Software product development

Assignment: For this assignment discuss the articles in the Week 8 readings then draft a post consisting of your evaluation of how traditional project management methods may or may not contribute to integrated planning a product delivery for Agile projects. You are welcome to use any additional source you find appropriate for this assignment. Remember to cite and list your references. Michael’s responses: Agile methods give productivity a boost and that robust and heavyweight process frameworks do not work as expected switching to agile approaches takes care of issues that plague prescriptive approaches and increase success rate (Tomanek Cermak & Smutny 2014). Recent changes in the business environment dictate a shorter time to market and fast response to changing market requirements. using semi-structured interviews (Karlström & Runeson 2005) investigate the mixing of agile methods into phase-gate software product development.

Researching enterprise agile in three organizations the authors found the following agile practices fitting into phase-gates: The Planning and prioritization phases use agile practices such as prioritizing the highest value features first and detailed planning on small batches. The use of these agile practices engenders early feedback on features and the avoidance of fixed plans. Agile team-based planning has little to no support for long-term plans. The need for team communication and follow-up is enhanced through the deployment of self-managing teams small tasks extensive use of automated testing continuous integration and continuous delivery. The authors note that these agile practices may have unintended consequences of obscuring the agile teams from happening across the organization. Other positive effects of the agile practices include refined intra-team communication a sense of ownership and the availability of deliverables to show progress to management. The embrace of process models and functions is engendered by continuous end-user involvement and lite documentation. The use of these two agile practices produces great product reviews the building of high-value features continuous feedback.

The use of agile project management method and agile practices such as engineering-level empowerment and engineering level initiative. The use of these practices makes the team members feel motivated. The authors recognize that managers may initially be reticent management could need agile-value-driven training to use agile in phase-gates. The agile team may raise the technical issues early the management may not be prepared. Process and maturity-oriented approaches empower management and the quality business units allowing the addition of extended works or standards to improve products. Whereas agile approaches empower those that do the work to find better ways to deliver a quality product (Karlström & Runeson 2005).

A phase-gate describes product development in generic project life cycle stages that organization executives find ideal. Karlström & Runeson (Karlström & Runeson 2005) assert that prescriptive approaches to project planning usually strategize and chose resources ahead of the actual project work and the development phases can be iterative or sequential.

Detailed plan-oriented methods limit changes to requirements making functionality fixed and uncertainties reduced to ensure on-time completion. Whereas adaptive methods time is the fixed variable in agile product/project management. Agile also thrive through microplanning that allows for the trade-offs in requests against the items the agile teams commit to delivering.