Project Delivery Approaches for a Remote Community in Northern Territory

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ENGG5812: Project Delivery Approaches
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ENGG5812
Assignment 3
Part 1: Agile Questions
1. What is servant leadership and what does it have to do with agile?
Servant leadership refers to the servant like approach of a leader, rather the latter tries to
generate trust among employees. They hold themselves accountable to the team
members. Power is distributed and shared with the team. They do initiate actions but
methodically. Such a leader will understand the importance of making others participate in
the activities of the organization and treat them equal or at par with his position. In such
cases leaders become quite popular in the team as they want to ensure the team members’
needs are in top priority. They emphasize mainly on the well being and development of
team members and their community. Such leaders do not depend on any single leadership
style or approach, rather the latter will vary according to situations and the environment.
Such a role of a servant leader is quite relevant in case of an Agile environment. Here the
objective is to optimize utilities of the team, but it will not signify that such a leader avoids
his role of a leader or gives away all his responsibilities to the team. If the team members
are quite efficient then the servant leader can move to the role of a facilitator (Moreira,
2017). In such case, leader needs to just fill up the gaps. Otherwise the leader needs to
play an active role of leadership. Since an Agile organization is not essentially plan driven,
therefore such a leader is quite suited for the same. Servant leader will also mould his
strategies as per needs and situations. This is of prime importance to Agile set up.
2. Explain what cadence means in an agile project.
Cadence refers to music and rhythm. So cadence in a business will signify the regularity of
something that happens on schedule. Agile organizations has everything for a fixed
duration. The waterfall model is a sequential design process where the process will flow
steadily across different phases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction,
testing, production/implementation and maintenance. So it has a directional approach.
Cadence is more is more in line with waterfall approach. In a project management plan,
cadence ensures planning and meeting milestones. In case of an agile framework, cadence
refers to the development cycle of the team (Leffingwell, 2010). Factors like criticality, risk
and type of projects determine the cadence selected by a business. When the cycle of
planning, progressing and retrospecting is customized for feedback, shorter cycle leads to
faster cadence and feedback. Feedback is an important component of any project because
it leads to lowering of risks. Therefore a faster cadence can help reducing risk since it
brings down the time taken to gather feedback. Projects involving heavy engineering works
usually have slower cadences. In an agile project which can determine project failure much
earlier than the deadline, a shorter cadence is more applicable. The cadence might not
have fixed intervals but need to be altered as per the needs of a particular project and
situation.

3. What is the relationship between Lean & Kanban Methods?
Lean methods of production originated in Japan when a renowned Japanese motor
corporation Toyota had to improve its system of product delivery. Lean system refers to an
agile methodology. The idea is to avoid waste and defects and trying to detect any problem
in the initial stages of a business project. Any process or change which cannot have
positive impact on the functioning of the final software in positive direction may be called a
waste in case of Lean method. Kanban method of production was also an invention of
Toyota Corporation and came up around 40s. Kanban does not attempt to eliminate
wastes, rather it helps in optimizing the process of a business project by adjusting supply of
raw materials. Earlier it was used in software development just like Lean methods, while
both the methods are now used in Agile environment. Kanban teams try to visualize
workflow. This is important for increasing the speed of their work. The Kanban cycle has
only one cycle. It does not have any separate plan. The Kanban tool helps improve lead
time and cycle time. This method helps in achieving adequate access to workflow with the
help of Kanban Tool online service. Team communication may be improved with Kanban
card comments, checklists, etc. Kanban tool ensures that the process remains flexible and
can be changed and improved with ease. When the team is more focussed with application
of Work in Progress limits, there is little or no slip-ups and time spent on communication is
saved (Stellman and Greene, 2014). Hence productivity improves. So both will apply to
agile setting. Kanban is a method which takes precautions even before receiving
feedbacks.
4. What are at least 5 factors to consider when deciding if an agile approach is going to
suit a project?
Suitability is a scale which signify an ideal condition. The key factors affecting suitability of a
project are related to contingency issues. They include limitations of agile methods and
ability of an organization to deal with agility or adapt to changes. Cultural values and
individual abilities determine the second key factor. Motivation and adequate training of
workforce is the other factor determining suitability of an agile approach. An agile method is
better when the organization needs the same. It might not always be better for all firms. The
five themes governing contingency factors are uncertainty, complexity, team empowerment,
criticality and urgency. When all these factors are present, one may say that agility is
suitable for a project or business. If there is a project which needs to be completed without
much waste and defects, involving high costs, there agile is essential. Suitability will be
determined by readiness of the workforce to get fitted in such an environment.
Organizational cultures are determined by effective leadership (Dijk, 2010). So if there is a
servant leadership style in the organization agile is more likely to be suited. The team
needs to be adequately trained for being flexible in their approach and be focussed
absolutely. It is essential to determine whether certain waste minimizing tools are being
used there.
References
Dijk, R.W. (2011). Determining the Suitability of Agile Methods for a Software Project,
Retrieved from:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1b1e/0dc84cfb8e1e4e67a208403d75f941541851.pdf
Leffingwell, D. (2010). Agile Software Requirements, Addison-Wesley Professional
Moreira, M.M. (2017). The Agile Enterprise, Apress
Stellman,A. and J. Greene (2014).Learning Agile, O’Reilly Media Inc.

Part 2: Project Delivery Plan
Project Title:
SCENARIO:
Provide the scenario you are using for this for this options paper. This may come from the
assignment guide or may be one you have proposed. This section is not assessed and is not part
of your word count.
A remote community in the Northern Territory becomes isolated for at least a week after only
moderate rain fall. They lose communication, no access to food or medical supplies and are not
able to move cattle stock to fresh feeding grounds. Deliver a project that addresses both the
immediate issues and greatly reduces the likelihood of it occurring so frequently in the future.