

Introduction
Agility is the ability to both create and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent business environment

Agile methods emphasise the incremental delivery of working products or prototypes for client evaluation and optimisation.

Agile theory assumes that changes, improvements and additional features will be incorporated throughout the product development life cycle

 Light weight methods before the adoption of the term agile to show their impact on projects experiencing high levels of change.

Chin (2004) gives an interesting equation to define the agile project management environment which is Agile PM Environment = [Uncertainity + Unique Expertise] x Speed

Literature Review

Definition:

Origins

Although many scholars agree that APM methodologies emerged from software engineering agile frameworks such as eXtreme Programming and Scrum in the 1990s

Agile Manifesto
IMPORTANT MORE IMPORTANT

Processes and tools Comprehensive Documentation Contract negotiation Following a plan

Individuals and Interaction Working software Customer collaboration Responding to change

Source: http://www.agilemanifesto.org

Underlying APM values

Agile Manifesto Larman (2004) Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Agile Project Management Values Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Humility (i.e. acknowledging contribution from client and team members) Communication (i.e. Continuous communication among stakeholders is crucial). Simplicity (i.e. using the simplest possible solution to identify the critical success factors). So that all iterations must add some value to the process Alleman (2005) Feedback (i.e. Continuous feedback is essential for sustenance). Conforto and Amaral (2008) Encourage exploration Deliver customer value Employ iterative feature delivery

Responding to change over following a plan

Build adaptive teams Simplify

Agile Triangle
Value to Speed

Quality

Cost, scope , schedule

Agile Problem Solving Approach

Instead of trying to develop the whole system in one go, the system is divided into a number of iterations each adding some functionality or perhaps improved performance to its predecessors

Agile Control and Execution

The Agile Lifecycle Model

 Team Dynamics

Agile Leadership Behaviour Management Style/Leadership

Attitude to change

Agile Management Practices

 Nature of Planning Attitude to Learning Value Delivery Customer Involvement Quality Approach Development Approach Approach to Risk

Agile Management Practices

Conclusion
APM exploits a combination of staffs ability to manage complexity, interaction and goal oriented approaches. For this thesis the elements above, were categorised in relation to planning, iterations, teams, leadership and client involvement which were identified as key for distinguishing APM and TPM. Therefore each of the above elements was incorporated in one way or another under these subheadings

Gap Analysis
The study was focused on a broad theme of consulting firm. The study did not also seek to identify all procedures and processes in the firm under consideration and whether they are appropriate or not.

Further Research Methodology

Further I would I like to know why agile methods have become popular on software development projects Identifies some emerging trends and see the loop holes available in the agile project management. And hence conclude whether the agile project management a silver bullet or a boom.

References
Application of Traditional and Agile Project Management in Consulting Firms by Daniel Adjei &Peter Rwakatiwana Agilemanifesto guide Developments in Agile Project Management Mike Griffiths, PMP, Project Management Consultant, Agile Recruiting Ltd. An ESI International White Paper on APM Cadle, J., and Yeates, D. (2008) Project Management for Information Systems (5th edition),England: Pearson Education Ltd.

Thank You!