EBTH Case Study: Agile Project Management and Website Development

This case study examines the digital transformation of EBTH, an online auction website, and how it leveraged Agile project management to achieve significant revenue growth. The analysis covers the application of Agile principles, including customer satisfaction, continuous delivery, and team collaboration. It explores the use of a project approach questionnaire to assess the viability of Agile methodologies and identifies key roles and responsibilities within the project. The study details the creation of high-level requirements, including business and technical specifications, and employs MoSCoW prioritization to manage features such as email sign-ups, video functionality, and customer relationship management. User stories are developed to capture user perspectives, and a delivery plan incorporating Kanban is proposed. The contingency theory of project management is applied to understand how EBTH adapted its management approach to changing circumstances. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the project's scope, requirements, and implementation strategies, offering valuable insights into successful digital transformation within the e-commerce sector.

Case Study on EBTH Assessment 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Possibilities OF applying Agile PM principles during the project..............................................3
An appropriate project approach questionnaire...........................................................................4
Clear review on agile project management approach..................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Roles and responsibilities that has been introduced in the case study.........................................4
Relevant theory of project management......................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Creation of high level requirements............................................................................................6
Reason for choosing the features.................................................................................................7
List of Requirements and Prioritisation.......................................................................................7
Discussion....................................................................................................................................8
User stories..................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
Delivery plan...............................................................................................................................9
Application of Kanban tool.........................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Project management can be defined as an application of skills, knowledge, techniques and
tools to all project activities for meeting all project requirements (Radujković and Sjekavica,
2017). This study is going to show some important Agile PM principles that can help project
managers in accomplishing their goals and knowing their effectiveness. Kit will further discuss
effectiveness of contingency theory of project management by which project manager can
perform all activities with efficiency.
TASK 1
Possibilities OF applying Agile PM principles during the project
In regard to Agile project management it can be said that it refers an iterative approach to
delivering a project throughout its lifecycle in order to make projects successful. For better
success, it is important for project managers to follow all principles of agile project management
such as
Satisfying customers through earl and continuous delivery: The first agile principle
says that project managers should give the highest priority to satisfy customers’ needs by
continuous delivery of valuable software. It is believed that by providing early and continuous
delivery of products, company generate faster ROI by meeting customers’ demand.
Delivering value: Other Agile principle states that project manager should provide value
frequently from a couple of weeks to couple of months (Hidalgo, 2019). The main aim of this
principle is to decrease batch sizes that employees use to process work.
Breaking silos of project: Other Agile principle state that for better results and
improvement, it is important for developers and business people to work together daily
throughout the project. The main aim of this principle of changing developers’ word to engineers
or designers is to create synchronization between all those stakeholders who help company in
creating value and to those who plan or sell it.
Face to face communication: Rather choosing any another way of communicating with
stakeholders, project managers is asked to choose face to face communication in order to convey
information in a better way.
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An appropriate project approach questionnaire
1. What is the main agile principle that is vital for project’s success?
 Face to face communication
 Satisfying customers through continuous delivery
 Team working
Interpretation: Majority of participants or stakeholders said that according to them satisfying
customers’ through continuous delivery is vital for making projects successful. When customers’
get valuable or qualitative projects and services then it makes them feel valued and retain them
with business for the long run (Malik, Ahmad and Hussain, 2019).
2. How agile principles and project approaches can help project managers?
 Increase ROI
 Increase performance of projects
Interpretation: When participants or employees were asked about effectiveness of project
approaches then majority of people said that if project manager follows all principles then it can
help them out in increasing ROI. When customers get valuable services then they buy products
and are less likely to switch brand and it leads to ROI.
Clear review on agile project management approach
Overall, in regard to agile project management approach it can be said that this software
development methodology is centred round the idea where requirements of stakeholders as
solutions by project manager evolve. It is all based on collaboration between cross functional
teams (Kaim, Härting and Reichstein, 2019). In this context, it can also be said that this approach
can help EBTH in auction website development and can help it out in accomplishing goal of
generating revenue from $8 to $70 million in only 4 years.
TASK 2
Roles and responsibilities that has been introduced in the case study
In the case of EBTH, it is stated that this company wants to develop its website and through it, it
wants to increase revenue. Anyone whose family members has died or want to earn money, can
listed their items online that start at $1 and buyer around the US can bid for 5-7 days until the
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listed item sells. The main role that is being playing for improving project and making its
successful is leader.
 It is found that leaders guide and provide direction to all employees in order to improve
their performance and reducing their errors. When employees get proper direction then
they are more likely to improve their performance and provide qualitative projects and
services to customers that lead values and improved ROI (Meng and Boyd, 2017).
 It is also found that the main key of success behind this project is ability of leaders to
learn from risks and by analysing risks, making changes and improvements immediately.
When changes are being made as per the requirements of demands and needs of
customers then it also help project manager in accomplishing goals and increasing sales
as well.
 Training to employees by project manager is another important role that has been
discussed and covered in this case study. In this regard, it is being stated that training
makes employees able to perform their functions with concentration and without
committing mistakes.
Relevant theory of project management
There are several theories of project management that can help project manager of this
company in accomplishing goals or increasing revenue by developing website. Among all
project management theories, contingency is known as an effective organizational theory. It is
based on the idea that roles of project manager is to establish the best possible fit between
organization and its subsystems of environment as by doing so or collaboration, better outcomes
can be achieved. It is all about the way of managing projects and it may change as per the
changes in circumstances because this theory believe that there is no best and one size that may
fit in all project types or project management so, changes need to be done as per the
circumstances (Lagstedt and Dahlberg, 2018).
So, as per this theory, roles and responsibilities of leaders and project managers can be
understood in an effective and better manner. It consists or discusses all roles that have been
shown in the case study and this theory is vital in applying all roles in managing projects or
accomplishing goals.
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TASK 3
Creation of high level requirements
Every project needs specific requirements according to the project goals and objectives.
There are basically two types of high level requirements which include business as well as
technical requirements. The business requirements help in changing the capabilities which results
from the project. The technical requirements helps in defining the solutions regarding the ways
in which projects becomes satisfied. The project is based on updating the auction website
according to the new technologies. There will be various high level requirements which can help
in carrying out the project related to integrating the technologies in the auction website. There is
a need to write the content according to which changes can be made and updated in the website.
Due to the globalisation and technological advancement, it is the need of the company to update
its website so that its sales can be increased thereby increasing the profitability. This e-commerce
company must be operated like Technology Company (Marthasari, Suharso and Ardiansyah,
2018). The major requirement is of data analytics which will help in determining that which
things work and which things do not work with the customer base. High level requirements are
used in this project such as coding will be done by making use of high level languages which can
be used for integrating various functions in the website and also deciding the design of the
website. The various requirements will be used in the project of upgrading the auction website
EBTH (Everything but the House) which will especially benefit at the times of pandemic when
the people are more updated on the online platforms and tries to search for the things online
rather going outside (Bond-Barnard, Fletcher and Steyn, 2018). Many different soft-wares were
used for developing the new pages and adding the functionalities which are completely new in
the website. Also various databases were created as requirements where the high amount of data
will be stored.
The major features are added to the website of EBTH such as signups for email newsletters,
efficient working of the videos, free or promotional content, surveys for increasing the online
interaction, customer relationship management systems and many more. The main purpose of
adding these features in the website is that these features can help in adapting to the new
methods and strategies which are present in the market (Noguera, Guerrero-Roldán and Masó,
2018). This will attract more number of customers and will also help them in making use of
services of the company easily and effectively. These features will also help in increasing the
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profitability of the company as the sales will be increased. Contingency theory can be used for
the project management of website of EBTH. The main function of this theory is establishing the
best possible fit between the company, its sub systems and the environment. This is how, the
purpose for adding the high level requirements were demonstrated clearly.
Reason for choosing the features
Along with the mentioning the high-level requirements, there is a need to prioritize the
requirements so that according to the priority things can be done early or late. This will help in
managing the requirements and the resources. In this, the project manager will decide about the
activities and the requirements which can be eliminated which are having lower priority as
compared to the other (Papke-Shields and Boyer-Wright, 2017). There are various factors which
decide the prioritization of the requirements such as preference, cost of implementation, risks
and the business value. The prioritization for making the EBTH website technologically
advanced will be done by making use of MOSCOW prioritization and estimates which helps to
manage the requirements. These describe the ‘must have’, ‘should have’, ‘could have’ and ‘will
not have’ rules.
List of Requirements and Prioritisation
Requirements MOSCOW prioritization rules
Email newsletter sign-ups Must have
Efficient working of videos Must have
Promotional content Should have
Surveys for increasing interaction Could have
Customer relationship management system Must have
Databases Must have
Software Must have
Online web forms Could have
Purpose and Goals Must have
Domain Name Must have
Site pages and features Must have
Website Builder Must have
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Hosting Should have
Connecting domain name to website Must have
Robotic features Will not have
Real time entries Will not have
Discussion
The main reason behind prioritisation is that it helps in knowing about the activities which are
needed for the project and which can be eliminated. For example, the ‘must have’ rules deal with
the requirements which are guaranteed to be delivered. The ‘should have’ rules deal with the
requirements which are not much important but vital and not meeting this can affect the project.
The ‘could have’ rules are the requirements which are desirable or wanted but are considered to
be less important. There is not much impact if these requirements are left out (Cooper and
Sommer, 2018). The ‘will not have’ requirements are the least important regarding which the
project manager agreed to not deliver.
User stories
Valid User stories were also developed as the smallest unit of work in agile framework. It is
basically an end goal which is expressed from the perspective of the user. The systematic user
stories were developed for the user such as the user can be able to access all types of videos
easily; they can easily interact with the products and services of the company, this can help in
building stronger relationship with the customers. The project if managed successfully can help
in facilitating majority of the customers (Koi-Akrofi, Koi-Akrofi and Matey, 2019). The major
component of this agile software development of the auction website is to put the people first and
also the user story helps in putting the end users and customers at the centre of the conversation.
Good acceptance criteria were developed such as the innovative technologies like data analytics
will be used for updating this auction website for EBTH. This helps the project manager to covey
the idea clearly to the project team.
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TASK 4
Delivery plan
Systematic project plan was developed for the delivery of the project by the project manager.
This depends on the scope of the project which helps the team to design, develop and launch the
website (López, Laguna-Sanchez and Gutierrez, 2018). The delivery plan for the website
included various steps such as discovery and planning which will take approx. 2 to 10 weeks, the
design process which will take almost 12 weeks, content writing and assembly will be done
which will take not more than 15 weeks, development and programming stage which will be
going to take almost 15 weeks, beta testing and review will be done in almost 6 weeks, new site
will be launched in not more than 3 weeks and then the maintenance and enhancements will be
done. This is how, systematic and appropriate delivery plan is developed by the project manager
for the auction website of EBTH at Cincinnati.
Application of Kanban tool
Kanban is basically a workflow management method which defines, manages and
improves the services which helps in delivering the knowledge work. Kanban Board is
considered as the source of inspiration to build or improve the board. This can also help in
mapping the workflows. It is basically a digital or physical project management tool which helps
in visualising the work, boosting the team and maximizing the efficiency. There are major
components such as Column, Card, Swimlanes and the WIP limits.
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Figure 1: Kanban Board
Source: What is a Kanban Board, 2021
The project also follows various rules of Kanban tools such as the website will not lead to
delivering of any kind of defective products and services, every type of fluctuations will be
removed, the designing process of website will be stabilized and rationalised and many more.
Kanban tool is mainly used for making small incremental changes to the existing processes. This
can be used in EBTH auction website as there is no need to change the existing processes upside
down but the project teams want to begin a new approach to the project management (Machado,
L'Erario and Duarte, 2017). The website also need not to be removed but need to become
advanced by making use of innovative technologies so that maximum customers can be attracted
and facilitated which can help in increasing the number of sales. This is how, the agile
methodology and the project management techniques can be used to manage the project of
updating and advancing the EBTH auction website.
CONCLUSION
The above report shed light on the agile principles of project management which were also
used in the project management of the auction website of EBTH in Cincinnati. The contingency
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theory was also used in the same to increase the effectiveness of the project. This was also
observed that various high level requirements were needed for carrying out the project which
were prioritized by making use of MoSCoW prioritization and estimates. The discussion was
carried forward by describing the user stories and the backlogs along with developing a
systematic delivery plan for the project delivery to the end users or the customers. The Kanban
tools were also used for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the project.
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REFERENCES
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monitoring tool in undergraduate courses. In 2017 IEEE Frontiers in Education
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Marthasari, G., Suharso, W. and Ardiansyah, F.A., 2018. Personal Extreme Programming with
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Online
Remedies, Results and Outcomes of Unfair Dismissal. 2018. [Online]. Available through <
https://www.fwc.gov.au/termination-of-employment/unfair-dismissal/
remedies#:~:text=If%20an%20unfair%20dismissal%20case,than
%2026%20weeks'%20pay>
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