Agile Methodology and PMBOK: Comparison, Application, and Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive comparison between Agile methodology and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). It begins by defining project management methodologies and emphasizing the importance of selecting the appropriate approach based on project requirements. The report outlines the core concepts of PMBOK, including its structure, processes (initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closing), and knowledge areas. It then introduces Agile methodology, highlighting its iterative nature, emphasis on communication, and suitability for dynamic project environments. The report delves into the Agile elements (product, performance, customer, and team) and methodologies like Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP). A detailed comparison between PMBOK and Agile is presented, covering the initial phases, planning, execution, and project closure. The report also illustrates how Agile methodology aligns with the Project Life Cycle (PLC). The conclusion advocates for the use of Agile methodology, especially due to its flexibility, user involvement, and ability to deliver customer satisfaction, which is a critical factor in modern project development.

Running head: AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
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1AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
Project Management Methodology:
Definition:
Project management methodology is a set of steps, which helps to develop and execute
the project with maintaining certain attributes. The methodology regarding the project
management can be of different types. Choosing of project management methodology depends
on the type and requirement of the project. Methodology of project management starts from the
initialization of the goals and requirement of the project and ends with the evaluation and to end
the project. Guidelines regarding the project management are described in the PMBOK.
Acceptance of PMBOK is worldwide as the standard for the project management methodology.
Role of project methodology in the compilation of the project:
Choosing right methodology based on the type of project is important. Project
management methodology helps the project managers to indentify the specific requirement; for
the project (Snyder,2014). The goals and the required steps for achieving those goals can easily
be determined from the project methodology. It helps the to get a clearer view of the knowledge
area of the project.
PMBOK:
Project Management Body of Knowledge is guideline provided for the project
methodology. PMBOK is accepted worldwide. It consists of several chapters. The various
stages of the project methodology have been described with their certain attributes in this
guideline. The first and second chapter of PMBOK discusses the basic things and terms of
project management. The third chapter deals with the knowledge area of the project
management scope. The detailed guideline about the compilation of the project management

2AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
is described from fourth chapter to twelfth chapter. The structure of PMBOK has five group
of processes. They are-
 Starting of the project (Initialization)
 Planning the tasks of the project (Planning phase)
 Executing the plan (Execution)
 Controlling of the tasks and monitoring the project
 Closing the project
PMBOK focuses on the knowledge areas of the project scopes. There are ten knowledge
based areas of the project management in PMBOK. They are management of -
 project integration
 project scope
 project cost
 project time
 communication in the project
 required human resource for project
 risk involving in the project
 Procurement management
 Managing the stakeholders of project
 Managing the quality of project
Agile Methodology:
Agile methodology for developing a project is considered one of the modern approaches
regarding project management methodology. SDLC methodology with the iteration can be

3AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
considered as Agile methodology. The main aim of agile methodology is to deliver a project in
time efficient and accurate manner. There are many conventional model like waterfall model
regarding the project methodology .The advancement of the technology has changed the type of
requirement of the projects which leads to the modification of the methodology. Agile method is
suitable for working in this kind of situations. In the agile methodology the communication
between the developers and the user group is important. The main aim of this method is the
progress of the project and in order to do this face to face communication between the end users
and the developer are carried out so that the requirement can be clear from the both ends. Agile
methodology has four elements-
 Product
 Performance
 Customer
 Team
There are two types of agile method-
 Scrum agile
 Extreme programming(XP)
User’s stories are used in extreme programming (Abrahamsson et al.,2017).User
requirements are defined as user’s story The user’s stories are then transferred into class diagram
which falls under object oriented environment. The series of different versions the project are
called releases.
In scrum methods there are three roles defined in the project scopes-

4AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
The role of Scrum master is similar to project managers in the project.
Product owner ensures that the product has met all the requirements.
Development team delivers the project in time
The team allocates the priority of the requirements of the projects. This is known as product
blockage.
The time span of the iteration is known as sprint.
Daily Scrum defines the daily meeting between the developer and the end users in order to
deliver the project with right requirement and the quality.
Advantages of Agile method:
Agile method is flexible to use and it focuses on the progress of the project. The main
advantage of the agile method is that the communication between the end users and the
developers are being conducted on a routine basis (Tsai et al., 2016). This helps the developer
about the requirement of the end users more clearly and the end users can also become a part of
project development. This helps to gain customer satisfaction. The use of various advanced
technologies in the agile method makes it acceptable in the scenario of technological
advancement.
Comparison between PMBOK and Agile methodology:
Field of comparison PMBOK Agile
Initial phase of project In PMBOK this is the first stage
of the project, known as
initialization stage. The objective
In agile methodology, this phase
is known as vision
statement(Landry & McDaniel,

5AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
of the project and the goal of the
project is determined in this
phase.
2016). The finalization of project
goals, iterations and timeline of
the project is decided in this
phase.
Planning of the project The main requirements of the
project is determined at the
beginning of the project and the
updating of the requirement and
the plan is done during the
project timespan.
The release plan for a particular
project is done at beginning of
the project and the timeline of
each iteration is done through out
the project.
Execution plan The execution of the plans which
were made at the initial phase of
the project is executed in the
execution phase.
This stage in agile methodology
is known as team driven
development (Landry &
McDaniel,2015). The team
developers work on the project
blockage and the product owner
determines the priority of the
requirements in the project.
According to the given priority
the user story is used for the
development of the project.
Monitoring and controlling of the
project
Cost, risk, time and quality of the
project is controlled and
monitored through out the
project.
In agile methodology the time
and cost are the fixed factors.
Other factors apart from that is
monitored and controlled
Closing of the project Formal closing of the project is No formal closing happens in

6AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
done in PMBOK (Ghosh, 2015).
No feedback is taken for the
further modification.
case of agile methodology.
Feedback session is conducted
after the release of the version for
further modification.
Identification of agile methodology with PLC (Project Life Cycle):
Project life cycle is the set of inter-related logical phases which determines the sequence of
the happenings of the functionality of the task in the project development. It has four stages-
 Starting the project
 Planning the project
 Executing the project
 Closing the project
Figure 1: Identifying the agile methodology with PLC

7AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
(Source: Sverrisdottir, Ingason & Jonasson, 2014).
Determination for choosing the best process:
PMBOK provides the framework for the development of the project, whereas agile
method combines different advanced technologies under one domain and helps to develop the
project in an orderly fashion (Ahimbisibwe, Cavana & Daellenbach, 2015). Agile method is
flexible and the end users are involved in the development of the project, which delivers the
consumer satisfactions. Considering all these things it can be said that using agile method is
more preferable in developing a project.

8AGILE METHODOLOGY AND PMBOK
References
Abrahamsson, P., Salo, O., Ronkainen, J., & Warsta, J. (2017). Agile software development
methods: Review and analysis. arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.08439.
Ahimbisibwe, A., Cavana, R. Y., & Daellenbach, U. (2015). A contingency fit model of critical
success factors for software development projects: A comparison of agile and traditional
plan-based methodologies. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 28(1), 7-33.
Ghosh, S. (2015). Systemic Comparison of the Application of EVM in Traditional and Agile
Software Project. Integration, 5, 3.
Landry, J. P., & McDaniel, R. (2015). Agile Preparation Within a Traditional Project
Management Course. In Proceedings of the EDSIG Conference (p. n3429).
Landry, J., & McDaniel, R. (2016). Agile Preparation Within a Traditional Project Management
Course. Information Systems Education Journal, 14(6), 27.
Snyder, C. S. (2014). A guide to the project management body of knowledge: PMBOK (®)
guide. Project Management Institute: Newtown Square, PA, USA.
Sverrisdottir, H. S., Ingason, H. T., & Jonasson, H. I. (2014). The role of the product owner in
scrum-comparison between theory and practices. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 119, 257-267.
Tsai, J., Ho, C. Y., Chang, J., & Jiang, J. (2016). The Role of Agile Methodology Use and Feedback
Attributes in Game Development Projects: Implications for Game Project Quality