ASPICE Implementation in Agile Projects

This research examines the impact of agile project management on organisations. To investigate this issue, a case study and an additional external survey were conducted. The impact has been identified according to the aggregated enterprise agility dimensions, which are interconnected. Based on the survey, it can be stated that the impact depends on the number of interfaces into the organisation and the management commitment. The impact, however, can be a double-edged sword, as when the agile mindset is fostered, conflicts can arise when people are released, after agile projects, back into the old structures of the organisation. The survey also revealed that practitioners believe that after an agile project, there is the need for an agile support team in order to avoid a break in the agile supply chain. Furthermore, agile project management impacts the HR-processes, as the competence profiles of the employees are influenced. Consequently, agile project management can be seen as the gem cell for agility in (parts of) an organisation, whether this is wanted or not, due to its influence. Depending on the amount of agile project work, the organisation has to handle the VUCA-environment accordingly, where agile project management can help to learn and transfer agility into the organisation step by step until the desired and required need. Nonetheless, change management should be applied in any cases to ensure the right outcome.

The purpose of this research is to understand the importance and impact of communication in an Agile environment so as to suggest ways to overcome communication challenges in Agile projects. In this research, the latest use of communication methods, approaches, and challenges faced by Agile teams are thoroughly evaluated to know the best solutions to communication problems. A literature review in this study proposes that a lack of proper communication is one of the main challenges faced by Agile projects. The authors used a systematic literature review to examine pre-existing literature and to select the most pertinent literature to assess these variables in depth and to create an assessment model. The ultimate outcome of this study was the development of the best practices that improve communication in Agile project environments.

It is a conundrum that agile projects can succeed ‘without requirements’ when weak requirements engineering is a known cause for project failures. While Agile development projects often manage well without extensive requirements documentation, test cases are commonly used as requirements. We have investigated this agile practice at three companies in order to understand how test cases can fill the role of requirements. We performed a case study based on twelve interviews performed in a previous study. The findings include a range of benefits and challenges in using test cases for eliciting, validating, verifying, tracing and managing requirements. In addition, we identified three scenarios for applying the practice, namely as a mature practice, as a de facto practice and as part of an agile transition. The findings provide insights into how the role of requirements may be met in agile development including challenges to consider.

Obstacles to decision making in Agile software development teams

The more dynamic and unpredictable the development constraints, the more agile the development project should be to cope with and utilize inherent change. Especially in such contexts, aligning with the project's mission and vision, committing to next steps, and documenting the development path is challenging. To support the decision making process of self-organized agile development teams with an overview, a recent research paper proposes the Progress Map. The investigation at hand applies the Progress Map in semi-industrial development projects to empirically validate its applicability and performance in the form of a multi-case study. The results indicate that, given future refinements, this instrument can be valuable to plan, document, and communicate the progress of an agile development project.

The fourth industrial revolution utilizes artificial intelligence by automating large quantities of numbers to increase the chances of project success. The Project Management Institute lists examples of project outcomes, including but not limited to the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Wall of China, the Panama Canal, and the placement of the International Space Station into Earth's orbit. This chapter highlights how the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) impacted the evolution of agile project management practices. It discusses how these could be applied in conjunction with traditional waterfall project management or as a standalone approach. Topics discussed include a definition and elements of project management, waterfall vs. agile project management, transitioning to agile methods, developments in agile project management, agile practices, and leading agile projects and project managers.

Purpose The literature has not yet delved sufficiently deeper into the holistic relationship between organisational culture and agile project management. This paper aims to address this literature gap by delineating the specifics of why and how organisational culture affects agile project management. Design/methodology/approach This paper addresses this literature gap by conducting a systematic literature review of empirical research investigating how organisational culture affects agile project management. This paper draws on the competing values framework to explain how various dimensions of organisational culture influence the technical and social streams of agile project management. Findings The findings underscored the detrimental effects of hierarchical culture, characterised by rigid organisational structures, formal communication with management and resistance to change acceptance, on both the technical and social aspects of agile projects. In contrast, the positive impact of group culture on the social aspect was evident through employee empowerment and teamwork. Moreover, the rational culture dimension demonstrated favourable effects on both streams, emphasising market knowledge, financial development and business opportunities. Finally, the developmental culture dimension supported customer collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation. Originality/value The focus on the “mutability” of organisational culture has led to four research propositions delineating specific ways of cultivating organisational culture to be more conducive to agile projects, marking a first in the academic literature.

Agile Project Management methods have gained phenomenal success in the IT software world in managing projects of high complexity and uncertainty. However, Agile projects come with their unique set of risks. This paper seeks to explore the risks posed by human factors to complex Agile Scrum projects in large enterprises. Project Risk Management is crucial in determining the future performance of a complex project. Increasing project complexity makes it more and more difficult to anticipate potential events that could affect the project and to make effective decisions to reduce project risk exposure. This is even more true for Agile projects that promote immediate and frequent visibility of risk factors and distributed decision making in projects. A dominant reason for failure of complex Agile projects are the risks caused by human and organization factors. This paper will analyze the delivery risks posed by human factors and the traditionally hierarchical decision making in large enterprise systems.

This scientific article explores the theoretical aspects of team management in the context of different management methodologies and compares the effectiveness of Agile and Waterfall project management methodologies. The study reveals that Agile methodologies are highly effective and provide significant cost savings but are still not widely used in Ukraine. Also, this article compares such methodologies as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, PRINCE2, SIX SIGMA, and Hybrid. The choice of methodology should depend on specific project conditions, such as team size and project complexity. The study presents new insights into the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to team management. The study finds that teams using the Agile methodology achieve better results on average than teams using the Waterfall methodology. It also shows that using Agile methodologies is more common in small teams than in large ones. As project complexity increases, traditional methods such as Waterfall become more common. Therefore, the article provides a valuable contribution to the field of project management and can be helpful for project managers who are looking for an optimal approach to managing their teams. Purpose of the article. The purpose of this article is to investigate the theoretical aspects of team management in the context of different management methodologies and to compare the effectiveness of these methodologies in Ukraine and other countries. In addition, the paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate about the benefits of using agile methodologies in project management and to highlight the need for further research in this area. Design/methodology/approach. This article is based on a comprehensive literature review of recent research and publications on team management and project management methodology. Research sources used include scientific journals, conference proceedings, books and online resources. The focus is on comparing and contrasting different approaches to team management across methodologies including Agile, Waterfall and Lean. The study also includes an analysis of empirical data collected during surveys conducted in Ukraine and other countries to determine the most effective team management practices for projects of various sizes and complexities. The research design used in this study is primarily qualitative as the focus is on exploring the theoretical aspects of team management through different management methodologies. However, research also includes a quantitative element, as the analysis of survey data involves the use of statistical methods to identify relationships between variables. Limitations of the study include the sample size of the survey participants and the geographical coverage of the study, which is mainly focused on Ukraine and other European countries. Особистий фінансовий консалтинг: світовий досвід та перспективи розвитку в Україні 141 Findings. The results of this study indicate that Agile methodologies are becoming increasingly popular in software development teams around the world. The study also found that the use of Agile methodologies is more prevalent in smaller teams compared to larger teams. This trend may be due to the fact that smaller teams are more flexible and can adapt more easily to the iterative and collaborative nature of Agile methods. However, the data also suggests that as the complexity of a project increases, the use of Agile methods becomes less prevalent, with more traditional methods such as Waterfall being used instead. In terms of team management, the study found that the use of Agile methodologies can lead to higher levels of team collaboration and communication, which can ultimately lead to more efficient and effective project outcomes. However, it is important to note that effective team management requires more than just the use of a particular methodology, and other factors such as leadership, communication skills, and team dynamics also play a crucial role. Overall, the findings suggest that Agile methodologies can be a powerful tool for software development teams, particularly in smaller teams and less complex projects, but that effective implementation and management are key to achieving success. Originality/value. The originality and value of this study lie in the comprehensive analysis and comparison of different management methodologies in the context of team management. The study presents new insights into the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to team management and provides practical recommendations for organizations in Ukraine and other countries. Furthermore, the study contributes to the existing body of literature on team management by providing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of different management methodologies. The study also highlights the importance of considering the size and complexity of the project when choosing a management methodology. Overall, the findings of this study can provide valuable guidance for managers and organizations in selecting the most suitable team management methodology for their specific needs and circumstances. Practical implications. The results of this study have practical implications for project managers and team leaders who are responsible for managing teams in different countries with different project sizes and complexities. Research shows that using a specific methodology does not guarantee success in team management and that an individualized approach based on the specific needs of the team and project is more effective. Overall, the practical implications of this study can help project managers improve their team management skills and increase the likelihood of project success.

Companies are adapting their traditional development processes, aiming for project-specific designs that are referred to as “Agile Product Development” - flexible, adaptive and accelerated processes. Implementing these principles supports developers to react to challenges such as shortened innovation cycles. For successful implementation and use of these new principles, support functions such as procurement have to be adapted to the demands of flexible, agile and accelerated processes. Complexity of tasks and impact on corporate success of procurement increased significantly in the last decades resulting in specialized stand-alone procurement departments. Being optimized for traditional development methods such as stage-gate, these departments will be challenged by agile developers demanding for highly flexible, hardly predictable procurement activities. Therefore, the authors present a scientifically derived catalog of requirements for procurement in agile product and technology development projects, e.g. shortened lead times and vague technical specification of products to be procured. Based on this catalog, options for the configuration of procurement in agile development projects, such as the organizational merging of development and procurement, are discussed. Adapting the procurement according to the requirements derived in this paper will help companies to successfully conduct procurement activities in regard to the needs of agile new product development.

Agile project management (APM) is supposed to facilitate the response to rapid changes in complex and dynamic environments by applying an iterative planning approach, close customer involvement, and self-organizing teams. The literature has often considered the choice between APM and traditional project management (TPM) as binary and equated the use of APM methods with the desired outcome, i.e. project agility. In this paper, we challenge the assumption of binarity of APM and TPM and focus on project agility as an outcome. We argue that project agility is a matter of degree and is influenced by internal and external determinants. Building on Qumer and Henderson-Sellers’ (2008) four-dimensional analysis tool (4-DAT) framework, we develop a set of hypotheses of the determinants of project agility that are tested empirically using a cross-industry sample of project managers in Nordic countries. In line with the existing literature, we find customer involvement, organizational culture, and less upfront project planning to be positively related to the degree of agility in projects. However, we do not find significant effects of team size and complexity of the environment.

The impact of inadequate customer collaboration on self-organizing Agile teams

Agile practices have recently gained popularity among large number of companies as a mechanism for reducing cost and increasing ability to handle change in dynamic market conditions. Based on the principles of the Agile manifesto [1, 2], researchers and practitioners have proposed several software development approaches such as Extreme Programming, Scrum and Feature-Driven Development. These and other agile approaches have had significant impact on industrial software development practices. However, there is also a significant concern and perplexity about the role and importance of the issues related to a system’s software architecture, which is considered one of the most important initial design artefacts. It is argued that software architecture is an effective tool to cut development cost and time and to increase the quality of a system. Many practitioners of Agile approaches appear to view software architecture in the context of the plan-driven development paradigm [3]. For them, upfront design and evaluation of software architecture requires too much work, which may have very little value to the customers of a system. Hence, they perceive architectural work as part of high ceremony processes, which usually require large amount of documentation. We maintain that these two seemingly opposing views to software engineering can be integrated but it requires that experts from both fields work together to overcome evident challenges in bridging these two paradigms together. Indeed, software architecture researchers and practitioners appear to believe that sound architectural practices cannot be followed using Agile approaches. However, these two extreme views of Agile and architecture appear to neglect that many agile experts emphasises the importance of paying attention to good design and architecture early in the development process [4, 5]. Recently, there is growing recognition of the importance of paying more attention to architectural aspects in agile approaches [3, 6, 7]. We argue that there is a vital need for devising a research agenda for identifying and dealing with architecture-centric challenges in agile software development. Such research agenda should make it possible to guide the future research on integrating architecture-centric methods in agile approaches and give advice to the software industry on dealing with architecture related challenges. Some of the questions to stimulate discussion in the workshop are: What is the role of software architecture in Agile software development? What are the key architecture-centric challenges and potential solutions in Agile software development projects? What is the strength of the evidence that attention to architectural issues can be counterproductive in Agile development or vice versa? What are the prerequisites for integrating Architecture-Centric methods in agile development and potential implications of such integration?

Building self-organizing teams in agile projects is considered an important job for project leaders. However, the reality is that building self-organized teams lacks focus as many go back to managing tasks because it is more concrete and tangible. While there are an excessive number of studies proving that developing self-organized teams has a positive contribution to project success, there is a lack of knowledge about the consequences of not doing it. This study, therefore, explores the impact inadequate self-organizing teams has on agile project success. Results have identified five failure areas in a self-organizing team that have a negative impact on three success factors in agile projects. Due to a weak direct link between success factors and success criteria, conclusions are limited to a universally applicable impact on success factors. Further research is recommended to generate a universal checklist for success criteria in agile projects that can have a direct link to the identified success factors.

Influence of transformational and transactional leadership on agile project success