Agile Project Management for Business Transformation Success

Paul Paquette, Milan Frankl

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781631573231
• eBook ISBN: 9781631573248
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Project Management
• Index: Business

This book is intended to provide project management office (PMO) executives' practical information to promote enterprise Agile for business value compatibility within their organization. The primary benefit of this book is to promote a sense of common purpose and collaboration between the project delivery and the organization. Agile project delivery methods are adaptable to the emergence of unknown requirements identified in the later part of the project delivery lifecycle. The key success factor is direct business participation and collaboration to ensure that a business focus determines the output. Agile promotes innovation and creates synergies through a business focus viewing technology deployments as a catalyst for change rather than the final objective. Technology investments implemented through Agile processes result in improved market leadership, organizational alignment, and resource efficiency delivering competitive advantage.

Chapter 1

Agile Concepts

Introduction

In Chapter 1 we introduce Agile concepts, including challenges addressed by Agile, and process improvements expected. Furthermore, we compare the Agile project management method to that of the conventional project management one. Finally, we discuss Agile implications on business involvement and enterprise support.

We use the term Agile throughout this book to refer the Agile Project Management or Agile Project Delivery as project-related work based on fundamental principles as defined by the Agile Manifesto (Beck et al. 2001).

Agile methods are adopted primarily from Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP) practices, philosophies, and principles upon which they were founded.

The term Waterfall refers to the common and more traditional project delivery methods frequently used for deploying systems integration projects outside the application development community.

In contrast to Agile, Waterfall demands collection of all requirements, the contractual alignment, and satisfaction of deliverables against a plan within the constraints of time, scope, and schedule through a linear set of sequential activities. These activities are analysis, design, implementation, testing, and evaluation. They are completed before the next activity is initiated and graphically represented in a waterfall pattern.

The term Business Transformation (BT) is used throughout this book to summarize any critical enterprise strategic technology projects intended to enhance the organization’s competitive advantage within the business environment operated by the firm.

Agile and Waterfall processes and methods are compared for suitability with BT projects from an organizational and business perspective. Using this comparison we present the traditional Agile context as a software development tool by extending application into an enterprise (large) context.

Traditional Waterfall project management processes fail to deliver anticipated results because the requirements are not fully understood at the beginning of the project. The formal project change record (PCR) process is a method organizations use to control scope creep by formalizing a management review process to accept or reject changes in the estimated project baseline. However, this process is too cumbersome to adapt to changing business conditions and evolving requirements through the execution phase. As a result, business users become dissatisfied by the bureaucracy.

BT software projects are particularly challenging because the technology is new and demands customization to comply with the client’s specific requirements. BT projects disrupt the status quo and have implementation complexity within an environment of turmoil, distress, and change. To accommodate BT projects’ unique characteristics, an iterative project method with feedback loops and increased information flow is required instead of the traditional linear and sequential waterfall method. A holistic organizational view including technical and business elements is essential to deliver the business results in which project investment was intended to satisfy.

Complex technology integration projects are a means for organizations to improve business processes frequently characterized as multimillion dollar investments while experiencing a 60 percent delivery failure rate (Hasibuan and Dantes 2012), which is considered to be very high. Enterprise system integration and transformation projects are regarded as unique and technically very challenging, combining evolving sophisticated technologies. They require new business processes across the entire organization. These projects combine innovative technologies to change the way executives perceive their customers and view their data and business environment. In addition, they extend pervasively throughout the organization as managers and employees interact more effectively with customers. Although the projects are considered high-risk, expensive, and complex, they provide organizations the innovation and competitive advantages required to remain aggressive in the global marketplace.

Agile is an essential paradigm shift for organizations to improve project delivery success rates (Standish Group 2013). Agile techniques improve technology project performance by enhancing the stakeholders feedback loop. Agile techniques provide organizations with a source of competitive advantage while reducing risk by providing business value earlier and consistently throughout the Project Delivery Life Cycle (PDLC). Agile techniques increase the organizational competitive advantage through better organizational change management, communication, and teamwork.

The Agile teamwork advantage is characterized by high-performance teams improving performance through cooperation, collaboration, and enhancing individuals’ skill development and of empowered employees. Agile project teams are made of up individual members across multiple knowledge domains. Members may include accountants, marketing analysts, front line, and other business users to work directly with technology developers and programmers. Technology projects require special stakeholders relationships demanding enhanced project governance and executive management sponsorship because of their expense, risk, and potential opportunity.

Agile Project Management for BT success is intended to provide the reader with two chief primary deliverables. The first is the identification of common problems with traditional Waterfall methods that limit project delivery success and provide Agile elements as a solution. The second is the presentation of a ranked order of the most effective Agile attributes from a business context of market leadership, organizational alignment, and resource efficiency.

Challenges to an inquiry of Agile outside the development community are biased because it directly challenges Project Management Office (PMO) governance trends such as increased centralized project management maturity models, consistency, and enterprise standards. Large organizations are bureaucratic and include configuration review boards and release cycles that do not support aggressive Agile cadence. In addition, they resist new methods that are inconsistent with their internal financial budget process and often demand contractual and fixed cost commitments. Expectations that Agile will simply deliver the same level of service (contract oriented fixed deliveries) in an economical and more time-efficient manner is unrealistic and subject to failure because Agile is fundamentally different than traditional Waterfall project delivery.

BT projects and other strategic projects are inherently extremely large, costly, and challenging with significant dependencies regardless of the project methodology applied. BT project investment decisions are extremely difficult because they raise significant challenges and risks across both technical and business domains. BT projects may already exceed the company’s risk tolerance requiring an unreasonable financial risk premium challenging established project delivery standards.

Agile is a relatively new approach delivering system integration for the enterprise environment and challenges the status quo. Established processes and methodologies have evolved to address legal, regulatory, or fiduciary requirements and responsibilities. Over time, they have advanced as a complex compromise and risk alienating the current corporate power equilibrium. The PMO or business sponsor must have sufficient political capital to change the corporate Waterfall project delivery inertia. Enterprise Agile proponents must be prepared to provide sufficient grounds to warrant changing the established processes within their jurisdiction.

The guiding method of Agile Project Management for BT success is as follows:

• • Agile attributes promote market leadership business value.
• • Agile attributes promote organizational alignment business value.
• • Agile attributes promote resource efficiency business value.

The background information is divided into five parts.

1. 1. In the first part, we present an overview of Agile and the new challenges facing organizations requiring re-evaluation of project delivery processes.
2. 2. In the second part of the background summary, we explore communication as a tactical value proposition for Agile deployments. Agile teams improve communication both vertically and horizontally throughout the organization. In addition to improved communication, the Agile method promotes organizational alignment and resource optimization from empowered individuals participating in high-performance teams made up of diversified generalists.
3. 3. In the third section, we explore the high-performance team and the effects of teamwork and the inherent empowerment of the individual as a mean to improve innovation and motivation as a competitive advantage.
4. 4. In the fourth part of the background summary, Agile value proposition from the business perspective is discussed. Agile promotes market leadership through change management within the organization. We review the importance of integrating business processes and effective functional changes to the firm over the limited traditional project-centric delivery as a project delivery success criteria. Viewing project delivery from an expanded business value context is important for strategic BT projects because they are fundamental to the success of the organization. Delivering the wrong technology because of a systemically flawed delivery system will result in corrective action.
5. 5. In the final section, which discusses g...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Abstract
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Agile Concepts
• Chapter 2: Agile Change Management, an Overview
• Chapter 3: Agile Background
• Chapter 4: Agile Communication
• Chapter 5: Agile Teamwork Functionality
• Chapter 6: Governance and Enterprise Agile
• Chapter 7: Agile Processes
• Chapter 8: Agile Market Leadership
• Chapter 9: Agile Organizational Alignment and Support
• Chapter 10: Agile Resource Optimization
• Chapter 11: Conclusion
• Agile Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index
• Adpage
• Backcover