Application of Traditional and Agile Project Management in ...

Application of Traditional and Agile Project Management in Consulting Firms.

A Case Study of PricewaterhouseCoopers

Authors:

Daniel Adjei Peter Rwakatiwana

Supervisor: Dr. Andreas Nilsson

Student Ume? School of Business Autumn semester 2009 Master thesis, one-year, 15 hp

Dedication

This thesis is dedicated to the Almighty God for his goodness and grace that has brought us this far.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to appreciate our thesis supervisor, Dr. Andreas Nilsson for his support and encouragement throughout the period of this work. We value the meetings we had, your input and direction. We would also like to acknowledge the benevolence of staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers-Ghana who made themselves available for the interviews. The precious time you gave to us is very much appreciated. We also acknowledge the following for their continued support to us. Daniel: My wife and first fan, Maame Afua Adjei and the boys ? Nana and Papa for her understanding and support throughout my period away from home, the hMensa and Amoah families of UK, the Simpson family of Italy and Ampomah family of Sweden. God bless you all for your encouragement and support. You are the best! Peter: I am greatly indebted to my family, my parents, brothers and sisters for their moral and materialistic support throughout the years. Your support in both trials and tribulations saw me through the challenge. May our dear Lord be with you always! Our sincere thanks also go to the Erasmus Mundus programme for giving us the opportunity to undertake this Masters programme. To our friends and loved ones we say tack!

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Abstract

Purpose

To study which and how project management methodologies are applied in consulting firms

Approach The study begins by reviewing literature on Traditional Project Management (TPM) and Agile Project Management (APM) methodologies ending with characteristics of the two methodologies that identify a project as applying one methodology or another. The literature then reviews the nature of consulting firms emphasising on elements such as the professional, professional services and professional service firms before reviewing how projects are implemented in consulting firms. A case study design is adopted and semi-structured interviews were conducted with PricewaterhouseCoopers-Ghana staff. Patterns from the interviews are identified and compared with the characteristics of both Traditional and Agile project management before drawing conclusions on which methodologies are applied and how they are applied. Since APM is presumed to deal with problems of TPM in complex environments, challenges in applying TPM in consulting firms are assessed and the extent to which APM responds to those challenges are also discussed.

Findings The findings indicate that TPM is applied in consulting firms mainly for structured projects, whilst APM methods are also applied for some structured projects but very much for unstructured and `executory' projects. APM also deals with some challenges of TPM but those which are organisation related are not solved by applying APM methods.

Research limitation The limited number of people interviewed for this research is one key issue that limits generalization to all consulting firms. However, it is hoped that this work serves as a basis for further research in this field.

Practical implications The study shows that whilst TPM will continuously be applied in consulting firms due to the nature of some projects, APM can also be applied to the benefit of consulting projects that are unstructured and `executory'. Therefore consulting firms do not need to `force' structure into all projects.

Paper type Masters Thesis ? Research paper

Keywords Traditional project management, agile project management, consulting firms, professional, professional service, professional service firms

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

APM APL CAS CC CPA IncorTech KIF LoS PBS PM PMBOK PMI PSC PSF PwC RETAIN TKO TPM WBS XP

Agile Project Management Agile Project Leadership Complex Adaptive Systems Corporate Consulting Certified Public Accountant Incorporating Technology Knowledge Intensive Firms Line of Service Project Breakdown Structure Project Management The Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge Project Management Institute Professional Service Consulting Professional Service Firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Database for staff scheduling Temporary Knowledge Organisation Traditional Project Management Work Breakdown Structure eXtreme Programming

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