Can agile methodologies effectively support global ITprojects?

A Dissertation Proposal for

Part-time Post Graduate Programme in Management

by
Pooja Verma
11PT1-053

under the guidance of

Mr. Praveen Pandey
Project Manager
Indigo, Gurgaon

Mrs. Anjali Kaushik

Professor
MDI, Gurgaon

Management Development Institute

Gurgaon - 122 007

Table of Contents

1.

Background Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
About agile methods................................................................................................................................................3
Issues and challenges in adopting agile methodology.......................................................................................3
Scope of the Project.................................................................................................................................................3

2.

The Research Problem.......................................................................................................................................4

3.

The Research Design..........................................................................................................................................4

Research Methodology...........................................................................................................................................4

4.

Reference..............................................................................................................................................................4

1. Background Introduction:
About agile methods
Agile methodology is an alternative to traditional project management, typically used in software
development. Agile as the name refers implies something to do very quickly.

The reason for adopting agile methodology in Information Technology (IT) can be attributed

to the following advantages over traditional plan-driven approaches:

Improved return on Investment (ROI): Customers provide frequent

feedback on each iteration, which allows the development team to
create better software, thus improving the ROI.
Early detection and cancellation of failing projects: In traditional
projects, optimistic reporting on abstract tasks such as analysis and
design, delays problems from being identified in the early stages of the
project. Agile methods execute design, analysis, and implementation
tasks repeatedly in short iterations allowing greater visibility on the
state of progress of the project. Sponsors can cancel the project early if
they find it is not going as expected and thus loose minimal
investment.
Higher Software quality: Test-driven development, short iterations,
scoping, and frequent customer feedback improve the overall quality
of the software.
Improved control over project: Agile processes focus on people over
processes. With less
Stress on documentation and more attention on delivering functionality
at the end of each iteration, agile teams can improve their velocity.

Issues and challenges in adopting agile methodology

Common challenges in adopting agile methods are: serial thinking, closed

mindedness, office politics, black and white mind-set, fear of change,
specialized skills, outdated skills, documentation-heavy mind-set, and do- itall at once attitude.
Some of the issues are :
Old Habits Die Hard: Agile seems to fail whenever its forced on a

team or organization that is accustomed to other methods. After years

of developing and testing in a certain manner, one cannot expect an
entirely smooth transition.

Unrealistic Expectations: Another reason why Agile sometimes fails has to do with
unrealistic expectations of the Agile actually is and what it can help us achieve. Agile is
commonly believed to be a set a practices, processes and tools. when in fact, Agile is
really more of a mind-set and culture.

Department Fragmentation: What happens when a development and product team adheres
to the principles of Agile, but the QA team does not? Conversely, what happens when a
QA team wants to be involved early in the dev process, but the engineering and product
teams resist? What happens when executives want everything to be Agile even if they
dont really understand what it means?

Scope of the Project

Identifying the challenges faced during implementation of agile methodology

Preparation of discussion guide for the organization
Knowing the best practices what these organizations follow
Knowing the insights of these organization

2. The Research Problem

We are going to further explore the studies done previously and the challenges faced while
implementing the agile methodology and identify/resolve the problems that can occur during
implementation of this methodology in other companies. Hence the research problem would be :

What would be challenges of implementing an agile methodology in the organization?

How to facilitate agile methodology in an organization?
What problems can be faced during implementation of the same?

3. The Research Design

Research Methodology

Literature Review and study of organization who have implemented agile methodology
Questionnaire survey (quantitative) in organization to understand the challenges and
how to address the same
Open ended Focus Group interviews.

Time frame: The aim is to complete the dissertation project within 3 months.
i.
Literature Review will be the part of first phase analysis.
ii.
In the second phase we will conduct the Focus group interview.
iii.
In the third phase facilitation to the staff is required which will be in the form of proposal
presented to senior management to gain the confidence.

4. Reference
1. http://agilemethodology.org/
2. http://blog.utest.com/why-agile-development-fails-sometimes/2012/11/