Managing Agile Projects

This report discusses Agile project management and its principles, success criteria, and tools, techniques, and practices adopted by Your Homes Newcastle. It covers how Agile helped build success at Your Homes Newcastle and how it improved stakeholder management and communications, team management, and delivery.

Managing Agile
Projects

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Introduce Agile. What is it? What are the Agile principles and how is success measured?. . .3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Identify which tools, practices, and artifacts of Agile and Scrum you think or know were
adopted by the organization in your chosen case study. How could/ did these aspects improve
the management of the project specifically in a) stakeholder management and
communications, b) team management, and 3) delivery?......................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
Discuss why an organization decides to adopt an agile approach for delivering projects. Based
on your understanding, what is required by an organization to use agile? You may want to
discuss how prepared or ‘ready’ the organization was to adopt an agile approach...............9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Agile project management is a methodology that the project manager uses to deliver the
requirements incrementally and iteratively through the life cycle process. This methodology is
specific to iterative software development methodologies (Brynildsen, 2021). This is a type of
methodology and technique that the project manager uses to deliver the desired results within the
project. It includes a range of designs and approaches directly associated and aligned with
bringing the best results within the project deliverables. This report is based on a case study
based on how Agile helped build success at Your Homes Newcastle. This report covers the
different areas of Agile project management and helps deliver the desired results within the
organization.
Further, the Agile principles are measured along with the process, and the criteria are assessed
based on measuring success. Additionally, the tools, artifacts, and practices carried out in the
Agile and Scrum that could have been adopted in the organization mentioned in the case study
are discussed below. Further, the ways organization decides if they want to adopt an agile
approach within the delivered project or not are critically discussed in the context of the case
study. The areas required for agile project management are also further discussed, which helps
deliver the project's objective.
TASK 1
Introduce Agile. What is it? What are the Agile principles, and how is success measured?
Agile project management refers to an iterative approach to managing software development
projects that focuses on Continuous releases and incorporating feedback with every set of
workplace tasks. The agile life cycle comprises several incremental steps to help complete the
project. This approach is continuously used in software development projects to promote further
stability and velocity (Ivanova et al., 2021). The benefit of iteration is that it helps adjust
according to the future requirements, and there is no particular linear path that the manager needs
to follow. Agile project management is used throughout the project management process and not
just at the end of the project. This exhibits a range of central behaviors, trust, collaboration, and
empowerment in the project. There is a range of principles on which agile project management
works. The main focus delivered by agile project management is that it satisfies the customers
through the early and continuous delivery of objectives. In the context of the case study, the agile

project manager requires to deliver the Homes Newcastle, which further helped in terms of
bringing the success within the project and providing the results of the project. In this particular
case study, the Agile project management helped achieve productivity from the resources
available within the project model. Through this technique, the project manager was able to bring
genuine value to the project, which is aligned with the business goals that are associated with the
business.
Customer satisfaction is treated as the top priority of the project management as it helps
attain the objective within the project cause. There is a range of principles on which the agile
project management technique works; these principles directly contribute to achieving desired
goals within the project (Revutska and Maršíková, 2021). Elegant project management functions
on satisfying the customers with the help of continuous and easy delivery of the valuable
software that exists within project management. Through this, the project manager can process
agility and further respond to the changes that occur in a timely fashion. Through this, the
customers related to the project get happy as the project can be delivered effectively with no such
technique.
Agile project management helps the project manager in terms of changing the requirements.
The flexible approach of agile helps in dealing with the changes that exist in the environment and
further delivering the project results in the n best manner possible. The values of the project are
provided frequently and are used further to enhance the process and maximize the delivery
results within the project limits. Through this technique, the projects are built on different terms,
and people are further motivated to deliver the results using the other motivation factors. The
Agile project management technique is considered the primary measure of the progress through
which an organization uses a range of valid approaches through which the expected results of the
project are delivered to the customers. The organization maintains a sustainable development
through which the developers, sponsors, and users will be able to maintain a set practice with a
constant amount of pace within the project. The agility in the project is enhanced through
continuous excellence, which further helps in technical merit, and sound design, which helps
improve the skill. These principles are also used to allow the team to create not a working
software but also aid in the development and recreate stable products of high quality. Through,
the project manager states that simplicity is the art of maximizing the effectiveness of work
associated with the project and is not considered essential enough to deliver the essentials of the

project. Through this, the project managers regularly reflected and further adjusted the way of
working to further boost the process of effectiveness within the project (Miller, 2022).
The success of Agile project management is achieved through several success criteria, which
help in terms of associating with the completion of the project's objective. The primary and most
essential success criteria the Agile project management is the On-time delivery of the tasks and
goals within the project management process. Agile project management process success can be
used to measure the quality of the product associated with the matter of the project. The project's
success criteria are calculated based on user satisfaction and how the project can liver the results
that help the customers in terms of happiness. The value of the business is associated with the
project management process; Agile project management should be able to deliver the value of
the project within the given time constraint, so it helps in terms of providing the desired scope of
the product which is being managed through the process of project management is also defined
once the project is delivered. The visibility of the project management process features is further
provided by ensuring that the manager is using the agile project management in the best manner
possible.
The project manager further defines the success by using the agile project management
technique in the project where the requirement is to deliver the maximum productivity to reach
the desired goals. The productivity factor is directly associated with measuring success in the
project and further providing the right results to the associated people (Recabarren-Domínguez et
al., 2022). The predictability of the project is managed through the process of agile project
management, where the maximum amount of focus is on the areas where there is a requirement
of adding to the end features of the business. The project management process is improved
through h usage of new techniques that deliver the right results. The success criteria of the agile
project management are based on the process of constantly looking over the mindset of the
project manager to provide the best improvement that is possible in the case of a project was
there was a range of challenges that were associated with the project discussed in the case study.
However, the organization used a range of techniques to deliver the results by using agility in the
project. Organizations enrolled themselves in the transformation of culture through which the
concept of just doing agile was ignored (Lalic et al., 2021).

TASK 2
Identify which tools, practices, and artifacts of Agile and Scrum you think or know were
adopted by the organization in your chosen case study. How could/ did these aspects improve the
management of the project specifically in a) stakeholder management and communications, b)
team management, and 3) delivery?
Agile project management has become the most convenient philosophy, which has made
the software engineering for the IT departments of the organizations more flexible and efficient.
The tools, practices, and techniques of the agile and scrum help the digital services team to self-
organize and plan their work, manifest effective communication within the team and rest of the
organization; there is regular improvement in the way of working and most importantly, there is
the support received from senior officers and managers (Almoslehy and Alkahtani, 2021). In the
case study of How Agile built success at Your Homes Newcastle, there is digital transformation
at a fast pace for which the team of the Your Homes Newcastle believes that Agile techniques
have high potential in offering the organization a more efficient and robust way forward in
future. The identified tools, techniques, and practices of Agile and Scrum adopted by Your
Homes Newcastle are discussed below:
Retrospective meetings
Retrospective, commonly termed as retros, is the Agile tool and technique, which is the
regular meetings in which the whole team discusses what is going well and what is not. This is
done by the team at the end of the iteration and utilizes discussion from the para nominal pea
period (Catlin and Watkins, 2021). The retrospective tool aims to fix problems in the team and
ensure that other things that are going well are working simultaneously. In the context of the
Your Homes Newcastle case study, the company's IT division was truly Agile with the prospect
of improvements that would continue to evolve. For this developed its retrospective team where
there is talk about what works well and what things are not working as per the requirements.
Under the retros, there should have an open atmosphere where thee member of the team has the
freedom to speak with honesty and feel confident that other members will listen to them.
Agile Scrum Artefact
The agile scrum artifacts are the information that the scrum team and stakeholders
consider to detail the product being developed, the course of action to create it, and the activities
performed during the project. These artifacts offer the metadata points that give insights into the

performance of the Sprint. The key feature of the scrum tool is that it breaks the entire scope of
work into the short development cycles called Sprints (Oliveira-Dias, Maqueira, and Moyano-
Fuentes, 2022). The duration of the Sprint is one to four weeks. Also, the team must follow the
work plan for each Sprint necessarily. Under the scrum process framework, there are three
artifacts:
 Product Backlog: This is used to detail the list of products the organization is
developing
 Sprint Backlog: details what the scrum team members must develop during a sprint.
 Product Increment: The product version is delivered after each Sprint to the
stakeholders.
In the context of the Your House Newcastle case study, the organizations used the scrum-like
technique to implement and deliver the Agile approach in the organization. To transform the
cash Council Tax payments to a fully digital payment system, Your House Newcastle set the
goal of nine months to achieve this, but with the scrum, the company was able to do that in six
months.
Kanban
Japan formed the Kanban method of the Agile working practice to manage and control
the demand and supply of the materials in the production lines by utilizing colored cards. As
time passed and technological advancements occurred, the Kanban tool was adopted for the other
workflows also in the manner of defined boards for the task to-do lists, in the way, for example,
not started, in progress, and done (Skrede, Bjelland and Honoré-Livermore, 2021). The
development with this agile tool is built on workflow visualization. Also, the present work is
prioritized, and in addition to this, this is a number of the time-boxed development cycle. The
most helpful feature of this tool is that the team can change the work plan. In the context of the
case study "How Agile built success at Your Times New castles," this tool of Agile has helped
the company after the use of the retrospective team tool (Seitsamo-Räsänen, 2021). The results
were determined from the retrospective session organization as the action to the not working well
stripped back to the process on fast turnaround changes. The company used this approach for the
small changes that Requa a timed sprint of fewer than four weeks. For the successful
implementation of the Kanban practice, the different agile methods can be deployed by the Your

House Newcastle, such as Visualizing workflow, limiting work in progress, Continuous
feedback, and focusing on flow.
MOSCOW prioritization technique
The Moscow method of Agile practice is the prioritization technique utilized in
management, software development, project management, and business analytics to reach a
single and mutual understanding with the stakeholders on the significance they put on the
delivery of a particular requirement (Gemino, Horner Reich and Serrador, 2021). The MOSCOW
stands for the must-have, should have, could have, and will not have each one denoting the
category of prioritization. This technique is often utilized with the time boxing, in which the
deadline is fixed to keep the focus on the significant needs, and is part of the agile software
development approach called scrum. In the Your Homes Newcastle organization, the Moscow
prioritization technique is used to present the value of the Agile to the leaders and stakeholders
of the business and the other non-project management teams (Almeida and Simões, 2021). This
approach by the organization was critical to the success in improvisation of principles, as the IT
team of the organization could experience the benefit of the Agile work. The Moscow
prioritization tool of the Your Homes Newcastle is used to establish a hierarchy of priorities
during the whole project.
All these aspects improve the management of the project, specifically in:
Stakeholder management and communications
The scrum artifacts are articulated on the three pillars transparency, inspection, and
adaption. This is highly helpful for the project of the Your Homes Newcastle as it allows the
clear communication of the IT department with other departments of the company and between
the team members (Balaban and Đurašković, 2021). This improves the transmission and
smoothens the IT department's misunderstanding with the other teams. Through the Moscow
Prioritization technique, there is a layout of shared information about the different tasks that go
under the development of the new software and also talks about the aspects that must be done.
Team management
The retrospective technique of the agile practice is essential and valuable in the
management of the Your Homes New castle team by the information gleaned through the whole
process. The knowledge acquired is used to improve the work and the working environment and
list the actions needed to resolve the team's problems highlighted during the discussion. This

leads to the effective management of the IT team. With the scrum technique, the whole project of
the group is divided into small parts that improve the team management and make it feasible for
them to achieve printings.
Delivery
With these techniques, tools, and practices of the agile and scrum, the IT team of the
organization was restructured in a flattering way that has created a self-organized team. All the
team has genuinely contributed to the effective delivery of the IT projects in a financial year with
100% efficiency using the Agile project management approach (Maulana and Wicaksono, 2022).
The delivery of the Agile and Scrum tools and techniques has improved resource allocation,
which has helped achieve far more productivity. By prioritizing based on the organization's
goals, the delivery of a project or the task was done and freed up the capacity for the other
things.
TASK 3
Discuss why an organization decides to adopt an agile approach for delivering projects. Based on
your understanding, what is required by an organization to use agile? You may want to
discuss how prepared or 'ready' the organization was to adopt an agile approach
The decision to adopt the agile approach for the delivery of the project was due to the
need for continuous improvement and to increase the prospects of success of the project. Your
home's Newcastle organization has adopted the agile approach because it is a fascinating
manifesto. Also, it begins appearing ineffectual to manufacture the balance among the project's
quality, cost, time, scope, and risks when materialized in a particular organizational culture and
environment (Lalmi, Fernandes, and Boudemagh, 2022). The Your Homes Newcastle
organization was facing the challenge of a high number of concurrent projects in the IT
department, due to which it was difficult to establish priorities. Also, there was significant
involvement of the management. Due to this, the IT department suffered from the reputation
damage, as the other business departments and colleagues were experiencing that the It
department was offering unreliable delivery rates.
On the other hand, the IT department felt that the business could not express its requirements
with clarity. Then, the head of the IT department stated that they could not continue to work in
the same manner. This was the reason and point where the company felt that digital

transformation was rapidly growing. It seemed that the company also needed to pace up with this
digital world to keep up with the delivery of the project inefficiently.
The IT team of the Your Homes Newcastle with the Newcastle City Council (NCC) work
jointly on the digital transformation as they had a belief that Agile techniques and approaches
will offer an efficient and Robust way to move forward and to gain growth in the company and
most importantly the company will be able to deliver all the projects. For the efficient adoption
of the agile approach, the company will require the extreme support of senior executives and the
other stakeholders to go agile successfully (Huynh, 2021). Also, for the efficient delivery of the
projects using the agile approach, Your Homes Newcastle needs to provide their people with the
qualification course of AgilePM and run the Agile awareness session. The key benefit of
implementing the agile approach in the organization is that it has supported the company in
achieving far more productivity from the available resources.
Also, implementing different agile tools and techniques is mandatory as it is critical for
the company's success and to deploy the principles so that team can feel the difference between
agile working and the traditional way of doing things.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that Agile project management is one of the best
techniques and can be used in several similar situations. The organization can deliver maximum
results within the business. Agile and Scrum project management has their own set of benefits
that help provide the project's core aim. Through these methodologies and techniques, the overall
management process, specifically stakeholder management, improves the communication
process and management of the team effectively and efficiently. Adopting an agile approach for
the delivery of projects t is helpful as it is associated with bringing agility to the project by
utmost perfection. The project and manager must be ready enough to deal with and adopt the
agile approach so that the maximum amount of results can be delivered within the project.

REFERENCES
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