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Critical Success Factors for Agile Project Management in Non- Software Related Product Development Teams

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Critical Success Factors for Agile Project Management in Non- Software Related Product Development Teams Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 12-2017 Critical Success Factors for Agile Project Management in Non- Software Related Product Development Teams Jeff Totten Western Michigan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, and the Instructional Media Design Commons Recommended Citation Totten, Jeff, "Critical Success Factors for Agile Project Management in Non-Software Related Product Development Teams" (2017). Dissertations. 3178. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/3178 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN NON-SOFTWARE RELATED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS by Jeff Totten A dissertation submitted to the Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology Western Michigan University December 2017 Doctoral Committee: Louann Bierlein Palmer, Ed.D., Chair David Szabla, Ed.D. Daniel Gaymer, Ph.D. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN NON-SOFTWARE RELATED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS Jeff Totten, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2017 The use of agile project management methods in the software development industry is well established and researched. The purpose of this study is to understand whether agile project management methods (Scrum in particular) used successfully in the software industry are also being used in full, or in part, in non-software development industries when managing product development projects. Using an online survey instrument, data was collected from 329 non-software/IT global practitioners to identify in what industries and work functions agile project management methods are used, to find the independent variables that have a significant relationship with project success, and to determine the reasons why agile project management methods may not be used in non-software development industries. Project success was defined by 11 separate dependent variables. Of the respondents, 238 (72%) used agile project management methods to some degree, and of those, 150 (63%) used the Scrum Framework. Results from this survey show that agile project management is used in industries other than software development, mainly in manufacturing, training and consulting, research and development, and education. Four independent variables that showed significance with project success included: (1) the commitment by management with a clear vision, (2) holding daily stand-up meetings, (3) keeping task sizes small, and (4) using visual management. The main reason for not using agile project management is insufficient time to change from current methods. These findings suggest that agile project management methods are being used in industries outside of software development. Further, a small number of significant independent variables can be used to predict multiple dependent variables of project success. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Louann Bierlein Palmer, my dissertation chair and advisor, for her unwavering support throughout this journey. She provided timely responses, held me accountable to a high standard, and offered consistent and professional feedback on countless iterations of my work. I also want to thank Dr. David Szabla for joining my committee upon his arrival at Western Michigan University and for guiding me through the statistical analysis, and Dr. Daniel Gaymer for his excellent classroom instruction and for his participation on my team. Finally, I wish to thank my family for their patience and support throughout the whole process. Thank you to my parents, Don and Joan Totten, for their encouragement along the way and for my mother’s unlimited energy in assisting me through the writing process. Thank you to my children, Nicole, Zachary, and Kala, for their patience while I focused on my dissertation. And most of all, thank you to my wife, Lori, for being my biggest supporter, for her continuous encouragement, for giving me the gift of time, and for partnering with me on this project from start to finish. Jeff Totten ii © 2017 Jeff Totten TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................................................. ii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Background ...........................................................................................................1 Problem Statement ................................................................................................6 Purpose Statement and Research Questions .........................................................8 Conceptual Framework and Narrative… ..............................................................9 Organizational Factors ...............................................................................12 Human Resource Factors ...........................................................................13 Technical Factors .......................................................................................13 Perceived Project Success ..........................................................................14 Methods Overview ..............................................................................................16 Significance of Study ..........................................................................................16 Chapter 1 Closure ...............................................................................................17 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................19 Agile in the Software Industry ............................................................................19 Common Agile Project Management Attributes ........................................21 iii Table of Contents - Continued CHAPTER Agile Leadership ........................................................................................24 Scrum .........................................................................................................26 Agile in Non-Software Related Industries ..........................................................28 Agile in Education .....................................................................................30 Agile Stage-Gate System ...........................................................................33 Chapter 2 Closure ..............................................................................................37 3 METHODS ..................................................................................................................38 Research Design .................................................................................................38 Population, Sample and/or Site ...........................................................................40 Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (HSIRB) ......................................42 Instrumentation ...................................................................................................42 Data Collection Procedures .................................................................................46 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................48 Cross Walk Table ................................................................................................52 Limitations and Delimitations .............................................................................52 Chapter 3 Closure ...............................................................................................54 4 RESULTS ....................................................................................................................55 Reporting of Data ...............................................................................................55 Descriptive Results ....................................................................................56 Inferential Results ......................................................................................73 iv Table of Contents - Continued CHAPTER Chapter 4 Closure ...............................................................................................95 5 DISCUSSION ..............................................................................................................96 Analysis/Discussion of Major Results ...............................................................96 Findings Related to Research Question 1 ..................................................97 Findings Related to Research Question 2 ..................................................99 Findings Related to Research Question 3 ................................................107 Relationship
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