A Qualitative Case Study: Research Synthesis on Agile Project Failure

This assignment is a research synthesis focusing on the reasons behind the failure of agile projects. It begins with paraphrasing statements from researchers like Gulla (2011) and Luckeman (2015), highlighting the issues of delivering projects on time and budget but failing to meet business outcomes, and the challenges in engaging customers effectively. The synthesis then presents agreements and consensus among researchers such as Alqudah and Razali (2017), and Dikert, Paasivaara, and Lassenius (2016), regarding the risks and criticisms of agile methodologies. The paper discusses ongoing debates and establishes the importance of research in reducing IT project failures, emphasizing the need for management to adapt life-cycle models. The assignment includes a detailed reference list, a paper outline covering the introduction, problem statement, and literature review, which explores themes like the importance of execution method selection, factors affecting project success, and key considerations such as scope, time, cost, and quality requirements. The conclusion highlights the need for stakeholders to collaborate and identify appropriate methods for agile project implementation to mitigate failures.

ASSIGNMENT 5: RESEARCH SYNTHESIS
Name:
Research Topic: A Qualitative Case Study on Why Agile Projects Fail
PART 1: CITATIONS
Paraphrasing What Researchers Say
Original statements
1. Gulla (2011) indicates that an analysis of the PMO Executive Council’s project database reveals a
disturbing reality: even among those projects that are delivered on time and on budget, the majority fails
to deliver expected business outcomes.
2. Luckeman (2015) claims that to achieve successful projects managers need to effectively engage project
customers butit is not yet clear how to adequately engage the customers from foreign cultural
backgrounds.
Paraphrased statement
1. Gulla (2011) shows that according to the project database of PMO executive council even among
projects that get delivered on budget and time, many do not deliver outcomes that are expected.
2. Luckeman (2015) claims that for agile projects to be successful, all the project customers have to be
engaged effectively though no one knows how.
Agreement and Consensus
1. Alqudah and Razali concur that many global organizations do not know the importance of making use of
agile methods and those who are aware do not want to make use of them based on the level of risks
involves (Alqudah and Razali, 2017).
2. Dikert, Paasivaara, and Lassenius, agree that agile methodologies have received criticism and support
and studies about this shows that the accommodation of change towards them could bring project failure
of success (Dikert, Paasivaara, and Lassenius, 2016).
Ongoing Debates
1. In discussions about project failure, Holgeid, and Thompson, (2013) claim that governments need to
avoid major IT failures and instead ensure the realization of value to public service, but Hussain, and
Mkpojiogu, (2016) claim that it is the responsibility of businesses managers to make good choices
concerning agile methodologies for their projects.
2. In the issue of agile project failure Gulla (2011) concedes that businesses fail to plan well before they
execute a major project though Luckeman (2015) feels that the lack of project customer engagement
results to the failure of the projects.
Establishing Why Claims Matter
1. There is the desire for research to contribute towards the reduction of considerable time and money
wastage due to spectacular IT project failures within the public sector (Hussain, & Mkpojiogu, 2016).
2. Agile methodologies affect both business and management related functions but the key challenge
involved is that the management needs to change the life-cycle models and consider the feature-centric
and iterative models for agile project success (Dikert, Paasivaara, &Lassenius, 2016).
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PART 2: REFERENCES
Alqudah, M. K., & Razali, R. (2017). Key factors for selecting an Agile method: A systematic literature review.
International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology, 7(2), 526-537.
Dikert, K., Paasivaara, M., &Lassenius, C. (2016). Challenges and success factors for large-scale agile
transformations: A systematic literature review. Journal of Systems and Software, 119, 87-108.
Gulla, J. (2011, August). Seven reasons why information technology projects fail. In SHARE Conference.
Holgeid, K., & Thompson, M. (2013, June). A reflection on why large public projects fail. In The Governance
of Large-Scale Projects (pp. 219-244). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG.
Hussain, A., & Mkpojiogu, E. O. (2016, August). Requirements: Towards an understanding on why software
projects fail. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1761, No. 1, p. 020046). AIP Publishing.
Lückmann, P. (2015). Towards identifying success factors for cross-cultural project customer engagement: A
literature review. Procedia Computer Science, 64, 324-333.
PART 3: PAPER OUTLINE
Introduction
The paper context is on why agile projects fail. Agile methods are being preferred more than the
structured methods of production that existed before. Due to this fact, businesses and corporations are looking
for ways of switching to agile methods. However, research has confirmed that half of agile projects never get to
completion based on cost or time overrun. Reasons given for this include the fact that the selection process of
the methods is poor.
Problem Statement
There is need to research about what makes agile projects to fail based on the fact that the occurrence
affects many businesses and corporations. Agile project failure remains a persisting issue as evidenced from
cost and time overruns being experienced. These overruns affect agile software producers and project sponsors
who have to part with more capital. Huge economic loss could be experienced if solutions to agile project
failure is not investigated and obtained. This cases study involves investigating the reasons for agile project
failure and possible remedies.
Literature Review Outline (Review of the major themes that emerged from your literate research)
 Introduction
The topic of the paper would be the exploration of why agile fail. The topic is of great importance in
research as it seeks to solve issues related to the failure. When projects fail, they cause great variations in both
time and budget. This aspect ends up being economically not viable due to the financial losses experienced in
the process. The case study will involve the use of theoretical reviews to explore the issue.
 Body (3-5 bullet statements of themes identified. Optional to include sub-bullets of research studies and
findings)
 Theme 1
According to research, proper execution method selection in agile projects can reduce time and cost
overruns beyond what is planned for project completion.
 Theme 2
Competency, proper communication skills, team size and organizational culture, collaboration of
customers and criticality level of a project are among the factors that affect its success.
 Theme 3
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Additional key considerations include the constraints related to agile projects such as scope, time, cost,
and quality requirements.
Conclusion
Though existing literature seems to look into the matter of agile project failure, there are still major
issues related to the persisting problem. Current research has not been able to offer solutions that could make
projects be completed on schedule. Agile projects have been experiencing failure leading to extension of time
and budget. Researchers have tried to look for ways through which to resolve the issue and have attributed the
problem to be wrongful use of agile methods. It is recommended that all stakeholders in the projects come
together, plan well beforehand and identify the right methods to be applied in project implementation.
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