A Phenomenological Study On The Lived Experience And Leadership Of Project Managers In An Agile Transformation

This study employed a phenomenological methodology to investigate the shared experiences of project managers of corporations in the United States during a transition to agile project management methodologies. The project managers’ transformation was noteworthy because agile introduces a change in work structures, processes, and leadership. This study sought to understand how eight project managers described their lived experience and leadership during the transition to agile methodologies. Interviews with project managers uncovered identity facets that evolved with their understanding of leadership. The traditional project managers’ common-sense approach to work served as both a barrier and enabler of a change. Project managers who naturally led through control tactics such as documenting and adhering to a detailed plan found agile counterintuitive and challenging. In contrast, project managers who were motivated by serving in the development of others found the transition to agile enlightening and rewarding. The agile transformation afforded project managers the opportunity to serve in a broader leadership capacity. Participants emphasized their role in connecting people and knowledge through a shared understanding of vision and goals. Also noteworthy was the critical role of organizational culture and learning through experimentation and a safe-to-fail environment. Project managers considering a transition to agile would benefit from training to assess the behavioral changes required to adopt an agile mindset. Project managers can use this knowledge to advance their leadership skills and remain relevant in a transformation to agile methodologies

The Impact of Leadership Style on the Adoption of Agile Software Development: A Correlational Study

Public and private organizations continue to rely prohibitively on classic software development methodologies such as the waterfall. Private industry more so than the public sector has shown evidence for a higher rate of success when using agile software development methods. Consequently, the purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to examine variables that best predict the adoption of agile methodologies in software development. The study made use of the UTAUT and MLQ–5X surveys. The primary variable under study was leadership style. Secondary variables included: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating factors. A pilot study (N = 30) was conducted in order to evaluate the validity of the study. This was closely followed by a formal study of 384 panelist. Multiple regression was performed against each of the variables along with a hierarchical regression at the end of the study. The regression equation that resulted accounted for 56.4% of the variance in the behavioral intent to adopt agile methods. Leadership style, specifically transformational (Inspirational motivation) was found to have a positive impact on the adoption of agile methods. Facilitating, social influence, effort expectancy, and performance expectancy also had a positive impact on the adoption of agile methods while individual consideration (transformational leadership) had a negative impact on the adoption of agile methods. Implications and recommendations for future research are subsequently presented

Is project management the new management 2.0?

This paper considers the evolving nature of project management (PM) and offers a comparison with the evolving nature of management generally. Specifically, we identify a number of management trends that are drawn from a paper that documents a proposed ‘Management 2.0’ model, and we compare those trends to the way in which PM is maturing to embrace the challenges of modern organizational progress.Some theoretical frameworks are offered that assist in explaining the shift from the historically accepted ‘tools and techniques’ model to a more nuanced and behaviorally driven paradigm that is arguably more appropriate to manage change in today’s flexible and progressive organizations, and which provide a more coherent response, both in PM and traditional management, to McDonald’s forces. In addition, we offer a number of examples to robustly support our assertions, based around the development of innovative products from Apple Inc. In using this metaphor to demonstrate the evolution of project-based work, we link PM with innovation and new product development.

Challenges to Adopting Hybrid Methodology: Addressing Organizational Culture and Change Control Problems in Enterprise IT Infrastructure Projects

IT infrastructure projects have long been an overlooked field superseded by the more popular software development silos and cross-functional project teams when it comes to enterprise Agile transformations. This paper presents a systematic literature review by leveraging a qualitative research methodology based on empirical evidence provided in contemporary scholarly research articles to explore how certain variables such as organizational culture- including team structure, leadership hierarchy, geolocation, etc. along with an organization’s change management processes affect the adoption of a Hybrid/Agile project management methodology, focusing on reported challenges and critical success factors that define such large-scale enterprise transformations. The salient features from the conclusion of this preliminary research endeavor point to a direct relationship between certain aspects such as the size of the organization, stakeholder buy-in, and inherent resistance to change playing pivotal roles that define success within IT infrastructure teams and associated projects. This research endeavor and literature review also identifies a plethora of opportunities within IT infrastructure project management practices for future research based on the gaps that have been identified in contemporary literature

Impediments in Transitioning to Agile Time-boxing Testing Efforts

In agile framework, the system is developed in sprints. Some value-based products for the customers are created with completion of work in a sprint. There are firm dates of commencement and end in sprints, and duration of each sprint is normally equal. During a sprint, any change in scope or resources cannot be made. But sometimes it becomes difficult to follow this rule on account of the business needs. This time-boxing approach is seen responsible to cause more hindrance than propel organizations towards time-efficient development of products. This type of project demands a much more flexible time-line as compared to standard agile project management practices of ‘Sprint’ used for creating cost-effective products within time. Similar problems are faced by the organizations transitioning from traditional method to agile practices. From different sources of research it is found the transition could not be smooth in all cases and sometimes was unable to achieve the expected business growth due to various factors. A number of options and approaches are discussed for helping an organization transitioning from traditional to agile methodology but any unique and full-proof approach cannot be arrived at. Ultimately it becomes a question: can we overcome difficulty in time-boxing approach with discrepancies in testing efforts and get a systematic and tabulated solution of the problem in transitioning to agile? Through this research having limitations the answer in all respect cannot be reached. The question is left with ample scope for further research by future researchers as well

Adopting Agile Scrum

Agile Scrum has created great impact on project management. It has shown promising results and return of investment. This research paper fully gives reports on what type of projects actually fit with Scrum. Many teams tend to fail to during the migration and I will be putting forward points which will explain how and what things will happen in the teams during the migration from traditional methodology to agile Scrum. I will be discussing about the problem statements, success and failure factors our team come across during implementing scrum and come up with solution to figure out the ways for a successful migration. I will come with best practices by performing a research with scrum and project management experts to understand the inside scrum framework. The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges that we face when adopting agile scrum while using traditional methodology. This document also provides management guidelines to help understand and overcome barriers in adopting Scrum method. A quality research is conducted in an organization which has adopted scrum. The organization works on cloud and other virtual servers. Data is collected by conducting various interviews of project managers, business owners and other scrums. Also in-depth study of various case studies starting with evolution of Scrum and its increase in the market, about using Scrum, advantage and disadvantages of scrum have been included

A review and future direction of agile, business intelligence, analytics and data science

Agile methodologies were introduced in 2001. Since this time, practitioners have applied Agile methodologies to many delivery disciplines. This article explores the application of Agile methodologies and principles to business intelligence delivery and how Agile has changed with the evolution of business intelligence. Business intelligence has evolved because the amount of data generated through the internet and smart devices has grown exponentially altering how organizations and individuals use information. The practice of business intelligence delivery with an Agile methodology has matured; however, business intelligence has evolved altering the use of Agile principles and practices. The Big Data phenomenon, the volume, variety, and velocity of data, has impacted business intelligence and the use of information. New trends such as fast analytics and data science have emerged as part of business intelligence. This paper addresses how Agile principles and practices have evolved with business intelligence, as well as its challenges and future directions

Agile Adoption in Information Technology Departments at Research Universities

This dissertation analyzes Agile methods and how they are adopted by Information Technology (IT) departments in research universities. Existing literature has focused on Agile adoption in private and public sectors. This study fills a knowledge gap in the research literature on Agile adoption in university contexts. Three research questions guide this study: What are the uses of Agile methods in research universities? What are the specific factors that affect adoption of agile methods in research universities? Why do research universities adopt (or not adopt) Agile methods? By answering these questions, the present study contributes to the growing literature on the opportunities and challenges of adopting Agile methods. Methodologically, the study is based on a survey of the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of 418 research universities (response rate of 41.4%) and elite interviews. The survey included questions about Agile adoption in terms of purpose, methods, challenges, and organizational environment. The elite interviews explored the factors affecting Agile adoption and were supplemented with secondary documents about the organizational characteristics of the IT departments. The survey results show that many IT departments (nearly 60%) in these universities have adopted Agile. Agile is used to accelerate software development, manage projects, and increase productivity. The challenges of adopting Agile include pervasiveness of traditional waterfall methods, funding limitations, lack of skills, inconsistent process and practices, and organizational resistance to change. With respect to organizational factors, the level of research university is a determinant for adopting Agile. R1 Doctoral Universities (i.e., very high research activity) have more adoption of Agile methods compared to R2 Doctoral Universities (i.e., high research activity) or R3 Doctoral/ Professional Universities (i.e., D/PU). CIOs’ experience with Agile is a critical factor for adopting Agile. Elite interviews with the CIOs show the significance of the organizational context to adopt Agile. IT departments support university research and teaching; hence, these departments have a constant need to address the university departments’ needs. Leadership of these departments influences Agile adoption. Agile fosters frequent and effective communication among the team members. Overall, IT departments adopt Agile to increase their organizational efficiency in delivering their services efficiently within the universities