Project Management System: Primavera Gets Agile - Essay Example

 Case Study 3: Primavera Gets Agile Primavera was, and still is, a solid company with great growth potential, along with a sizeable customer base that was expanding. As noted, however, that customer base was growing increasingly frustrated with the slow releases of new updates. Some updates were so slow in coming that by the time they came out, customers were already onto a whole host of new features that need fixing. The process seemed endless and the organizational structure was determined to be mostly at fault. As such, there are several key problems that should be noted about Primavera’s developmental organization that necessitated the adoption of agile strategies. While Primavera specializes in project management software, it appears they were not well versed in the true art of project management themselves. To begin, the team was suffering from low morale. Even working professional adults thrive on the praise of others, yet the upper management at Primavera was tearing up even the best efforts of the group. Management was growing increasingly frustrated at the slow response to needed software updates and upgrades. This is most likely a result that can be direct attributed to inadequate workflow. The group was under the impression that if they worked harder and longer hours, then their efforts would be rewarded by the release of quality software updates that the owners and customers alike would be proud of. In the end, they failed to realize a lasting principle of software development: It is important to work smarter, not harder (Vijayasarathy & Turk, 2011, p. 137). By working long hours, the team was arriving at the office tired and with a lack of focus each day. The scrum technique described in the case study went to great lengths to eliminate this part of the organizational culture. In essence, the current project management system at Primavera is inherently flawed. Instead of embracing the team-oriented approach, individuals are given up to 100 tasks or more to complete over a 9-12 month time period. There is little collaboration and the team does not realize until it is too late that certain elements of a software update are far behind schedule. Each member of the group was working at their own cubicle, with no sprit of cooperation amongst team members until working on critical components of the program that had to be out together over massive amounts of overtime and weekend work. As such, Primavera was ripe for implementing agile strategies into their workflow. The vice-president of Primavera realized there was a problem with the organization of this particular group. Several attempts to rectify the situation end largely in failure and a minimum of positive results. With morale continuing to decrease, the team losing out on year ended bonuses, and reality of a major organizational shakeup in the pipeline if production did not improve, other programs and methodologies. Owing to the fact that the Agile Software Development strategy aimed to increase the visibility, adaptability, and business value of the entire project management system, and the fact that risk was minimized with its implementation, the idea was quickly adopted company wide as a possible way to rectify a dire situation. Almost immediately, results were seen that the moral of the group increased and important milestones were being met month by month. The reality was, however, that the team still needed to be more functional in terms of taking customer needs, adapting them to the current 3.5 software release, and quickly turning out needed and reliable upgrades that the market demanded. The agile software development encompasses a plan to accomplish just these features, making it a particularly good fit for Primavera. The name ‘agile’ says it all. It is a plan that requires the team to be flexible and to adapt to change (Dyba & Dingsoyr, 2008, p. 852). That was hard to do under the current system of individuality in terms working on various assigned tasks. A team oriented approach was swiftly implemented in order to get the entire group working together in teams of 10 to accomplish set tasks in a month-long sprints. This enable each team then to come together on a month basis, share what they had developed, and then work to be flexible to implement any needed changes as they were discussed. The teams were organized in workstations where everyone face each other in a collaborative manner, making this a hallmark of the agile approach. Right from the outset it paid dividends, as seen reflected in the reality that a number of vital tasks were completed in the first month alone, and those results were visible (again, a hallmark of the agile approach). Under the old system, results were not seen for up to a year, as there were few team and group updates implemented along the way. This was a big ‘win’ for the agile system of software development and Primavera as a company. There are several reasons that can be seen to explain why the agile methodology that Primavera used produced better and bigger business values than traditional project management methodologies. It begins with the radical shift in team values. The agile method enable the organization culture at Primavera to shift towards one that enabled each member of the group to feel valued and that they were an integral part of each project. It provided them with a focus, via the month long agile sprints, that enabled to rapidly produce effective technology solutions that increased their overall business value to the company. Not only did this immediately increase bottom line of the company, not to mention the level of trust felt by their customers, but is create an increase in overall morale as upper management finally begin to acknowledge the solid contributions of the group. In addition to the aforementioned benefits associated with business value and focus, the agile methodology allowed the overall risk typically associated with software development to be significantly reduced. In the end, this accelerated the pace of various deliverables, ensuring that the value contained in each task continued to be maximized throughout the development process (Dingsoyr, Nerur, Balijepally, & Moe, 2012, p. 1213). The case study at Primavera reveals that tasks assigned to each working team were greatly enhanced upon implementation of the agile system, maximizing the respective workflows that each individual and team were responsible for. Because of the continuous feedback received throughout the process, each was able to easily adapt to any changes that were made along way. This means the new requirements or expectations being communicated by Primavera’s existing customers could easily be integrated into the software development process. What this accomplished was a 4.0 release that incorporated all of the necessary changes in one fail swoop, rather than the traditional methodology that Primavera was used to where they have to go back and release multiple ‘fixes’ in order to catch up to the demands of the product and customer base. Since 2004, Primavera has seen an increase in productivity. The issue prior to the implementation of the agile methodology was not a lack of business; rather, is was conducting its software development program with efficiency. They were at risk, prior to this, of losing much of their existing client base. After incorporating the agile program into its business development plan, Primavera has experienced growth, both numerically and economically. By becoming more efficient, they have reduced labor cost, increased productivity, and have been able to once again pay bonuses to their dedicated staff, thanks to an increase in revenue. In addition, the last decade has seen an increase in client satisfaction thanks to a consistent schedule of upgrades and Primavera’s ability to not only listen to customer demands, but to quickly implement them as well. In short, the agile methodology has literally saved Primavera from the brink and restored their place as a leader in the software development field. References Dingsoyr, T., Nerur, S., Balijepally, V., and Moe, N. (2012). A decade of agile methodologies: Toward explaining agile software development. The Journal of Systems and Software, 85(6), 1213. Dyba, T., and Dingsoyr, T. (2008). Empirical studies of agile software development: A systematic review. Information and Software Technology, 50(9), 833-859. Vigayasarathy, L., and Turk, D. (2011). Drivers of agile software development: Dialectic interplay between benefits and hindrances. Information and Software Technology, 54(2), 137. Read More