Debenhams Store Closure Project Management 2022

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Debenhams Store closure project
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Evaluation of the PM methodology and ways in which it supports the project..........................2
3. Identification of the features and processes of the methodology................................................5
4. Anticipated issues for using this methodology............................................................................8
5. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

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1. Introduction
The paper mainly reflects on “Debenhams store closure project”. It is found that
Debenhams group has announced company voluntary arrangement that will see the various
affected shops which will continue trading until the year 2020 and further the closures are
announced by various landlords. The organization mainly has a clear strategy as well as bright
future but for prospering within the business in the coming future, the organization mainly needs
to properly restructure the portfolio of the group and its balance sheet as they are not found to be
appropriate for today’s business. The main priority of the organization is to properly save the
store as well as different types of jobs which are considered to be fit for the future of the
organization. In order to undertake the store closure project within the time period of 6 months,
the project manager selects the agile PM methodology.
The paper mainly elaborates the application of agile PM in Debenhams store closure
project and how the agile project management mainly supports the project by successfully
determining different types of features as well as processes of the methodology that would
enable successful completion of the project. In addition to this, the report generally determines
the various types of anticipated issues while thee agile project methodology is mainly used.
2. Evaluation of the PM methodology and ways in which it supports the
project
The agile PM is considered as one of the iterative approaches that are mainly utilized for
planning as well as guiding the entire project management procedures. The main benefit of using
this project methodology is its ability to respond to the various types of challenges which
generally arise within the entire PM course for saving the project resources and for delivering the

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entire project successfully within the estimated budget and time. It is stated by Rasnacis and
Berzisa (2017) that agile PM generally helps in disintegrating the project into small pieces which
general gets completed within the work sessions that generally run from the project design phase
to the quality assurance. Moreover, it is analyzed that agile PM assists in enabling the project
team to release the various project segments which generally gets completed. This further helps
in releasing the project schedule that further allows the project team for demonstrating different
segments that are successful for fixing the various types of project flaws quickly (Serrador and
Pinto 2015). In addition to this, it is analyzed that this belief is generally beneficial in minimizing
the large scale failures due to proper and continuous improvement within the entire lifecycle of
the project.
It is found that agile PM methodology is found to be suitable for the Debenhams store
closure project due to a number of reasons that further helps in showcasing the ways in which it
helps in supporting the project According to Patwardhan et al. (2016), the agile methodology
reflects on the issues which arise within the entire course of the project and makes the necessary
changes within the project therefore agile is found to be suitable as the organization wants to
close all its stores for restructuring the stores. Additionally, as the organization wants to finish
the closure project within 6 months of time therefore agile methodology is found to be suitable as
this methodology assists in minimizing the utilization of project resources and mainly helps in
delivering the project within the assumed budget and time.
In addition to this, the agile methodology assists in giving the opportunity of delivering
the project within the assumed time and thus this methodology is found to be beneficial for
Debenhams store closure project (Baham et al. 2017). As each of the project sprints has fixed
time duration and the cost is predictable therefore agile methodology should be utilized for

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managing the project as it works well on the project that has predictable cost and schedule.
According to Akhmetshin et al. (2019), agile methodology allows the project client for
determining the priority of features such that the team can be able to properly understand what is
important for the business and how this can be achieved for providing proper business value to
the organization and therefore the project manager utilizes agile methodology so that they can be
able to restructure the portfolio of the store as well as for successfully restructuring the balance
sheet (Conforto and Amaral 2016). Additionally, the agile project team helps in supporting the
project and assist in determining the number of pitfalls in a very much controlled way. By
properly reorganizing the activities that are associated with custom software development, the
agile team will be helpful in achieving the objectives of the Debenhams store closure project in a
very much focussed way.
It is opined by Rasnacis and Berzisa (2015) that agile helps the project team to become
very much efficient in completing the work of the project and as the agile team is very much
collaborative in nature, therefore, their efficiencies within the Debenhams store closure project
helps in successfully generating a ripple effect. It is found that when each of the project team
members mainly agree on the project and when each one of the team focuses on various
significant tasks then the entire project team can collaboratively move into regular cycles of
work that further helps in improving the agile project predictability (Banica et al. 2014). As the
characteristics of the entire agile project team are interconnected therefore they generally create
proper efficiency, collaboration as well as predictability which further helps in forming a proper
holistic set of habits within the project for executing the entire project quite successfully.

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3. Identification of the features and processes of the methodology
The features, as well as processes of the project methodology that generally help in
enabling the successful outcome of the Debenhams project, are mainly elaborated below:
Faster delivery times: According to Tsai et al. (2016), agile project management is
considered as one of the beneficial approach as it generally helps in reducing the time that is
mainly required between the planning as well as delivers project-related phases. It is found that
with the help of agile approach, it is quite important to have proper functional software in a very
much shorter period of time which generally helps in providing proper benefit for executing the
close out the project successfully.
Continuous adaptation: With agile project management, it is very much necessary to
properly understand that the changes that are done within the project are mainly acceptable. With
the help of this particular methodology, the project manager can be able to make a shift within
the project requirements and within the entire scope of the project successfully (Renaud 2018).
The changes which are mainly done during the project progress must be minor so that it would
not create any type of impact on the project objective.
Greater transparency: As the end-users are generally involved within the procedure
because the end-users can be able to see various types of development that are needed for
accomplishing the project objectives and therefore the agile approach helps in offering a high
level of transparency within the entire project. It is opined by (Harb, Noteboom and Sarnikar
2015) that although agile methodology provides transparency however proper care needs to be
taken in order to reduce various types of mistakes which are generally made due to enhancing
visibility as well as different types of blunders which can be avoided within the entire project.

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Self-motivated workforce: Agile project methodology generally helps in offering a
number of advantages that further helps in minimizing the amount of micro-management that is
mainly needed to be done. The agile team is very much self-motivated and as a result, they
generally work collaboratively for completing the work of the project successfully.
Predictable costs and schedule: As each of the sprints within the project remains fixed
and therefore both the cost and schedule within the agile methodology is found to be predictable
and this is one of the most important features that help in executing the project successfully
within the assumed time and budget (Dwyer 2017).
Continuous planning: Agile PM assists in continuously planning the work of the project
quite successfully and the planning for the project is mainly done on the basis of solid as well as
accurate data that further helps in enabling the project for allowing priorities as well as the scope
of the project with proper reason (Ciric et al. 2018). The feature of continuous planning mainly
helps the project such that the agile project helps in allowing priorities as well as the exact scope
with proper reason.
Continuous testing: As agile methodology helps in undertaking continuous testing
therefore, it becomes quite easier for the project manager to measure the progress of the project
ad for preventing different types o project released defects. It is found that due to continuous
testing, the problem or issues within the Debenhams project can be identified quite successfully
such that they get resolved by undertaking proper strategies (Zubov et al. 2019).
Early as well as predictable delivery: It is found that with the help of time-boxed as
well as fixed schedule, it is found that a number of features are generally delivered successfully
with very much high level of predictable. This further helps in providing a proper opportunity in

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releasing the beta test of the software that is planned if there is a proper amount of value of the
entire business.
Early identification of challenges: small releases are generally visible and therefore the
development team generally needs to properly determine the issues as well as challenges which
further make it very much easier for successfully responding to the various changes that are
required to be made within the entire project (Kerzner 2017). It is found that early identification
of the project challenges is found to be beneficial in resolving the project related challenges in
the initiation phase.
The processes that are mainly found to be beneficial for the successful project activities
execution are mainly elaborated below:
 Conceptual phase: In this particular step, the project is mainly envisioned as well as
prioritized in order to plan the entire project.
 Inception phase: In this phase, the team members of the organization are generally
determined where proper funds are placed so that the initial environment, as well as
requirements of the project, will be discussed quite successfully (Kerzner 2018).
 Iteration phase: Within this phase, the development team who are assigned for the work
helps in delivering the software that is mainly based on the iteration requirement as well
as feedback that is mainly received.
 Release phase: Within the release phase of the project, proper testing, as well as proper
training and documentation, is mainly provided so that the entire project can be released
into the production phase (Hornstein 2015).

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 Production phase: Within the production phase of the project, proper on-going support
is provided to the project so that the project team member can be able to release products
of the entire project successfully.
 Retirement phase: This is the last phase all the project activities get ended such proper
notification to the customer is provided that further reflects that the entire project gets
completed successfully.
4. Anticipated issues for using this methodology
The issues that are faced while using agile project methodology within Debenhams store
closure project are mainly elaborated below:
Lack of proper teams: According to Hornstein (2015), the language that is mainly
utilized within the agile manifesto helps in referring technical information that are very much
significant for the developers as well as the agile project team. It is found that due to the absence
of proper cross-functional team within the organization, it becomes quite difficult to properly
maximize the opportunities and as a result, they are unable to work effectively within the project.
Daily stand up meetings: as agile methodology generally undergoes a number of daily
stands up meetings such that the work that is executed must be done properly. It is found that the
entire team must plans as well as take actions about the daily happenings. This is very much time
consuming and the team members of the closure project face a number of difficulty in joining the
meeting on a daily basis.
Handle urgent on-demand task: The main challenge that is faced while using agile
PMM in undertaking the Debenhams store closure project is the handling of urgent as well as on-
demand tasks as well as bugs (Todorovic et al. 2015). In order to handle the entire work of the

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project, it is quite necessary for the team members to have proper experience otherwise the entire
project work takes too much time.
Incorporation testing after each phase: After executing each of the project phases, it is
quite important to undertake to test for making sure that the project in on the track and it will be
helpful in accomplishing the project activities (Rasnacis and Berzisa 2017). However, it is very
much difficult for the team to undertake to test after each phase of the project for avoiding
challenges and issues which the project and additionally the entire procedure is found to be time-
consuming.
Issues related to communication: As agile project managers try to practice as well as
reinforcing proper communication. While undertaking the store closing project, it becomes quite
difficult to use the proper mode of communication so that none of the project team members will
face any type of issues or challenges.
5. Conclusion
It can be concluded from the entire paper that agile project methodology is found to be
most suitable for the execution of the Debenhams store closure project. It is identified that the
agile project methodology is found to be appropriate as t not only helps in executing the project
on time but also helps in determining different types of project issues so that the needed changes
can be done within the project. It is found that proper evaluation of the PM methodology is one
for reflecting the ways with which the PM methodology is found to be beneficial for the entire
project. In addition to this, agile project team helps in supporting the project and assist in
determining the number of pitfalls in a very much controlled way that is helpful in executing the
project within predictable schedule and budget. The paper also elaborated different features as

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well as processes that are mainly used for executing the Debenhams store closure project.
Moreover, the paper discusses the various types of issues and challenges including issues due to
handling of the urgent task, issues based on communication as well as problems due to daily
stand up meetings that are faced by the project managers while using the agile project
methodology within the Debenhams store closure project.

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