GRAD 695 Research: Agile and Lean for IT Collaboration Scaling

This document presents the research proposal and approval for GRAD 695, focusing on the application of Agile and Lean methodologies to scale collaboration within IT organizations. The research aims to address the problem of effectively blending these two methodologies to improve project quality and cost-effectiveness in IT project management. It highlights the potential contributions of this research to understanding the gaps in current IT practices and enriching work experience by identifying innovative strategies based on value chain optimization and dynamic manufacturing. The problem statement emphasizes the need for collaboration between Agile and Lean methodologies to maintain project quality and cost-effective idea sharing, referencing survey data that indicates risks associated with implementing Agile practices. The research will explore the impact of these methodologies on business processes and project outcomes, contributing to the development of improved strategies for IT project management.

Approval for GRAD 695 Research / 699 Approach
Student Name:
Student ID:
Instructor:
Topic Title: Scaling collaboration across the IT organizations through Agile and Lean program
management
GRAD 699/PMGT 699 Capstone Options and Description
The intent of this approval form is to ensure that students in GRAD695 plan for the second
portion of the Capstone and make the decision based on interest and the criteria outlined below.
The approval for each student must be completed before Week 6, the formal start of the
GRAD695 research paper.
Write about:
• Highlights of the proposed research and application to the Capstone.
The propose research is based on the implementation of Agile and Lean methodologies
within IT organizations. These organization are based on delivering various forms of services and
thus producing faster outcomes for the business. The Lean methodology was very much adopted
in the IT organizations during the time of software development. The development of a particular
software requires high level of experience and various kinds of strategies and models of
development. The Agile methodologies are also being used within the development of softwares
and hence has been primarily been adopted based on the development of software systems
(Diebold & Dahlem, 2014). This research purely focuses on the implementation of the blending of
these two methodologies for the purpose of developing projects and tasks in a higher manner.
This form of blend is highly necessary as this would involve faster delivery of outcomes and
proper coordination of the systems (Kupiainen, Mäntylä & Itkonen, 2015).
Based on the impact of the mixture of these two forms of methodologies, it would be
extremely helpful for understanding the business and project needs in an efficient manner. In the
recent times, various forms of IT based firms make use of these two methodologies based on the
development of high form of softwares and the requirements of the business. These form of
critical practices within the business would bring positive outcomes for the project and would
also impact the various process outcomes of the business (Rigby, Sutherland & Takeuchi, 2016).
• How will this research contribute to your studies and enrich your current work experience.
The conduction of research helps in understanding the gaps within the existing IT based
firms based on which they are not been able to implement the use of both of these
methodologies within the approaches of business. The understanding of the gap within the
literature would be fulfilled with the implementation of proper form of lean and agile based
methodologies within the impacts of the business processes. The primary pillars based within the
combination of lean and agile methodologies are based on innovative form of strategies that
could be adopted. These form of strategies could be based on value chain, dynamic
GRAD 695 Approval Form v.8 Nov 2017 1

manufacturing of products and softwares and global based E-manufacturing units. As a Quality
Assurance in an IT company, I would be greatly helped by the conduction of the research. This
research would be able to define the ways in which the Agile and Lean methodologies could help
in improving the quality of work. This would also help in improving the quality of work within any
concerned project. (Qrunfleh & Tarafdar, 2013).
GRAD 695 Problem Statement Description:
With the huge forms of developments there has been a massive need for a vast form of
collaboration of Agile and Lean based methodologies within project management scenarios. The
main problem of this research is based on the blend of these two methodologies. The problem is
based on maintaining the quality of the project and thus maintaining cost effective ways for
sharing of ideas. According to a conducted survey, it has been estimated that 94% of
respondents were facing various risks based on implementing agile practices. Hence it could be
understood that these forms of blending of methodologies would be very much helpful for a
successful business venture.
The student must share the topic, problem statement, planned approach to the research and
two resources in file format.
If the GRAD 699 Thesis option is selected, please describe your intended research
(100 words) and include TWO of your research resources (complete files) that best
support your topic selection:
References
Diebold, P., & Dahlem, M. (2014, May). Agile practices in practice: a mapping study.
In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in
Software Engineering (p. 30). ACM.
Kupiainen, E., Mäntylä, M. V., & Itkonen, J. (2015). Using metrics in Agile and Lean Software
Development–A systematic literature review of industrial studies. Information and
Software Technology, 62, 143-163.
Qrunfleh, S., & Tarafdar, M. (2013). Lean and agile supply chain strategies and supply chain
responsiveness: the role of strategic supplier partnership and postponement. Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal, 18(6), 571-582.
Rigby, D. K., Sutherland, J., & Takeuchi, H. (2016). Embracing agile. Harvard Business Review,
94(5), 40-50.
GRAD 695 Approval Form v.8 Nov 2017 2