The aim of this research is to give a comprehensive overview of Agile Project Management and the deep impacts of its adoption into human relationships, processes and corporate culture. Throughout the analysis, a meta-framework has been developed to understand, at first, whether the environment and the structure of the project are compatible with a potential successful integration in the company. Once identified the dimensions of analysis, these have been translated into an evaluation module which has then been applied to the empirical experience. The final aim of the work is then to understand whether APM can be applied on an Organization by applying the model. This thesis is structured in three main sections: (1) The first pillar is an introduction to the basis of Agile Project Management and its key components, under the form of a Literature Review. This section features an extract of the latest State of Agile reports, a yearly document giving an overview on the involvement of APM in a sample of industries worldwide with detailed statistics on the features considered fundamental and their impact on the result. (2) The second pillar of the research features the development of the meta-framework, with the analysis of the parameters that constitute the three dimensions of an organization: its organizational culture, organizational structure and strategic setting. These dimensions have been explored according to their compatibility with Agile practices. (3) The third section of the thesis illustrates the company experience according to the factors introduced throughout the development of the thesis. The meta-framework is then used to assess the compatibility of the corporate culture, the features of the project, its width and impact with those ideal for a frictionless Agile development. The research stemmed from the desire to deepen the knowledge of company dynamics which are internal, after a year-long traineeship experience as a business analyst in a consulting firm. Having personally faced the issues that have been presented in this document, the thesis has been developed to be as complete and extensive as possible. The intent of the research was to evaluate, at first, the situation of a company to understand whether a transformation towards the adoption of Agile practices was suggested or even discouraged if the structure of the organization was found to be incompatible with a minimum set of key features that would otherwise be detrimental to the change of project management method. The change in style, moving from a traditional approach to an Agile one, being a radical change to the philosophy that guides a company itself, has deep impacts in terms of economic evaluations. Furthermore, the description of the different practices that are involved in this transformation with their possible downsides contributes in stimulating the organization to evolve towards a higher maturity level describing step by step what is needed to optimize the processes. Among these, a “fil rouge” in the analysis of Agile practices is dedicated to deepening the knowledge on the added value given by the contribution of employees which are actively involved in the dynamics of the company. The project on which we were enrolled was meant to lead an Italian first tier insurance company into a digital transformation process through which they would have brought together several legacy systems into a mobile app. Simultaneously, the organization would pursue a digital transformation strategy. The project was first introduced in early 2018 in the company by following a traditional waterfall stage-gate methodology; in November 2019 the company switched to Agile, under the form of Scrum framework. The evolution has been documented in the dedicated chapter.
L'obiettivo di questa tesi è di fornire una panoramica sulla metodologia Agile e sugli impatti che questa ha sulle relazioni umane, processi e cultura aziendale. Attraverso l'analisi è stato sviluppato un meta-framework per comprendere se l'ambiente e la struttura di un determinato progetto sono compatibili con una potenziale integrazione di successo all'interno della compagnia. Una volta identificate le dimensioni di analisi, queste sono state tradotte in un modulo di valutazione che è stato dunque applicato all'esperienza empirica. Lo scopo finale del progetto è stato dunque capire se la metodologia Agile possa essere applicata in un'organizzazione a priori per mezzo del modello. La tesi è strutturata in 3 sezioni principali: (1) La prima è un'introduzione alle basi della metodologia Agile e alle sue componenti chiave. Questa sezione comprende l'analisi dei report "State of Agile", documento annuale che fornisce una panoramica sull'utilizzo di Agile in aziende in tutto il mondo con statistiche sulle caratteristiche considerate fondamentali e i loro impatti sullo sviluppo del lavoro. (2) La seconda sezione contiene lo sviluppo del modello, con l'analisi dei parametri che costituiscono le tre dimensioni di un'organizzazione: la cultura organizzativa, la struttura organizzativa e l'assetto strategico. Queste dimensioni sono state esplorate e valutate secondo la compatibilità con pratiche della metodologia Agile. (3) La terza sezione illustra l'esperienza svolta in azienda secondo i fattori analizzati lungo lo sviluppo della tesi. il modello è stato dunque utilizzato per valutare la compatibilità della cultura e struttura aziendale, le caratteristiche del progetto con il loro impatto sull'adozione di un metodo Agile fluido. Questa ricerca ha origine nel desiderio di approfondire la conoscenza delle dinamiche interne di una compagnia nel corso di un tirocinio annuale nel ruolo di business analyst presso un’azienda di consulenza. Avendo personalmente affrontato le tematiche presentate nel documento, la tesi è stata sviluppata per essere il più completa ed approfondita possibile. Lo scopo della ricerca è stato di valutare inizialmente la situazione di un’organizzazione per comprendere se la trasformazione verso l’adozione di pratiche Agile sia suggerita o scoraggiata se la struttura dell’organizzazione fosse incompatibile con un set minimo di requisiti. Il cambiamento di metodologia in questo caso sarebbe addirittura dannoso. Il passaggio da uno stile di project management tradizionale all’Agile, essendo un cambiamento radicale per la filosofia che guida un’organizzazione, ha impatti profondi in termini di valutazioni economiche. Inoltre la descrizione delle differenti pratiche coinvolte in questa trasformazione, con i loro possibili aspetti negativi, contribuisce a stimolare l’evoluzione della compagnia verso un livello di maturità più elevato descrivendo passo passo ciò che è necessario per ottimizzare i processi. Tra questi, un filo rosso nell’analisi delle pratiche Agile è dedicato ad approfondire la conoscenza sul valore aggiunto fornito dal contributo degli impiegati, coinvolti attivamente nelle dinamiche dell’organizzazione. Il progetto nel quale siamo stati coinvolti prevedeva di guidare una compagnia assicurativa di primo piano nel panorama italiano lungo un processo di trasformazione digitale e il contemporaneo sviluppo di un'applicazione per la gestione del lavoro. Il progetto è stato introdotto in azienda nel 2018 secondo metodologia tradizionale, a Novembre 2019 la compagnia ha avviato un processo di transizione verso Agile con struttura Scrum. L'evoluzione della trasformazione è stata documentata nel capitolo dedicato.
Agile project management on digital transformation : a reference meta-framework for the assessment of compatibility on existing organizations
MAUGERI, GIULIO
2018/2019
Abstract
The aim of this research is to give a comprehensive overview of Agile Project Management and the deep impacts of its adoption into human relationships, processes and corporate culture. Throughout the analysis, a meta-framework has been developed to understand, at first, whether the environment and the structure of the project are compatible with a potential successful integration in the company. Once identified the dimensions of analysis, these have been translated into an evaluation module which has then been applied to the empirical experience. The final aim of the work is then to understand whether APM can be applied on an Organization by applying the model. This thesis is structured in three main sections: (1) The first pillar is an introduction to the basis of Agile Project Management and its key components, under the form of a Literature Review. This section features an extract of the latest State of Agile reports, a yearly document giving an overview on the involvement of APM in a sample of industries worldwide with detailed statistics on the features considered fundamental and their impact on the result. (2) The second pillar of the research features the development of the meta-framework, with the analysis of the parameters that constitute the three dimensions of an organization: its organizational culture, organizational structure and strategic setting. These dimensions have been explored according to their compatibility with Agile practices. (3) The third section of the thesis illustrates the company experience according to the factors introduced throughout the development of the thesis. The meta-framework is then used to assess the compatibility of the corporate culture, the features of the project, its width and impact with those ideal for a frictionless Agile development. The research stemmed from the desire to deepen the knowledge of company dynamics which are internal, after a year-long traineeship experience as a business analyst in a consulting firm. Having personally faced the issues that have been presented in this document, the thesis has been developed to be as complete and extensive as possible. The intent of the research was to evaluate, at first, the situation of a company to understand whether a transformation towards the adoption of Agile practices was suggested or even discouraged if the structure of the organization was found to be incompatible with a minimum set of key features that would otherwise be detrimental to the change of project management method. The change in style, moving from a traditional approach to an Agile one, being a radical change to the philosophy that guides a company itself, has deep impacts in terms of economic evaluations. Furthermore, the description of the different practices that are involved in this transformation with their possible downsides contributes in stimulating the organization to evolve towards a higher maturity level describing step by step what is needed to optimize the processes. Among these, a “fil rouge” in the analysis of Agile practices is dedicated to deepening the knowledge on the added value given by the contribution of employees which are actively involved in the dynamics of the company. The project on which we were enrolled was meant to lead an Italian first tier insurance company into a digital transformation process through which they would have brought together several legacy systems into a mobile app. Simultaneously, the organization would pursue a digital transformation strategy. The project was first introduced in early 2018 in the company by following a traditional waterfall stage-gate methodology; in November 2019 the company switched to Agile, under the form of Scrum framework. The evolution has been documented in the dedicated chapter.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2020_04_Maugeri.pdf
Open Access dal 15/04/2021
Descrizione: Testo della tesi
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/165548