Description of Project Methodologies

This document provides a description of Agile project methodologies, including Scrum, Kanban, and Lean. It discusses the advantages, disadvantages, and characteristics of each methodology. It also includes a comparison table and a brief reflection on choosing the right methodology for a project. The document is suitable for students studying project management or anyone interested in Agile methodologies.

Running head: DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
1. Brief description of Agile
Agile is a modern method for project planning. It divides projects into modules and for
completion of each of the modules, schedule is planned accordingly. The modules in which
project is divided are associated with various aspects of projects and these include project
planning, project design, project execution and project closure. In this methodology, each of
the task defined in the project module is completed in sequence. If a task is not completed in
the sequence, the next activity in the sequence is not initiated and this helps in organizing
project activities efficiently. This helps in ensuring that each activities in the project schedule
is executed with highest quality, which ensues project success. Identification of stakeholder
requirements and allowing stakeholders review to be integrated with project execution is an
important requirement of ensuring that delivery of project is according to stakeholder
requirements and thus ensures project success.
2. Selection of at least three Agile branches
Three agile branches considered in this report are:
 Scrum: It is a project management framework that involves execution of project
activities in iterative way and according to sequence in activity included in the project
planning
 Kanban: It delivers products while emphasis is made on continual delivery and thus
reducing burden on project delivery team
 Lean: It increases efficiency of project process and reduces waste on time and
resources of the project
3. List advantages and disadvantages, and characteristics of each branch

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
Agile
branch
Advantages Disadvantages Characteristics
Scrum  Appropriate
management of time
and budget of project
 Project is divided into
sprints that are easy to
manage
 Project development
are reviewed along
with sprint review
 Allows to integrate
customer feedback
within project
 Possibility of scope creep due
to too much flexibility in
project schedule
 Requires commitment for
each and every team without
which project is most likely
to be failure
 Not suitable for large team
 Implementing quality is
challenging as it requires
aggressive project testing
 Project schedule
is flexible
 Execute project in
sprints which
divides the entire
project into
smaller project
modules
 Complex to
implement in
project in large
project team
 Quality depends
on aggressive
testing
 Stakeholders are
involved right
from the
beginning of the
project
Kanban  Increases project  if Kanban board is not  visual extensive

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
flexibility
 Reduce waste in
project
 It is easy to
understand to as it
extensively applies
visual means to
demonstrate project
activities
 Improves flow of
product delivery to
consumers
 It helps to minimize
project cycle time
properly updated it will lead
to issues in project
 if project is executed in
accordance with information
displayed in an outdated
board, it is not easy to bring
back the project on track
 board might get complicated
sometime in the project
 lack of communication about
project finishing time to
project teams
 efficient in
managing project
resources
 project is
executed on the
basis of Kanban
board which
displays
information
regarding flow of
project activities
Lean  reduce project cost
 improve customer
satisfaction by
allowing them to
involve into the
project
 increase quality of
project
 Project authorities need to
store project related materials
in advance for avoiding
carrying cost. hence
execution of project depends
on performance and
efficiency of suppliers
 difficult to incorporate
change due to issues in the
 cost efficient if
applied
previously in
organization
 consumer
oriented
 requires extensive
planning to
decide project

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
 improve team work
culture
project such as lack of
resources or workforce
 cost for implementing lean
methodology in the project is
higher for companies that
considers this methodology
for the first time
 often it becomes difficult to
decide which aspect of the
project needs to be
incorporated into the lean
methodology and which
needs to be excluded
scope
 not flexible in
terms of
incorporating
change in the
project
4. A comparison table using set of characteristics
Characteristics Scrum Kanban Lean
Project focus Delivering quality
products with zero
waste in project
Delivering quality
products with zero
waste in project
Delivering quality
products with zero
waste in project
Project workflow Completed in sprint or
smaller project
modules.
Completed in sprint.
Progress in project is
presented through
visualization with
Completed in sprint or
smaller project
modules. Progress in
the project is

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
application of Kanban
board
communicated through
value stream map
Project delivery Deliverables are
decided in accordance
with the sprints
Products as well as
process is delivered
continuously and allows
testing and review at the
same time
Deliverables are
completed as per
iteration according to
the project planning
Changes in project Changes are easily
incorporated into
project
Changes are decided
according to product
backlog
Changes are not easy
to integrate with the
project
Estimation in
project
Estimation has an
important role in this
method and this need to
be perfect as well.
no such emphasis on
estimation
This also requires a
perfect estimation for
project
Commitment from
team members
Each and every team
members need to
contribute
Flexibility in individual
roles and
responsibilities in the
team
Makes it mandatory
for team members to
participate and
contribute effectively
in project execution
Project quality No compromise in
project quality
No compromise in
project quality
No compromise in
project quality
Project cost initial implementation
cost is less than the lean
initial implementation
cost is less than the lean
initial implementation
cost is higher than

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
methodology methodology other two methods
considered in this
context

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT METHODOLOGIES
5. A brief reflection
According to analysis and comparison between these methods for executing project, my
choice of project is scrum as it has various benefits and it is an appropriate choice based on
advantages and disadvantages of this method.
This method considers stakeholder and their feedback as an essential component of project
planning and execution. Once a module in the project is finished, it is sent for stakeholder
review and feedback from them is collected. Now the benefit of this approach is that if
according to the stakeholder review, there is any issue or any change is required in both
project requirements and project planning, it is identified earlier in the project, which makes
it easy to implement in the project and thus it ensures stakeholder satisfaction. Hence, this is a
popular project management methodology and widely considered in project planning and
execution.
Along with that, it is easy to execute changes in the project and thus makes project
management more flexible and it also provides team members opportunity to contribute in
the project and thus makes team effort efficient. As I am thinking of designing a software,
team effort will play an important role and it will require changes in this process as well.