MIS608 Agile Project Management {MIS608 Entire Course}

MIS608_Agile_Project_Management

MIS608 Assessment 1 - Research Report on Agile

MIS608 Assessment 2 - Reflection on the Roles of Agile in Teams

MIS608 Assessment 3 Agile Case Study Report

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mis608 Assessment 1 - Research Report on Agile

Task Summary

You are required to write an individual research report of 1500 words to demonstrate your understanding of the origins and foundations of Agile by addressing the following areas:

1. The origins of Agile – why did Agile emerge, what was it in response to, and how did this lead to the values and principles as outlined in the agile manifesto?

2. The origins of Lean and how it has influenced Agile practice

3. The similarities and differences between Scrum and Kanban as work methods

4. Why adopting Agile benefits an organisation

Please refer to the Task Instructions for details on how to complete this task.

Context

Organisations are increasingly using Agile as a project management approach to achieve their goals and objectives efficiently. While agile is predominantly used in software development, there are elements of agile that can be applied to achieving goals and objectives in many areas of an organisation. Understanding these concepts will be vital for you to progress in this subject. This knowledge will not only support your completion of the final group assignment, but also will assist you in managing your progress in the group project by using Agile techniques to communicate capacity and offer full transparency of work across the team.

Task Instructions

1. Write a 1500 words research report to demonstrate your understanding of the origins and foundations of Agile by addressing the following areas:

• The origins of Agile – why did Agile emerge, what was it in response to, and how did this lead to the values and principles as outlined in the agile manifesto?

• The origins of Lean and how it has influenced Agile practice.

• The similarities and differences between Scrum and Kanban as work methods.

• Why adopting Agile benefits an organisation.

2. Review your subject notes to establish the relevant area of investigation that applies to the case. Perform additional research in the area of investigation and select FIVE (5) additional sources which will add value to your report in the relevant area of investigation.

3. Plan how you will structure your ideas for the report. Write a report plan before you start writing. The report should be 1500 words. Therefore, it does not require an executive summary nor an abstract.

4. The report should consist of the following structure:

A title page with subject code and n ame, assignment title, student’s n ame, student, and lecturer’s n ame.

The introduction (100 – 150 words) that will also serve as your statement of purpose for the report—this means that you will tell the reader what you are going to cover in your report.

You will need to inform the reader of:

a. Your area of research and its context

b. The key concepts you will be addressing

c. What the reader can expect to find in the body of the report

The body of the report (1200-1300 words) will need to cover four specific areas:

a) Why did Agile originate? When did it emerge and what was it in response to? How did this lead to the four values and 12 principles that are outline by the agile manifesto?

b) Where did Lean originate? Briefly define what Lean is and two Lean philosophies have been adopted in the evolution of Agile practice?

c) Scrum and Kanban have many similarities, but also key differences. Compare and contrast Scrum and Kanban with each other, illustrating these similarities and differences with examples.

d) Explain what value adopting Agile can offer to an organisation.

The conclusion (100-150 words) will summarise any findings or recommendations that the report puts forward regarding the concepts covered in the report.

5. Format of the report

The report should use font Arial or Calibri 11 point, be line spaced at 1.5 for ease of reading, and have page n umbers on the bottom of each page. If diagrams or tables are used, due attention should be given to pagination to avoid loss of meaning and continuity by unnecessarily splitting information over two pages. Diagrams must carry the appropriate captioning.

6. Referencing

There are requirements for referencing this report using APA referencing style. It is expected that you reference any lecture notes used and five additional sources in the relevant subject area based on readings and further research.

It is essential that you use the appropriate APA style for citing and referencing research. Please see more information on referencing here:

7. You are strongly advised to read the rubric, which is an evaluation guide with criteria for grading the assignment—this will give you a clear picture of what a successful report looks like.

Submission Instructions

Submit Assessment 1 via the Assessment l ink in the main navigation menu in MIS608 Agile Project Management. The Learning Facilitator will provide feedback via the Grade Centre in the L M S portal. Feedback can be viewed in My Grades.

 
 

mis608 Assessment 2 - Reflection on the Roles of Agile in Teams

Assessment: Reflection on Agile ways of working and Agile teams

 

Task Summary

You are required to write and submit a 1500-word individual reflection about Agile ways of working and Agile teams in preparation for your group assignment. You will be expected to examine and reflect upon these concepts specifically: The Agile Mindset, a shift from ‘command and control culture’ to self-organised teams, how reflection is an important part of the Agile process and the concept of servant leadership and how your adoption of these will support your group’s success.

- Bear in mind that you will be working in a group for Assessment 3 and there will be a requirement to use agile ways of working in your team – this is a good opportunity for you to focus on how these will prove most useful for you and your team in achieving your assessment goals.

- The focus of this assessment is to give you an opportunity to reflect on the theoretical knowledge you have developed and how you might put it into practice for your group assessment.

- Your report will need to be 1500 words in length, although you will have the benefit of an allowance of 150 words either more or less than 1500 words.

Please refer to the Task Instructions for details on how to complete this task.

Context

In professional life while some parts of a job require individual contribution but progressively more work requires collaboration and group work.

Group learning is designed to help you to learn about the process of collaboration in preparation for your career.

Agile teams and agile ways of working are becoming more prevalent in workplaces and it is likely that you will be a part of an agile team in your career. However, agile is very different from the more traditional ‘command and control’ management methods to which many people are accustomed.

Reflective practice is a process of thinking about new experiences with a view of learning from them. It is a form of personal response to new experiences, situations, events, or information. University is the best place to learn, and reflection is considered a key part of the learning process for this course.

Gibb’s Reflective Cycle (n.d.)

The above model from Gibb shows the different learning modes of the reflective cycle. We expect you to use this model as a framework for your “Reflection on Agile ways of working and Agile teams”. You initiate your activity in this cycle with the description step where you discuss your prior group work and your group work in this subject so far: how it has made you feel, your evaluation and analysis of the group work process and your conclusions.

have examined important concepts of agile teams and ways of working.

Some of the concepts will be new to you and you will need to examine your thoughts about:

1. Describe your prior experience of group work and how it is progressing with your group to date as you work towards Assessment 3.

2. What are your current feelings? Confident? Irritated? Confused?

3. Evaluate and analyse your personal experience for working in a group before, using a personal example, to establish positive and negatives of the experience to make sense of it in the quiet of introspection.

4. Draw conclusions about how - with your newfound knowledge of how Agile teams work - you could have benefitted from doing things differently.

5. Draft a 5 step Action Plan including the following items:

a. What will you do to adopt an Agile Mindset?

b. How will you encourage the team to work in a self-organised manner?

c. How will you use Agile reflective practice to progressively improve team performance?

d. How will you bring ‘servant leadership’ to your work in the team?

e. How do you believe this will help the team to achieve their goals?

It is expected that 40% of your assessment will focus on retrospective analysis, and 60% will be forward planning to enable future success.

Reference

The University of Edinburgh (n.d.). Gibb’s reflective cycle. 

Task Instructions

1. Write a 1500-word reflective report addressing the concepts of agile teams and agile ways of working with a view to selecting three practices which you plan to implement within your group in completing the group assignment.

2. Please structure your report as follows:

Title page: include a title page with the subject code and subject n ame, assignment title, student’s n ame, student n umber and lecturer’s n ame.

Introduction (100-150 words): which will also serve as your statement of purpose for this report

– this means that you will tell the reader what you are going to cover in your report. You will need to inform the reader of:

a. Your area of reflection

b. Key concepts in this reflective report

c. What the reader can expect to find in the body of the report

The body of the report (1000-1200 words): cover the concepts of agile ways of working and team roles within agile teams. Consider how these might be applicable in helping your group be successful in the group assignment which you need to complete. The following questions serve to guide you writing in this reflection with question 1 - 5 carrying 40% of the weight of your grade, and question 6 carrying 60% of the weight of your grade:

1. Describe your prior experience of group work and how it is progressing with your group to date as you work towards Assessment 3.

2. What are your current feelings? Confident? Irritated? Confused?

3. Evaluate and analyse your personal experience for working in a group before, using a personal example, to establish positive and negatives of the experience to make sense of it in the quiet of introspection.

4. Draw conclusions about how - with your newfound knowledge of how Agile teams work - you could have benefitted from doing things differently.

5. Draft a 5 step Action Plan including the following items:

a. What will you do to adopt an Agile Mindset?

b. How will you encourage the team to work in a self-organised manner?

c. How will you use Agile reflective practice to progressively improve team performance?

d. How will you bring ‘servant leadership’ to your work in the team?

e. How do you believe this will help the team to achieve their goals?

Conclusion: summarise the three most important elements you have learned from the group assignment that you have uncovered via your self-reflection.

2. Format and Layout

Please use font Arial or Calibri 11 point, should be line spaced at 1.5 for ease of reading and page n umbers on the bottom of each page.

If diagrams or tables are used, due attention should be given to pagination to avoid loss of meaning and continuity by unnecessarily splitting information over two pages. Diagrams must carry the appropriate captioning.

Referencing

It is essential that you use appropriate APA style for citing and referencing research. Please see more information on referencing here 

Submission Instructions

Submit Assessment 2 via the Assessment l ink in the main navigation menu in MIS608 Agile Project Management. The Learning Facilitator will provide feedback via the Grade Centre in the L M S portal. Feedback can be viewed in My Grades.

 

mis608 Assessment 3 - Agile Case Study Report

Task Summary

In this group assignment, you are required to produce a 2500 words report for the organisation presented in the case scenario.

Context

Agile teams and agile ways of working are becoming more prevalent in workplaces and it is likely that you will be a part of an agile team in your career. However, agile is very different from the more traditional ‘waterfall’ project management practice. This assessment will ensure that you are well-versed in the philosophies and practice associated with Agile so that you have sufficient knowledge to join and agile team or implement agile practices in your future career.

Task Instructions:

1. Team Formation and Registration

• Form teams of 3-4 members.

• The deadline for team registration is 11:45pm AEST Friday end of Module 1.2 (Week 2).

• To register your team, you are required to send your Learning Facilitator an email with “[MIS608] Team Registration” in the subject line. In the body of that email, please list the n ames and student I D n umbers of all the members of your team.

• You are required to send the registration email to your facilitator before the registration deadline.

• After the registration deadline, those students who are not in a team will be allocated to a team by the Learning Facilitator.

2. Team Contract

Please read the attached MIS608_Assessment 3_Team Contract.

• Each team is required to complete their team contract as part of the Learning Activity for Module 2.1 (Week 3).

3. Case Study

Please read the attached MIS608_Assessment 3_Case Study.

4. Kanban Boards

• Each group is required to complete Kanban boards as part of learning activities from Module

2.1 (Week 3) up to and including Module 5.2 (Week 10).

• This will need to be included in the appendices of the assessment as evidence of practice.

5. Final Group Report

Write a 2500 words group report following the structure outlined below:

Title page

Should include the subject code and subject n ame, assignment title, all student’s n ames and student  in the group and the lecturer’s n ame.

Executive summary: While this report is brief – it will require an Executive Summary, which does not form part of the overall word count.

Introduction (300-350 words): will also serve as your statement of purpose for the report.

This means that you will tell the reader what you are going to cover in your report. You will need to inform the reader of:

a. Your area of research and its context

b. The key concepts you will be addressing,

c. What the reader can expect to find in the body of the report

Body of the report (1800 – 2000 words): will need to respond to the specific requirements of the case study. The areas you will be required to cover are:

a. Agile ceremonies

b. Agile requirements

c. Lean Startup tools used in Agile

d. Agile estimating and planning

e. Agile velocity

f. Scaling Agile after initial success

g. Release planning and cadence

The conclusion (300-350 words): will summarise any findings or recommendations that the report puts forward regarding the concepts covered in the report.

Appendices

Please include the following documents in the appendices:

Team contract

Kanban boards from Module 2.1 (Week 3) up to and including Module 5.2 (Week 10).

6. Report Format and Layout

The report should use font Arial or Calibri 11 point, should be line spaced at 1.5 for ease of reading and page n umbers on the bottom of each page.

If diagrams or tables are used, due attention should be given to pagination to avoid loss of meaning and continuity by unnecessarily splitting information over two pages. Diagrams must carry the appropriate captioning.

7. Referencing

It is essential that you use appropriate APA style for citing and referencing research. Please see more information on referencing here 

Submission Instructions

Submit Assessment 3 via the Assessment l ink in the main navigation menu in MIS608 Agile Project Management. The Learning Facilitator will provide feedback via the Grade Centre in the L M S portal. Feedback can be viewed in My Grades.

 

MIS608 - Agile Project Management - Assessment 3 Case Study B

Your team:

You will form a team of 3-4 students from your class by the deadline specified in the Assessment Brief. Owing to the nature of the assessment, you will need to work together as an Agile Team to complete your assessment. This is an authentic assessment, and you will use Agile practices in the delivery of your final report.

We expect to see the level of professionalism from your team that can be expected from consultants at a leading consulting practice who are working together collaboratively on a client project. Your manager, a partner at a major consulting firm is hoping that your report will create the right impact to open the door to a more extensive project which will help them to implement Agile in their business. Your team are Agile domain experts.

Your way of working:

1. You will need to negotiate a team contract in week 2 and submit this contract to your Learning Facilitator by the end of Module 1.2 for their review. Meeting this deadline sets the tone for your team performance and avoids disappointment later. We have also seen an indication that on time-delivery of the team contract has a positive impact on team outcomes. Teams that work together successfully get better grades. Your Team Contract document will also need to be included in your report.

2. Each week the team will conduct a Sprint, the outputs of which will be included in your report. This is vital to embed your knowledge and improve your learning outcomes.

3. You will need to complete 6 Kanbans - one each week from Module 3.1 until Module 5.2- as evidence of your practice. These will need to be attached to your final assessment submission.

Your mission:

You will be guided by your Learning Facilitator in using Agile practices to produce a product. This product is the report to your client where you will make it clear to them about how Agile can benefit their business and the areas they will need to focus on to achieve the required change. Often something can seem very simple of paper - but putting it into practice can offer you deeper insights as a practitioner. Your team will use Agile practices to manage your project to create that product of a report for your client. This is to ensure that you do not only have a theoretical understanding of what Agile is, but that you have also experienced how to use the tools and techniques.

Your client:

Your client is a leading motor vehicle manufacturer. They realise that their traditional business model is under threat and have decided to revitalise their business model. They are setting up a separate subsidiary company as an end-to-end separate innovation unit.

This exciting new company will be known as Perun, and will focus solely on the design, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of their electric motor vehicles (EMV’s). As part of their mission, they will be looking to disrupt the traditional dealership model for sales and marketing by creating a digital dealership network.

While the company is looking to draw on their existing strengths and expertise, they are aware that their current IT department and PMO are highly skilled in the waterfall way of working using predictive planning practices. While this worked well in supporting the traditional dealer network, the new digital focus of their business is going to require a new way of working which will allow them to rapidly respond to customer needs. Long projects, months in the making before anything can be released will not suit their needs.

Your report will require you to cover the following concepts:

1. Lean Startup Tools

2. How Agile manages requirements - epics, stories, backlogs and prioritisation

3. Agile ceremonies - and how they support Kaizen

4. Agile planning, velocity and estimation

5. Scaling Agile after initial success

6. Release planning & cadence

The information supplied about your client is important and needs to be interpreted and addressed in your report. Failing to do so will compromise the grade that you can achieve. This not only means making the case for Agile for the client but also explaining which elements that you have studied will need to be considered as a higher priority than others.

As you need to complete PROJ6000 before this subject, it is expected that you will be able to draw some comparative conclusions between traditional and Agile approaches.

Equally, any presentation that is prospecting for further work needs to create a good impression. Ensure that you have followed the format guidelines - however beyond this, you may be creative and incorporate elements of branding for both your consulting firm and that of your client. Your aim here is that you produce a report of outstanding quality that you can use in interviews to show future employers your professional capability.