Project Management Report: Agile Project Management Methods and Tools

This report provides a comprehensive overview of project management, focusing on agile methodologies. It begins by defining project management and then delves into the agile project management method, explaining its iterative and collaborative approach, and providing examples like John Lewis Partnership and Mott MacDonald. The report then examines project management software, categorizing tools as low-end, mid-range, and high-end, and comparing features of Microsoft Project 2019, Paymo, and MeisterTask. Finally, it explores work breakdown structures (WBS) and Gantt charts, demonstrating their creation using Microsoft Project and Microsoft Office Excel, and concluding with a preference for Microsoft Projects due to its ease of use and clarity. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of project management tools in achieving project objectives within specified parameters.

Project management

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Question 1 .......................................................................................................................................1
Agile project management method.............................................................................................1
Question 2........................................................................................................................................2
Project management software.....................................................................................................2
Question 3........................................................................................................................................3
Work breakdown structure and gantt charts................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................6

Introduction
Project management is defined as a practice which comprises of initiation, planning,
execution, control as well as close the work of team for attaining specified goals along with this
acknowledge the success criteria (Brewer and Dittman, 2018). This report comprises of agile
project management method and different tools that are associated with management of project.
Question 1
Agile project management method
An iterative approach that is being utilised for guiding as well as planning processes of
project is referred to as agile project management. Basically, it is an incremental approach that is
being utilised for delivering needs throughout project life cycle (Serrador and Pinto, 2015). They
renders behaviour of trust, empowerment, flexibility, collaboration and also exhibits central
values.
To understand the concept of agile project management an instance can be taken, like
John Lewis Partnership which deals within retail industry with around 83000 employees can opt
for Scrum projects which involves models such as waterfall. It provides them with a framework
as per their rigid plans. Basically, here management can decide the flow if activities with respect
to how they flows. For an example hierarchical structure shows that top management gives
instructions to executives then to management and the flow goes on. Similarly, within waterfall
model each step is rigid like gathering of information with respect to specified project then
designing is being carried out and in any case if any of the steps fails then it starts from
beginning so that steps can be identified and accordingly modifications can be carried out.
There are different methodologies that are being provided by agile and depending upon
the requirements of firm it can be utilised. For an instance Mott MacDonald (multidisciplinary
consultancy with around 17000 employees) can make use of Kanban which is a scheduling
system and renders just-in-time as well as lean manufacturing. It will assist them to render their
services on time along with higher accuracy (Layton and Ostermiller, 2017). As they are
consultant it becomes necessary to provide costumers with services in appropriate and on
accurate time. It also provides management of Mott MacDonald with planning flexibility through
which their focus lies within progress of their work. Basically, agile denotes project management
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methodology which makes use of short development cycles that are referred to as sprints. Here
emphasis is on continual improvisation within development of services.
Agile focusses on satisfaction of customers and they are considered at highest priority &
can be attained by rapid as well as continuous delivery. The services or products are delivered
along with highest frequency as well as collaboration is carried out among developers &
stakeholders on regular basis (Stettina and Hörz, 2015). This leads to improvised efficiency by
fine-tuning behaviours along with this self-organising teams formulate best designs &
architectures for accomplishing needs of their customers or clients as per required standards.
Question 2
Project management software
There are different open source tools that are available to the firms for carrying out their
operations (Meredith, Mantel Jr and Shafer, 2017). They are generally categorised into low-end
tools (meister task) , midrange tools (paymo) and high-end tools (Microsoft Project 2019). They
have been illustrated below:
Name Microsoft Project
2013
Paymo Meister task
Tools High end tool Midrange tool Low-end tool
Functionality Built-in templates are
provided.
Projects can be
organised as per
deliverables, phases
or geography.
Resources can be
organised by their
resource types.
Project, task, team,
resource, financial
management. Along
with this they provides
time tracking, time-
sheet reporting, mobile
apps personalisation and
adaptable dashboard.
They provides Kanban
project boards, options for
customisation, tags,
comments, integrations, task
relationships, mobile apps,
automations, custom
dashboards and tags.
Price Free trial is availble
but its initial cost is
$7 per user per
It starts from $ 11.95. It is an open-source which
makes it free of cost but
there are different plans for
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month for project
online essentials.
having enhanced features
and their price is $8.25 per
user for a month.
Question 3
Work breakdown structure and gantt charts.
Microsoft Project is utilised for making the WBS. The system engineering and project
management which is deliverable oriented breakdown of a project within small sections is
defined as work breakdown structure. The WBS for building a house has been illustrated below:
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The work breakdown structure has been made using Microsoft Project. Gantt Chart refers
to a horizontal bar chart which is formulated as a production control. It has been shown below
through utilisation of different tools.
The gantt chart shown above has been drawn through the utilisation of Microsoft Office
Excel.
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The gantt chart shown above has been drawn through the usage of Microsoft project. The
diagrams are illustrated for building a house. It has been observed that from both of the tools i.e.
Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Projects, the later (Microsoft Projects) provides a better
results in terms of ease of usage as through this the gantt chart can be made easily. Along with
this graphics illustrated by this are also clear and easy to understand as well as time frame
required for each step is clearly stated.
I would prefer to make use of Microsoft Projects as they can be easily accessed as well as
there no complications in understanding the information that has been illustrated through this.
Conclusion
From above it can be concluded that, project management refers to the application of
methods, processes, knowledge, skills and experiences for attaining specified project objectives
as per acceptance criteria within specified parameters. Firm makes use of different project
management tools by which they can carry out their services according to their requirements.
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References
Books & Journals
Brewer, J. L. and Dittman, K. C., 2018. Methods of IT project management. Purdue University
Press.
Layton, M. C. and Ostermiller, S. J., 2017. Agile project management for dummies. John Wiley
& Sons.
Meredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J. and Shafer, S. M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Serrador, P. and Pinto, J. K., 2015. Does Agile work?—A quantitative analysis of agile project
success. International Journal of Project Management, 33(5), pp.1040-1051.
Stettina, C. J. and Hörz, J., 2015. Agile portfolio management: An empirical perspective on the
practice in use. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), pp.140-152.
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