MIS608 Agile Project Management Report

MIS608 Agile Project Management 

Task Summary

“Everything that becomes true starts with a manifesto” - Courtney Love
Manifestos communicate beliefs, aims, intentions and views - they are a philosophy rather than a method. The Agile Manifesto is the philosophy from which Agile methods and frameworks have emerged. This assessment is about ensuring that we understand the thinking or the ‘what’ of Agile in preparation for learning the methods, practices, tools, and techniques associated with the ‘how’ of Agile.

Context

Because careers in the world of Information Systems require being able to ‘do’, we focus on techniques which engender capability building. Agile is a complex and multi-facetted discipline.

Because we are preparing you for professional practice in your future workplace - the assessment pathway takes a laddered approach to your learning to embed theoretical knowledge through active practice:

1. Assessment 1 - Prepare - Understand theoretical foundations of Agile.

2. Assessment 2 - Reflect - Develop your Agile Mindset and capability to work in an Agile team.

3. Assessment 3 - Perform - An authentic assessment where you will apply the knowledge and skills you progressively develop in the subject to a business problem using Agile Project Management.

Due attention needs to be paid to format, visual presentation and citation discipline (referencing) as this would be required in leading companies and consultancies which you would apply to in your future career.

Excellent referencing demonstrates your capability as a researcher - it is evidence that you know how to find information from appropriate sources and can interpret and synthesise that information with skill at a Master level.

Solution

1. Box 1- VUCA

Out of the four elements of VUCA which are volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, the selected dimension for exploration in this segment is complexity.  

As per MBA Assignment expert overview

1. Often it is analysed that keeping up with recent trends in an organisation is complex and requires an individual to build credibility and value for dealing with such complexity. The most common way of staying in touch with organisational trends is through industry publications, events, social media updates, and podcasts.

2. An educational institution should always be dynamic and facilitate change within itself for helping students to adapt to such changes. Hence, I am not at all surprised by the decisions and events that take place in the University. However, too much change within the organisation can lead to several complexities which need to be dealt with. 

3. The resources that I need for keeping up with the changing trends within the organisation are credibility, forecasting abilities, better business ideas, and new growth opportunities. I assume that these abilities will help me cope with the changing trends and also overcome complexities that are associated with these trends within the organisation. 

4. I believe that listening intently to others will help me follow the current trends and the constant changes which are happening within the organisation. Also, it will help me build ideas to overcome complexities that are associated with organisational trends. Therefore, it can be evaluated that mindful listening in an organisation can help avoid the complexities that it a company's organisational trends.

2. Box 2- The Agile Manifesto

The first principle of Agile Is to deliver valuable software through early and continuous delivery by giving the highest priority to customer satisfaction. This principle is complemented by the Scrum methodology which is suitable for project management by applying the Agile approach in the following ways:

1. The empirical process should be controlled based on observing the hard evidence obtained from experimentation and not through theory. this will help maintain the process control consisting of adaptation, inspection, and transparency (Flewelling, 2018). 

2. Scrum process relies on self-organisation which allows greater buy-in and easier to assess individual contributions. Since individual employees are empowered to work independently within an organisation, the Scrum process being self-organised will make it easier for individuals to contribute. 

3. There are several roles involved in the Scrum process which makes it collaborative and focuses on three dimensions of collaboration which are appropriation, articulation, and awareness. Collaboration is essential for Agile organisations and will support the continuous delivery of software for customer satisfaction (O'Reilly Media, 2018). 

4. The Scrum process is a value-based prioritization process that involves giving priority to tasks on the basis of how they are required to be completed and the individual value of tasks. This process allows the completion of tasks in “sprints” depending on the time required for their completion. 

5. A project which needs iterative development which makes change management and adjustments easier is facilitated by the Scrum process. A project may require to be we find several times during its development process which is possible through iterative development initiated by the Scrum process. 

3. Box 3- Agile vs Waterfall

a. The deliverables that are expected to be produced upon successful execution and completion of a project and the work that needs to be done to achieve these deliverables is known as the project scope (Manokina, Ozhegova & Shenkman, 2018). However, when new requirements, tasks, and functions that were not previously authorized are added to the list of deliverables of a product then it leads to scope creep. When a scope creep is incurred during project management then it leads to decreasing satisfaction of stakeholders, wasting money, cost overrun, and project value not met as per expectations. 

b. The fourth principle of the Agile Manifesto is about a contentious point which is responding to change in an organisation by following a plan given out by the senior management which requires a revolutionary approach to the response of employees. Every organisation should create a set of proper cooperative values which is based on their business principles which need to be followed by every individual for proper response to organisational changes (Packt Publishing, 2022). Hence it is regarded that a proper plan which is framed by organisational leaders and managers should be followed by employees for appropriate response to change. Sprint planning is important for complete control over the development team and works on product backlog items as well. 

c. Scope creeps and the fourth principle in the Agile Manifesto are not overlapping because scope creep occurs when a plan is not followed during project management. But the fourth principle clearly states that a plan should be followed for responding to change in a project.  Therefore, it can be inferred that these two concepts are not contradictory but complementary to each other whereby the fourth principle should be followed to avoid scope creep (Addison-Wesley Professional, 2022). 

4. Box 4- The Case for Agile

a. In the first example of the Cutter Consortium, the Agile methodology of Extreme Programming (XP) is used which is evident from the table given. The underlying evidence suggesting the use of this Agile methodology is that Company 1 ran teams that were mostly of the same size which is supported by XP. Also, significant improvements or benefits were achieved through the application of this methodology. 

b. In the second example of the Cutter Consortium, the Agile methodology of the Scrum approach is applied because Company 2 to wants to ensure reaching their products to the market within lesser time which required their team sizes to be larger than average industry team sizes. The Scrum approach will ensure just-in-time delivery of products to the market for Company 2. 

c. Considering Company 1, the industry average for defects was 242 and the Agile delivery was 121 which resulted in a 50% improvement which is a considerable percentage of improvement for defects. Considering Company 2, the industry average for defects was 713 and the adjoint delivery was 635 which resulted in an 11% improvement in the defects. Therefore, it can be e inferred that company 1 had a better-quality outcome compared to Company 2 considering the percentage improvements of both companies. 

d. For Company 1, the industry average cost was 3.5 and the Agile delivery was 2.2 resulting in a 37% improvement in cost. For Company 2 it is analysed that the industry average cost was 5.5 and the Agile delivery was 5.2 which resulted in a 5% improvement in cost. Therefore, it can be concluded that Company 1 has better achieved improvements in cost as compared to Company 2 because of the percentage improvements. 

e. XP and scrum follow different principles that result in different percentage improvements for different organisational teams. 

5. Box 5- Kanban

b. Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing is the alternate name given to Kanban (Torrance & Safari, 2019). 

c. In a Kanban board, the backlog menu is represented in the furthest left corner which ensures achieving individual tasks by team members according to their priority and the effort required for completing these tasks. 

d. On a Kanban board, the yellow sticky notes will denote the work in progress (WIP) which will mark what work is still ongoing in the team and requires completion within the given deadlines. 

e. The Scrum team will review the yellow sticky notes on a Kanban board on a periodic basis because it will ensure the timely completion of different tasks undertaken by the team. 

f. The Scrum team can use the Kanban board for maximising efficiency within the team and maintain a stable workflow by visualizing the work that needs to be undertaken. Different teams such as DevOps and Agile can create a daily work order by following a Kanban board within the team. 

g. It is also analysed that not only a Scrum team can use a Kanban board but other project management teams can also use this board to denote the tasks which need to be completed, completed tasks, and ongoing tasks (Натан, Калиева & Байсалова, 2019). This segregation will help the team to complete the entire project within the given deadline. 

6. Box 6- The Influence of Lean on Agile Philosophy and Practice

a. The most important pillars of Scrum are inspection, transparency, and adaptation which should be followed by every Scrum team for successful maintenance of Agile technology. These three pillars will help achieve the target results of a project, detect any unwanted variables and ensure proper adaptation to standards and policies to protect deviation from achieving the required outcome (Рябоконь, Рябоконь & Рябоконь, 2018). 

b. The living concept of Kaizen follows five principles which include knowing the customer, letting it flow, going to Gemba, empowering people, and being transparent. This concept is based on the fact that small positive improvements can create continuous improvement leading to larger benefits for an organisation in the long run (Croitoru, 2018). The Kaizen concept also supports commitment and cooperation rather than top-down changes for achieving the desired transformation within an organisation. 

c. The three pillars of this concept are standardization, elimination of waste, and housekeeping, and these three pillars help in achieving the scrum process because standardization develops standards for production performance that needs to be followed for eliminating waste and proper housekeeping (Aleksandr, 2020). 

References

Flewelling, P. (2018). The agile developer's handbook : get more value from your software development: get the best out of the agile methodology. Packt Publishing. Retrieved October 6, 2022. https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1028230669

Packt Publishing. (2022). Agile project managementVersion ([First edition].). Retrieved October 6, 2022. https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1344337785

Manokina, M. A., Ozhegova, A. R., & Shenkman, E. A. (2018). Agile methodology in education. University Management: Practice and Analysis, 22(4), 83–96. https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/7970383485

Рябоконь, Н. П., Рябоконь, Б. А., & Рябоконь, А. А. (2018). Agile methodology: value-oriented approach. Proceedings of Scientific Works of Cherkasy State Technological University. Series: Economic Sciences, (49). https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/7959328120

Aleksandr, A. (2020). Agile methodology of well pad development. Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology, 1-14, 1–14. https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/8773666013

Croitoru, H. (2018). Agile office 365 : successful project delivery practices for an evolving platform. Apress. https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1061275214

Натан, Д., Калиева, С., & Байсалова, Б. (2019). Agile methodology of human capital management. The Journal of Economic Research & Business Administration, 128(2). https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/8677996454

Torrance, M., & Safari, an O'Reilly Media Company. (2019). Agile for instructional designers : iterative project management to achieve results (1st ed.). Association for Talent Development. Retrieved October 6, 2022. https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1129470465

Addison-Wesley Professional. (2022). Agile project and product managementVersion ([First edition].). Retrieved October 6, 2022. https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1341850963

O'Reilly Media. (2018). Agile introduction. Retrieved October 6, 2022. https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1042168393