Project Management: Extreme Programming vs Scrum Methodologies

This case study analyzes the contrasting aspects of extreme programming and scrum methodologies for developing an online simulation game in a nursing school. It discusses the reasons why extreme programming is best suited for this project and justifies its suitability in terms of the Iron Triangle and Iwi and Māori organizations.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The following case study takes into account a given school of nursing which is trying to develop
an online simulation game. It thoroughly analyses and highlights the contrasting aspects of
extreme programming and scrum methodologies of agile framework in order to incorporate the
best ground for the simulation game development within the university.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
Discussion............................................................................................................................4
Why Extreme programming Methodology is best suited for this case study?................4
Justification in terms of The Iron Triangle......................................................................5
Suitability in terms of Iwi and Māori organisations........................................................7
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
For the enhancement of the nursing school, a development of an online simulation game
has to be performed. This online simulation game will help all the nurses to practice their
medication, multiple patients care, manage intravenous lines, easily communicate with other
doctors and properly recording the patient’s conditions. There are two best agile methodologies
that can be used and implemented throughout the development phase (Matharu et al., 2015).
These methodologies are namely Scrum and XP. These are two of the most popular types of
methodologies that are used during software development. However using the Extreme
Programming methodology (XP) is best suited for this particular project.
Discussion
Why Extreme Programming Methodology is best suited for this case study?
Although scrum and XP are similarly aligned to a specific extent, there are certain
differences. These potential differences are what makes XP better suited for this particular
project (Kumar & Bhatia, 2014). In order to justify this fact, there are several points that can be
related with this case study. These are as follows:
While using a scrum methodology, the iteration length is usually 1-2 months long and
this iterating length cannot be modified later. In case of extreme programming, the length is
typically 1-2 weeks long. Moreover, modifications can be made later in order to meet specific
requirements within the XP paradigm (Dalalah, 2014). Since the iteration time for scrum is much
greater, XP is the best suited for this project because a long-term maintenance within the
university portal can have several negative impacts including the students scoring less in their
exams.

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 Another reason for choosing extreme programming over the scrum methodology
is, XP allows the development team to work on the basis of priorities. This can prove to
be immensely helpful as suggestive inputs can be noted down from the nursing students.
These inputs will comprise of the potential features that the game will have which will
help the students gain a better understanding of their subject. Contrastingly, in case of
scrum methodology, the product owner of the project is the one who finalizes the product
backlogs.
Unlike scrum methodology, XP provides its users with several engineering practices such
as test driven development, pair programming, automated testing, refactoring and simple design
(Vithana, 2015). Incorporating these engineering practices within the simulation game will be
immensely helpful. As scrum does not involve any kind of engineering practices this is another
reason of choosing the XP paradigm over scrum.
There are several other beneficial aspects of using the XP paradigm. One of the most
basic advantages that the projects working under a XP methodology has is the ease in
accountability and simplicity in terms of visibility (Qureshi & Ikram, 2015).

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Justification in terms of The Iron Triangle
The Iron Triangle is a project management tool that is used for representing the
interdependencies among the cost schedule and scope of a particular project (Pollack, Helm &
Adler, 2018). It also helps in successfully modelling the constraints of the project. As depicted
by the name, it is referred to as iron because a new change cannot be incorporated without
impacting the other constraints. For this particular simulation game development project, the
methodology which is to be implemented is the extreme programming paradigm (XP).
Implementing this methodology within this nursing project will allow it to be finished within the
due time and cost barrier which are one of the most important factors of any project.
Value and Quality
Since the simulation game is to be played by almost all the nursing students for a
thorough and virtual guidance in their fields, a quality product is expected by implementing the
concepts of extreme programming (Marchewka, 2016).
Cost, scope and schedule

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A monetary fixation will be done by the management team involved with this
project. Since this is a university level project, the cost of the project is to be keep feasible and
has to be completed within the given period of time. Furthermore, extreme programming
provides simplicity in terms of planning and designing. Therefore, the scheduling constraint can
easily be dealt with as well by implementing extreme programming. The people involved with
this project for the successful execution of the project deliverables are tracker, tester,
programmer and coach (Kerzner, 2017). There are security issues related to the project as the
project involves incorporating security measures to multiple users. Continuous integration,
testing and small releases are some of the apt beneficial aspects of extreme programming that is
sure to have an immensely positive impact on the project outcome.
Suitability in terms of Iwi and Māori organisations
Proper management methodologies and plans are needed to be incorporated within the
Iwi and Māori organisations. A reintroduction in terms of the traditional knowledge of managing
resources is highly needed. Therefore, the organizational framework for Iwi and Māori should
explain the particular as well as the general iwi Māori values, attitudes, policies and beliefs
((Marchewka, 2016). In addition to that, a proper management plan within the organization should also
include activity specifications, permissions and restrictions.
Conclusion
To conclude, although it is recommended to implement a scrum methodology for a
software development project and then move on to a XP methodology, the specifics of this game
development project clearly reflects that incorporating the XP paradigm will be highly effective.
High quality in terms of project outcome is expected to be achieved by implementing the
concepts of this methodology. Moreover this paper establishes firm differences between scrum

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and XP. Although both are agile in nature, there are some factors that are needed to be kept in
mind during incorporating a particular methodology. This will immensely help the project in
terms of meeting the specific requirements of the targeted users. In addition to that the
management policies of New Zealand’s traditional organizations along with an iron triangle
justification has also been covered throughout this paper.

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References
Matharu, G. S., Mishra, A., Singh, H., & Upadhyay, P. (2015). Empirical study of agile software
development methodologies: A comparative analysis. ACM SIGSOFT Software
Engineering Notes, 40(1), 1-6.
Dalalah, A. (2014). Extreme Programming: Strengths and Weaknesses. Computer Technology
and Application, 5(1).
Vithana, V. N. (2015). Scrum requirements engineering practices and challenges in offshore
software development. International Journal of Computer Applications, 116(22).
Qureshi, M. R. J., & Ikram, J. S. (2015). Proposal of Enhanced Extreme Programming Model.
International Journal of Information Engineering and Electronic Business, 7(1), 37.
Pollack, J., Helm, J., & Adler, D. (2018). What is the Iron Triangle, and how has it changed?.
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 11(2), 527-547.
Marchewka, J. T. (2016). Information technology project management: Providing measurable
organizational value. John Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kumar, G., & Bhatia, P. K. (2014, February). Comparative analysis of software engineering
models from traditional to modern methodologies. In 2014 Fourth International
Conference on Advanced Computing & Communication Technologies (pp. 189-196).
IEEE.