Sample Agile Project Management Assignment

MIS608 Agile Project Management Assignment Sample

Question

Task Summary

You are required to write an individual research report of 1500 words to demonstrate your understanding of the origins and foundations of Agile by addressing the following areas:

1. The origins of Agile – why did Agile emerge, what was it in response to, and how did this lead to the values and principles as outlined in the agile manifesto?

2. The origins of Lean and how it has influenced Agile practice

3. The similarities and differences between Scrum and Kanban as work methods

4. Why adopting Agile benefits an organisation

Please refer to the Task Instructions for details on how to complete this task.

Context

Organisations are increasingly using Agile as a project management approach to achieve their goals and objectives efficiently. While agile is predominantly used in software development, there are elements of agile that can be applied to achieving goals and objectives in many areas of an organisation. Understanding these concepts will be vital for you to progress in this subject. This knowledge will not only support your completion of the final group assignment, but also will assist you in managing your progress in the group project by using Agile techniques to communicate capacity and offer full transparency of work across the team.

Task Instructions

1. Write a 1500 words research report to demonstrate your understanding of the origins and foundations of Agile by addressing the following areas:

• The origins of Agile – why did Agile emerge, what was it in response to, and how did this lead to the values and principles as outlined in the agile manifesto?

• The origins of Lean and how it has influenced Agile practice.

• The similarities and differences between Scrum and Kanban as work methods

• Why adopting Agile benefits an organisation.

2. Review your subject notes to establish the relevant area of investigation that applies to the case. Perform additional research in the area of investigation and select FIVE (5) additional sources which will add value to your report in the relevant area of investigation.

3. Plan how you will structure your ideas for the report. Write a report plan before you start writing. The report should be 1500 words. Therefore, it does not require an executive summary nor an abstract.

4. The report should consist of the following structure: A title page with subject code and name, assignment title, student’s name, student number, and lecturer’s name.

The introduction (100 – 150 words) that will also serve as your statement of purpose for the report—this means that you will tell the reader what you are going to cover in your report. You will need to inform the reader of:

a. Your area of research and its context
b. The key concepts you will be addressing
c. What the reader can expect to find in the body of the report

The body of the report (1200-1300 words) will need to cover four specific areas:

a) Why did Agile originate? When did it emerge and what was it in response to? How did this lead to the four values and 12 principles that are outline by the agile manifesto?

b) Where did Lean originate? Briefly define what Lean is and two Lean philosophies have been adopted in the evolution of Agile practice?

c) Scrum and Kanban have many similarities, but also key differences. Compare and contrast Scrum and Kanban with each other, illustrating these similarities and differences with examples.

d) Explain what value adopting Agile can offer to an organisation.

The conclusion (100-150 words) will summarise any findings or recommendations that the report puts forward regarding the concepts covered in the report.

Answer

Introduction

Software development is a process that includes several stages to be passed in order to ensure that a good quality system has been developed. To manage each stage, project management concept is introduced that contains techniques and methods to monitor the process of software development. The most widely accepted method is Agile in which each sage of software development is iterated and incremented managed by different teams associated in software development. This report discusses Agile project management methodology in detail from its origin to its principles, lean philosophies, its examples – Scrum and Kanban and their comparison. The next section provides detailed insights of the highlighted topics mentioned above. The report ends with a conclusion that frames proper recommendations for the organizations involved in software development.

Agile Methodology

Background

Many methods such as waterfall, V model and spiral models were used traditionally to monitor software development process. The waterfall model is non-iterative method and hence change in software requirement at any stage leads to development of prototype from the beginning. To overcome issues related to waterfall model, V-model and spiral model was introduced. However, the solutions offered by both the models were fine but these methods were heavyweight and needed much documentation which is not feasible. The researchers found the need of new method that can adapt ever changing needs of business; hence, Agile methodology was originated (Azanha et al., 2017).

Agile method was designed in 2001 by an alliance of seventeen companies. Agile methodology challenged traditional ways of project management ways. It was in response to previous models failures that could not handle different projects across the organizations and industries. It focused on dividing project modules across separate teams that work collaboratively in order to develop a good quality software product. Agile’s nature of delivering project modules at the early development stage brought managers attention onto it.

Agile manifesto consists of four rules and twelve principles which are based on Kelly Johnson’s few of the 14 rules of management. The team of members from the seventeen companies met to design the agile manifesto in which the values and principles were documented. Although values and principles are outlined, Agile offers freedom to software development teams to work so that project delivery is ensured in timely manner. 12 Principles of Agile methodology are as listed:

1. Foremost concern is a customer and business requirements to meet using continuous delivery of prototypes.

2. A huge task is segregated into smaller units of task and separate team is allocated so that it takes least amount of time to achieve the results. This also helps in quick integration for changes from the customer.

3. The delivery of product should be within decided deadline.

4. Project managers and customers should work collectively to ensure that project development is leading on right path.

5. Timely encouragements help teams to inspire and work well.

6. Timely meetings should be preferred.

7. The progress is defined through an executable product.

8. The consistency should be maintained while development of product.

9. The product quality should be priority for which technical requirements should be considered first.

10. Simple products are attractive.

11. A team itself should be well-organized to carry out the tasks.

12. The performance of teams should be continuously monitored for constant growth.

Agile methodology focuses on customers and their requirements at each phase and increment. Software development through Agile methodology. Deliverable after iteration is known as sprint. The sprint is launched and presented to the customer for any changes (Nicholls et al., 2015).

Lean Manufacturing

The lean manufacturing aka lean methodology has its roots in the production system of Toyota as known as Just In Time production. Lean was originated in Japan by a production engineer Taiichi Ohno with a motive of faster production with least time required for setup. The manufacturing plant of Toyota adapted the procedure and produced models in small batches which helped in minimizing setup and changeover period.
In Lean, manufacturing depends on the demand that is gauged through orders. The productions are as per demand and needs rather than projecting the need and supply it. The smaller batches of production increases quality and reduces time of production and changes if any.

Lean Philosophies adapted by Agile

Lean manufacturing has few philosophies those are adapted while evolution of Agile principle. It includes iterative development and short feedback loops (Hemalatha et al., 2021).

Iterative Development – The iteration of phases in regular batches is an efficient way of developing a working mode. It is quick to develop than larger product as a whole. Lean manufacturing adapts iterative development which is used by Agile methodology too.

Short Feedback Loops – The business requirements are strict and to adhere onto it, teams must work progressively and consistently. Same as lean, agile also allows teams to work together which helps in reduce waste. Short feedbacks from customers can solve issues quickly without much waste of time and resources. Whereas, if a larger product fails, it leads to waste of product as a whole as making changes in large systems can be tiresome.

Scrum and Kanban

Scrum and Kanban are two strategies of Agile methodology used for project management. Scrum strategy adheres to deliver smaller deliverables for review at each development stage. The deliverables are called as sprints. The focus of scrum is to get regular customer feedbacks to ensure that the development path is correct as per technical requirements. Kanban is another Agile strategy that helps in modelling work progress in visualizations which maximizes the efficiency. The teams strive to focus on minimizing duration in project development. The iterations improve the work flow as a whole (Lei et al., 2017).

Both the methodologies are useful and equally efficient; however there are few differences and similarities as discussed below (Raizada, 2013). Scrum teams most often use Kanban to visualize work progress.

Similarities in Scrum and Kanban

• Lean as well as Agile in nature
• Helps in limiting work in progress
• Concentration is on quick working prototype in regular intervals and at early stages of software development.
• Lucidity to procedure enhancement.
• The huge job is segregated in smaller modules.
• Contains several separate teams.

Comparison between Scrum and Kanban

Planning

Scrum stick to planned schedule at the start of every iteration. The sprints are developed based on planning and it ends with working prototype. For example, on the basis of customer feedback, a new schedule for the next sprint is made. The learning from previous sprints are helpful in future sprints development.

Kanban, on the contrary does not follow fixed schedules. The change in schedule is welcomed at any stage of development. The only focus is to solve problems quickly.

Time Measurements

The time is measured on the basis of time duration required to make changes in previous sprints. Kanban generates graphs to track time required to fix the changes from customers feedback.

Estimation

As Scrum depends on planning beforehand of development or change in prototype, estimations in terms of cost, efforts and time are important. Kanban does not rely on estimations as it never depends on prior planning and scheduling.

Commitment

Teams allocated for work should commit a predefined time for the project when working in scrum environment. However, Kanban never expects commitment of time for teams as a mandatory factor.

Continuous Delivery

The deliverables are knows as sprints in Scrum in which work should be complete while presenting it to the customer. Whereas in Kanban, the products and processes are continuously delivered whenever need is experienced.

Consider as an example, Scrum has delivered sprints A and B; C to E are in progress and tasks F to J are not yet initiated. The teams of tasks A and B will commit to task F to J in next round. However, Kanban can only develop three tasks at a time. This means even if more teams are available to develop next tasks, only three tasks i.e. C, D and E will be allowed to carry out.

Benefits of using Agile practice in an organization

Making use of Agile in an organization offer following perks:

1. Teams are engaged in collaborations so that more chances of success are projected.

2. Agile helps in being more productive as teams work together to solve a problem. The projects are more manageable and deliverables can be developed in early stage of software development which creates a sense of trust among the customers.

3. Flexibility is highly allowed when a project is monitored with Agile method. Each small chunk of project is continuously tested so that no bug is left when it turns out to be the final product.

4. The quality is observed to be improved when problem solving is quick and efficient.

Conclusions

Software development with Agile practice has gained its importance over recent years. Agile methodology is the most widely used practice that ensures timely delivery of quality product. The changes from customers can be easily integrated if the software development process adapts Agile methodology. The consistent achievement of business requirements is the motive of Agile practice. Lean and Agile methods share few philosophies that make them similar. However, use of Agile is mostly recommended for few advantages of Scrum and Kanban techniques. Scrum helps in meeting business requirements in fewer duration of time. It is a master problem solver for software companies that keep track of each deliverable that is based on time-boxed iterations. Kanban on the other hand allows teams to visualize their progress that helps in continuous growth in terms of efficiency and productivity. Iterations are managed by using Kanban where it encourages members to share responsibilities amongst each other.

References

Azanha, A., Argoud, A. R. T. T., Camargo Junior, J. B. de, & Antoniolli, P. D. (2017). Agile project management with scrum. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 10(1), 121–142. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-06-2016-0054

Hemalatha, C., Sankaranarayanasamy, K., & Durairaaj, N. (2021). Lean and agile manufacturing for work-in-process (wip) control. Materials Today: Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.12.473

Lei, H., Ganjeizadeh, F., Jayachandran, P. K., & Ozcan, P. (2017). A statistical analysis of the effects of scrum and kanban on software development projects. Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 43, 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcim.2015.12.00

Nicholls, G. M., Lewis, N. A., & Eschenbach, T. (2015). Determining when simplified agile project management is right for small teams. Engineering Management Journal, 27(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/10429247.2015.11432031

Raizada, R. (2013). Are scrum and kanban enough ? Itnow, 55(3), 54–55. https://doi.org/10.1093/itnow/bwt057