Project Management Methodologies For John Wiley

Question

Task: John Wiley Information Technology Infrastructure Company operating for the past 25 years. This company
undertake IT related infrastructure development projects up to $250 million. Currently employ approx. 60
professional staff for the delivery of projects from inception to completion and handover. At present the existing
PMIS system currently in use is inadequate to manage the projects effectively and efficiently. The company
have decided to scrap the entire system and implement a new system for the future.
Assume that you have been engaged as an IT consultant to review the current operations and recommend the
appropriate system and IT (Hardware, Software, Infrastructure, Staffing, Training, etc.) requirements for the
next 10 years.
PART A (10%)
Each student must investigate the following:
a. Alternative planning methodologies and techniques are appropriate for the delivery of current and future IT projects.
b. Recommend the selection of a particular methodology and technique. The methodology and techniques used here must be evaluated and commented on with your recommendations’.

Answer

Executive Summary
The following assignment discusses the importance of implementing project management methodologies. It starts with discussing different methodologies and their traits and scopes. The mentioned project management methodologies are agile methodology, scrum methodology, Kanban methodology and Lean methodology. Finally, the paper recommends the organization to implement agile as their project methodology. The recommendation has been evaluated and logically established in the end of this current research paper.

Part A
1. Introduction
The current research paper contains a detailed discussion on the project management methodologies. It further discusses the systems that need to be implemented in John Wiley Information Technology Infrastructure. The Agile methodology and the related information system are the key topic of this research paper.

Scope: John Wiley Information Technology Infrastructure Company has been planning to alter the IT infrastructure to cope with current technological development. This discussion enables John Wiley to explore various project management methodologies to implement IT infrastructure into their current operational framework.

Aim: the aim of the current discussion is to identify appropriate project management methodology for the implementing new IT infrastructure.

Objective: The objective of the current analysis to explore or critically analyse various project management methodologies in order to choose suitable methodology for the implementation of the IT infrastructure in John Wiley.

2. Alternative planning methodologies and techniques are appropriate for the delivery of current and future IT projects
A methodology indicates the accumulation of system, techniques, practices and rules involved in the management of the project (Joslin, 2019). These techniques aim to assist the project managers and guide them throughout the stages of the project till it ends. The different project management methodologies contain their own strategies of managing the issues before delivering the project. Some of the effective project management methodologies and their features are mentioned in the following discussion.

Methodology 1. Scrum
This particular methodology contains five values. The five values are courage, commitment, focus, respect and openness. Developing, delivering and sustaining complex projects with the help of various collaborations, iterative progress and accountability is the motif of this particular project management methodology. The scrum methodology performs its operations by using a certain pattern of artifacts, events and role and that’s what makes it different from the other agile methodologies. This methodology contains a team of three designation, the product owner whose work is to represent the stakeholders and act as the voice of the customers (Ardakani, Hashemi, & Razzazi, 2018). Then comes the development team where developers, programmers and designers deliver the product and lastly the scrum master. The role of the scrum master is to ensure that the project is following the rules that the methodology contains. The next part is the scrum events which is again classified into 5 categories such as sprint, which contains the time duration in which the goal is supposed to be accomplished (Blank, 2017). The Scrum Artefacts contains two factors, the product backlog and the Sprint backlog. The product is generally managed by the product owner and in this part, all the necessary requirements are needed to be presented for an alternative or variable product. When a list of work is overdue and has to be finished by the coming Sprint, it is called the sprint backlog. Small projects with less than 7 people involved can opt out the scrum methodology. It is flexible and hassle free for the smaller projects.

Advantages:

• All stages involved in scrum methodology could be visible in the development process
• Changes due to client feedback is an easy process
• Scrum gives best outcome while involving customers

Disadvantages

• Scrum involves strict governances which may lead to failure
• Due to team dependency, if team member leaves project that leads to failure of the project

Methodology 2. Kanban
Kanban is another famous methodology falls under the Agile structure. It has quite a few similarities with the scrum methodology and for that matter, it emphasizes on collaborative projects and self-managed team (Khatri, Garg, & Dangayach, 2018). It is more of a visual method of project management which delivers quality results and paints the entire picture of the workflow process. The methodology contains six general practices to perform its operations. They are visualization, making explicit policies, managing the flow of the project, limiting work in progress, collaborative and experimental and using the feedback loops. The Kanban methodology is quite efficient as it uses the visual clues and signals of the different stages of the development.

Advantages

• It is a flexible process
• It is the best methodology to maintain delivery flow

Disadvantages

• The development process could be disrupted due to backdated Kanban
• Overcomplication is the main issue in this methodology

Methodology 3. Lean
The methodology that glorifies and promotes the maximizing customer value is called the Lean methodology. It uses minimal resources yet creates more customer values. This is a very cost-effective methodology to be used in a project management. Its main motif is to minimize the waste and maximize the customer value. The methodology identifies three kinds of wastes (Kunkel, et al., 2018). Muda, Mura and Muri which are also called the 3Ms. Muda involves the motion, inventory, transport, overproduction, waiting, over processing and defects of the projects. The Mura helps eliminate the variances of the workflow. In order to do so, it has a scheduling and operational level to make the procedure smooth and even. The Muri helps removing the overload of the project.

Advantage:

• need less infrastructure for project implementation
• limited waste is the major advantage of Lean

Disadvantage

• missing delivery is one of the major complications in lean
• labour failure is also a major issue with lean

Methodology 4. Agile
It is a set of practice promoting continuous iteration and development of the software involved in the projects of the organization. It helps in the development of the lifecycle of process. It focuses on responding to change over just blindly following a structure, working software over the comprehensive documents, customer collaboration over negotiating contracts and individual and team communication over technologies and tools.

Advantages

• agile supports fast communication
• products reach market fast
• flexibility is one of the major advantages

Disadvantage

• involves weak prediction
• final outcome less periodized for release

3. Can you recommend the selection of a particular methodology and technique amongst the project management methodologies?
It is recommended that, Agile methodology is the most recognizable project management technique suitable for John Wiley Information Technology. Since, the projects of this company are iterative and incremental, nothing better than the Agile methodology can deal the tsk of the project management in this case. The collaborative effort of self-organizing factors help evolving the solutions of the demands of the project in hand. The Agile methodology was created for software development but has evolved and become one of the finest and effective project management methodologies (Matos, Romão, Sarmento, & Abaladas, 2019). The Agile Manifesto is the root of the principles and values of Agile methodology. The methodology has strong values. It focuses on the interactions and the individuals over the tools and the processes. It focuses on the working software over comprehensive documents. The customer collaboration is given more attention than the contract negotiation and lastly, it focuses on the evolving changes rather than following a consistent plan for long. The method is quite adaptive in nature and helps managing and delivering complex projects (Rahman, Shafique, & Rashid, 2018). Minimum of six main deliverables are used in this methodology which keeps the track of the progress of the project. Along with that, this method helps creating the product vision statement, product backlog, reason plan, Sprint backlog, product roadmap and increment. The projects that need flexibility yet are complex can use this methodology as the project management techniques. Its adaptive nature shall help running the project hassle-free.

4. Conclusion
The mentioned research paper has discussed on the project management methodologies and the features in it. It mainly focuses on the Agile methodology and the relative information system. In the research paper, the different features of the agile methodology have been thoroughly discussed.

5. Bibliography
Ardakani, M., Hashemi, S., & Razzazi, M. (2018). Adapting the scrum methodology for establishing the dynamic inter-organizational collaboration. Journal of Organizational Change Management.

Blank, S. (2017). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard business review.

Joslin, R. (2019). Project Management Methodologies, Project Success, Project Governance, Contingency Theory, Agency Theory, and Stewardship Theory. In R. Joslin, Project Management Methodologies, Governance and Success (pp. 17-30). Auerbach Publications.

Khatri, A., Garg, D., & Dangayach, G. (2018). Modelling of Prime Agile Enablers: People, Virtual Integration and Information Technology. Procedia Manufacturing, 20, 464-469.

Kunkel, H., Mullen, L., Robinson, N., Thomas, C., Morrow, K., Kaiser, M., & Simakajornboon, N. (2018). 1068 Utilizing Lean Methodology To Improve The Sleep Study Results Turnaround Process. Sleep, 41, A397.

Matos, P., Romão, M., Sarmento, J., & Abaladas, A. (2019). The adoption of project management methodologies and tools by NGDOs: A mixed methods perspective. Journal of Business Research, 101, 651-659.

Rahman, H., Shafique, M., & Rashid, A. (2018). Project success in the eyes of project management information system and project team members. Abasyn University Journal of Social Sciences.