scholarly journals The Impact of Agile Methodologies and Cost Management Success Factors: An Empirical Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2(SI)) ◽  
pp. 0496
Author(s):  
Iqbal Et al.

Software cost management is a significant feature of project management. As such, it needs to be employed in a project or line of work. Software cost management is integral to software development failures, which, in turn, cause software failure. Thus, it is imperative that software development professionals develop their cost management skills to deliver successful software projects. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of cost management success factors with project management factors and three agile methodologies – Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum and Kanban methodologies which are used in the Pakistani software industry. To determine the results, the researchers applied quantitative approach through an extensive survey on 52 agile software development companies in Pakistan. Statistical techniques, such as Pearson’s correlation and mean and standard deviation were performed to examine the results. Following this analysis, we found that cost management has a positive effect on other project management factors, which are schedule, scope, risk, resources, and quality. Furthermore, it is determined that, in general, Kanban performed better than both, Scrum and XP in the context of project management factors.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1717-1727
Author(s):  
Javed Iqbal Et.al

Agile methodologies are always tends to increase the quality of software and also handling the complex software projects. However, the software companies in Pakistan have recently felt the disparity of producing successful software. In this context, an extensive survey has been conducted in 52 prominent software development companies of Pakistan to identify this remedy and the motivation behind this production discrepancy. It is revealed from the survey that there is a lack of empirical evidence in the relationship of agile methodologies with the effective and progressive management of software project management factors including, schedule, scope, risk, budget, quality and resources. Therefore, the proposed study delivers an extensive statistical comparison to determine the effectiveness of agile methodologies in terms of their effects on the project management factors. The results suggest that in general all agile methodologies play a significant role towards the successful software development in the software company. However, Extreme Programming, Scrum, Kanban and Agile modeling are the main determinants of production disparity among software companies. Furthermore, it is determined that the quality factor has a positive correlation with the rest of the factors. It is also found that the budget factor has significantly correlated with other five factors, while rest of the factors has insignificant correlation. We have also compared agile methodologies in terms of project management factors, which specify that each agile methodology has its own importance and effect with respect to managing different factors of project management.


2022 ◽  
pp. 163-182
Author(s):  
Kamalendu Pal

Agile software development methodologies are attracting attention from academics and practitioners for planning and managing software projects. The eXtreme Programming (XP) challenges conformist wisdom regarding software system development processes and practices as agile methodologies. To work efficiently in the current software development practice, characterized by requirements fuzziness, XP moves away from document-centric operations into people-centric management. In the XP-based software project, the customers play an essential role, having multiple responsibilities such as driving the project, gathering requirements (‘user stories'), and exercising quality control (or acceptance testing). Besides, the customers must liaise with external project stakeholders (e.g., funding authorities, end-users) while maintaining the development team's trust and the wider business. The success of such software project management practices relies on the quality result of each stage of development obtained through rigorous testing. This chapter describes three characteristics of XP project management: customer role, software testing feedback, and learning.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Peidong Sang ◽  
Haona Yao

The trend of China’s construction industry has gradually shifted from traditional high-consumption to efficient green development mode to achieve the new goals of energy conservation, emission reduction, and sustainable development. The successful development of green housing (GH) has become a major strategic choice. Given the smooth implementation and delivery of GH projects, this study aimed to assess the impact of critical success factors (CSFs) on GH development by identifying controllable CSFs. Firstly, 20 controllable CSFs were identified through literature review. Secondly, the data collected by the questionnaire were used for principal component analysis (PCA). The factor analysis showed that the CSFs can be summarised into five important principal components, namely, (1) project management factors, (2) personnel ability factors, (3) teamwork-oriented factors, (4) human resource factors, and (5) financial and constraint factors. Finally, multiple regression analysis was used to assess the importance of CSFs. Results showed that project management factors, personnel capacity factors, and financial and constraint factors exerted positive impact on the successful development of the projects, with project management factors having the greatest impact. This work provides not only useful information and practical guidance for enterprises in GH development practice but also certain reference value for building a sustainable development society in China.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Ahimbisibwe ◽  
Robert Y Cavana ◽  
Urs Daellenbach

Purpose – While the choices available for project management methodologies have increased significantly, questions remain on whether project managers fully consider their alternatives. When project categorization systems and criteria are not logically matched with project objectives, characteristics and environment, this may provide the key reason for why many software projects are reported to fail to deliver on time, budget or do not give value to the client. The purpose of this paper is to identify and categorize critical success factors (CSFs) and develop a contingency fit model contrasting perspectives of traditional plan-based and agile methodologies. Design/methodology/approach – By systematically reviewing the previous literature, a total of 37 CSFs for software development projects are identified from 148 articles, and then categorized into three major CSFs: organizational, team and customer factors. A contingency fit model augments this by highlighting the necessity to match project characteristics and project management methodology to these CSFs. Findings – Within the three major categories of CSFs, individual factors are ranked based on how frequently they have been cited in previous studies, overall as well as across the two main project management methodologies (traditional, agile). Differences in these rankings as well as mixed empirical support suggest that previous research may not have adequately theorized when particular CSFs will affect project success and lend support for the hypothesized contingency model between CSFs, project characteristics and project success criteria. Research limitations/implications – This research is conceptual and meta-analytic in its focus. A crucial task for future research should be to test the contingency fit model developed using empirical data. There is no broad consensus among researchers and practitioners in categorizing CSFs for software development projects. However, through an extensive search and analysis of the literature on CSFs for software development projects, the research provides greater clarity on the categories of CSFs and how their direct, indirect and moderated effects on project success can be modelled. Practical implications – This study proposes a contingency fit model and contributes towards developing a theory for assessing the role of CSFs for project success. While future empirical testing of this conceptual model is essential, it provides an initial step for guiding quantitative data collection, specifies detailed empirical analysis for comparative studies, and is likely to improve clarity in debate. Since previous studies have not rigorously assessed the impact of fit between project characteristics, project environment and project management methodology on project success, additional empirically robust studies will help to clarify contradictory findings that have limited theory development for CSFs of software development projects to date. Originality/value – Previous research for software development projects has frequently not fully incorporated contingency as moderation or contingency as fit (traditional vs agile). This research sets out to develop fully a contingency fit perspective on software development project success, through contrasting traditional plan-driven and agile methodologies. To do this, the paper systematically identifies and ranks 37 CSFs for software projects from 148 journal publications and holistically categorizes them as organizational, team, customer and project factors.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Arthur Ahimbisibwe

<p>There are many factors proposed as to why software projects fail, one of them is the inappropriate choice of a project management methodology. Although there is an increased range of available management choices, project managers do not frequently consider their alternatives. They tend to narrowly tailor project categorisation systems and use categorisation criteria that are not logically linked with objectives. To address this, this study develops and tests an integrative contingency fit model for contrasting perspectives of traditional plan-based and agile methodologies specifically for outsourced software development projects. In addition, it takes a vendor‘s perspective, rather than the client perspective that is mostly used. Overall, the research seeks to answer these questions: (RQ1) what are the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for outsourced software development projects from a vendor‟s perspective? (RQ2) What are the differences in these CSFs for traditional plan-driven and agile methodologies towards project success from a vendor‟s perspective?  The IT literature reveals two major distinct categories of methodologies: traditional plan-based and agile. Previous research has identified CSFs with respect to project success with mixed findings. The recent increase in popularity of methodologies has shifted the debate, interest and controversy to CSFs that are the factors which are most important to make a methodology successful. While there is an increasing diversity of project types, project contexts and methodologies, the frameworks or theories connecting these are limited. To date software development projects studies have addressed generally one methodology per study and perceived candidate CSFs as a form of reasons of success amidst a wide range of project success criteria. Although contingency theory has been previously argued for outsourced software development projects, empirical models have frequently not fully incorporated contingency as fit or fit as moderation (i.e. traditional vs. agile). This study sought to fill this research gap.  Cross-sectional data from 984 senior vendor project managers and team leaders was collected by a global web-based survey. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) (a multivariate statistical technique, in which parameters are estimated by minimizing the discrepancy between the model-implied covariance matrix and the observed covariance matrix) was used for data analysis. SEM results provide support for several contingency hypotheses theorizing relationships between candidate CSFs and project success. Project management methodology was found to moderate the effects of various CSFs on project success, and in different ways for various success measures. Similarly, the results show the level of project uncertainty moderates the impact of various CSFs on project success, and in different ways for various success measures. Together these findings provide empirical support for contingency as fit and more fully incorporate fit as moderation.  The study contributes towards understanding the differences between traditional plan-based and agile project management based on the perceptions of vendor respondents with regard to their client organizations, and also to understanding what are the most significant antecedents of success (the CSFs) in different project contexts. The study also examines the indirect and interaction effects, and the findings contribute towards understanding of the contingency perspective as a framework to be used by project managers and organizations. Practical implications of these results suggest that project managers should tailor project management methodologies according to various project types, which is likely to improve current project success rates.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Arthur Ahimbisibwe

<p>There are many factors proposed as to why software projects fail, one of them is the inappropriate choice of a project management methodology. Although there is an increased range of available management choices, project managers do not frequently consider their alternatives. They tend to narrowly tailor project categorisation systems and use categorisation criteria that are not logically linked with objectives. To address this, this study develops and tests an integrative contingency fit model for contrasting perspectives of traditional plan-based and agile methodologies specifically for outsourced software development projects. In addition, it takes a vendor‘s perspective, rather than the client perspective that is mostly used. Overall, the research seeks to answer these questions: (RQ1) what are the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for outsourced software development projects from a vendor‟s perspective? (RQ2) What are the differences in these CSFs for traditional plan-driven and agile methodologies towards project success from a vendor‟s perspective?  The IT literature reveals two major distinct categories of methodologies: traditional plan-based and agile. Previous research has identified CSFs with respect to project success with mixed findings. The recent increase in popularity of methodologies has shifted the debate, interest and controversy to CSFs that are the factors which are most important to make a methodology successful. While there is an increasing diversity of project types, project contexts and methodologies, the frameworks or theories connecting these are limited. To date software development projects studies have addressed generally one methodology per study and perceived candidate CSFs as a form of reasons of success amidst a wide range of project success criteria. Although contingency theory has been previously argued for outsourced software development projects, empirical models have frequently not fully incorporated contingency as fit or fit as moderation (i.e. traditional vs. agile). This study sought to fill this research gap.  Cross-sectional data from 984 senior vendor project managers and team leaders was collected by a global web-based survey. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) (a multivariate statistical technique, in which parameters are estimated by minimizing the discrepancy between the model-implied covariance matrix and the observed covariance matrix) was used for data analysis. SEM results provide support for several contingency hypotheses theorizing relationships between candidate CSFs and project success. Project management methodology was found to moderate the effects of various CSFs on project success, and in different ways for various success measures. Similarly, the results show the level of project uncertainty moderates the impact of various CSFs on project success, and in different ways for various success measures. Together these findings provide empirical support for contingency as fit and more fully incorporate fit as moderation.  The study contributes towards understanding the differences between traditional plan-based and agile project management based on the perceptions of vendor respondents with regard to their client organizations, and also to understanding what are the most significant antecedents of success (the CSFs) in different project contexts. The study also examines the indirect and interaction effects, and the findings contribute towards understanding of the contingency perspective as a framework to be used by project managers and organizations. Practical implications of these results suggest that project managers should tailor project management methodologies according to various project types, which is likely to improve current project success rates.</p>


Author(s):  
Gopalkrishna Waja ◽  
Jill Shah ◽  
Pankti Nanavati

Agile Software Development plays a quintessential part in modern day software development. The term Agile refers to frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans and techniques and dividing tasks into shorter tasks for efficiency. Agile Software Development differs considerably from Traditional Software Development Methodology. Agile methodology aims to deliver features of a software project in small steps within a short duration of time (i.e., iterations). Hence, it becomes necessary to use agile software development methodology in todays’ fast-paced revolutionizing software industry. This paper discusses the important subtopics of Agile Software Development which gathered by reviewing/surveying of research papers. First, is the Agile Planning Life Cycle which consists of various stages such as pre-planning, planning, release planning and product backlog management. In the next section, principles such as Scrum, Extreme Programming, Kanban and Lean are discussed. The last section comprises the impact of Agile principles on software quality.


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-281
Author(s):  
Bálint Blaskovics

The project management literature on project success is rich. Numerous papers focus on the evolution of the understanding of project success, identification of success criteria and critical success factors. Critical success factors increase the potential for achieving project success, while project success can be evaluated with the help of success criteria. Although the interrelationships between critical success factors and success criteria are rarely analyzed, yet there is a strong demand for it. The aim of this paper is twofold. One of the aims is to identify the impact of one of the critical success factors, the project manager’s project management attitude on project success. The other aim is to highlight the interrelationship between the project manager’s personal characteristics and project management attitude and leadership style, which are three critical success factors. These aim to address the shortcoming mentioned above, which is considering the lack of the interrelationships between critical success factors and success criteria. The research outcomes are drawn from qualitative field research at the Hungarian subsidiaries of multinational companies operating in the ICT sector.


Author(s):  
Bak Aun Teoh ◽  
Wei Hong Ling ◽  
Amlus Ibrahim

The growth in new knowledge and technology has substantially increased the complexity of the projects that is strongly influencing the time, cost, and quality of the project management. Due to the volatility of the current market, the effectiveness of knowledge management (KM) could reduce the project uncertainties, project life cycle costs, and risks of new product development (NPD). Since NPD is regarded as the key to innovation due to its strong connection between the knowledge and core competence, the ways how the knowledge will be captured, created, and shared among the project teams is important to remain competitive in today's business and market competition. Hence, the modes of how they are created and shared between the project team members as well as the impact of KM towards NPD will be discussed in this paper. KM are normally created and transferred through the conversion between explicit and tacit knowledge, which can be further applied into the project management. Furthermore, the existing knowledge of the organisation can be evaluated by the actions of decision makers, hence, it is undoubted that a better knowledge can lead to measurable efficiencies in production and product development. The key success factors of KM that have been implemented will be discussed in this paper as well, which help to increase the probability of project success. Keywords: New Product Development; Project Management; Knowledge Management; Globalisation


Author(s):  
Daniel M. Brandon

Software engineering is vital for the proper planning of IT projects, although it is not a formal part of project management. The software engineering embedded in the acquired products will significantly affect long-term project success factors, even for IT projects that primarily involve software acquisition and integration instead of software development,. In this chapter I review software engineering and its relation to IT project management.


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