Agile Project Management

• Projects following a "top-down"/"from-beginning-to-end" sequence are considered a Digitalization Project.
• The "Waterfall Project Management" or "Classic Project Management" is best for projects with clear customer requirements from the beginning, and that the project environment is unlikely to change significantly.
• Waterfall Project Management presents challenges for projects where end user requirements remain unclear at the start, which is common in complex digitalization projects.
• In digitalization projects, end users' specific needs evolve through interaction and experimentation with a basic version of the new system.
• Agile Project Management addresses the issue of bypassing user needs.

Agile Project Management

• ‘The Agile Manifesto' was published in 2001 by 17 software developers.
• Instead of combining all planning into one phase, then all execution into a follow-up phase, Agile Project Management alternates "planning" and "executing" in iterations allowing users to request changes throughout the project.

Key Agile Project Terms

• Product Owner is responsible for defining, prioritizing features, functionalities, and the overall vision of the product
• User Story is a short description of features and functionalities an end user wants from a product
• Product Backlog is a prioritized list of tasks, features, or user stories that need to be completed, serving as a project "To Do" list, populated throughout the project's lifecycle to incorporate new user requests
• Scrum Master is responsible for planning and moving the project forward (Project Manager), and leads the Scrum Team
• Sprint is each iteration of an Agile Project, the Scrum Team identifies tasks based on the Backlog and completes them here
• A Sprint is typically planned for a Timebox of one to four weeks
• Release refers to a specific version of a product that is made available to users
• A Release is often a result of a specific Sprint, then demoed by end users, whose feedback updates the Product Backlog

Initiation Phase

• Also known as "Needs Identification & Requirements Analysis" or “Inception”.
• Elements include:
• Identifying Product Owner Requirements, "bird's eye perspective” requirements for the entire project and detailed requirements for the first sprint
• Designing a Product Roadmap, documenting the project's major milestones, releases, and deliverables
• Creating a first Product Backlog with a list of features for the project must deliver, e.g. in the form of User Stories
• Release planning, providing an overview of with features will be dealt with per sprint or “Timebox"
• Agreeing on a Definition of Done, which creates mutual understanding of what it means for the project to be complete
• Discovery and Research, which analyzes analyzing current systems and processes, gathering requirements

Sprint Iteration

• Small cycles of “System Design”, “System Development”, “Integration”, “Implementation”, and "Training/Change Management" until the Definition of Done has been reached
• In Agile, Project Management is based on repeated cycles of planning and executing
• Sprints are scheduled for one to four weeks with work selected from the Product Backlog, then planned and executed
• The work is delivered to the Product Owner and end users, who make requests

(1) PLAN

• The tasks include:
• Refining the Product Backlog to ensure the user story is well defined and contains sufficient detail
• Estimating the size and complexity of each User Story by assigning points to each story
• Selecting suitable User Stories for inclusion in the Sprint, which are moved to a Sprint Backlog, which depends on the team's historic work speed

(2) DESIGN

• Tasks include:
• Identifying solutions for the user stories features prioritized for the sprint
• Creating a plan for how these solutions will be created based on wireframing, prototyping, and mock-ups

(3) DEVELOP

• The main task is:
• Creating the features functionalities from the User Stories of the Sprint, created in the Design Phase, and involve programming, purchasing hardware and/or software, installing hardware and/or software

(4) TEST

• The task is:
• Testing the features and functionalities which were previously created in the Sprint from a technical and user perspective (i.e. ensuring the output functions per the end user's expectations)

(5) DEPLOY

• The task is:
• Setting up the output of the Sprint in the live environment and includes migration processes

(6) REVIEW

• During the Sprint Review, involve live demonstrations or presentations for feedback, questions, suggestions, and requests, which are added to the Product Backlog

(7) RELEASE

• This involves:
• Making the completed work of the Sprint available to end users
• End users can make request based on this phase

CLOSURE

• Occurs during the final phase of Agile Project Management, Project Closure.
• Formally present the completed work to the Product Owner
• Hand over the completed work to the support or maintenance team
• Conduct a Retrospective for analysis of what went well and documenting the project
• Evaluating and successfully and symbolically end the project

A contrast is drawn between digitalization projects, Waterfall project management and Agile project management. Agile project management addresses the issue of bypassing user needs. Agile Project Management alternates planning and executing in iterations, allowing users to experiment.