GCU MGT641 Agile Project Management All Weeks Discussions

Week 1 Discussion

DQ1 Review the Agile Manifesto beginning on page 3 of PMI-ACP Study Guide. The manifesto states the core values of agile. How do you think these core values make agile different from traditional project management, especially in terms of promoting flexibility and change? Do you think you will struggle with transitioning from traditional project management to agile project management? Why or why not?

DQ2 What are the differences between the agile project management model and the traditional waterfall model? How do you think the agile model tries to compensate for some of the drawbacks of the traditional model?

 

MGT641 Agile Project Management

Week 2 Discussion

DQ1 Review the Scrum body of knowledge and Chapter 2 in the textbook. What is scrum and what are the Five Values of Scrum? How are agile teams different from traditional teams? How do you think those differences can contribute to flexibility and efficiency in agile projects?

DQ2 In the eXtreme Programming framework, which team member could be considered a product owner in Scrum? Also, what’s the idea behind Pair Programming in XP? What are two benefits of eXtreme programming in general?

 

MGT641 Agile Project Management

Week 3 Discussion

DQ1 Why do you think agile project management employs user stories as organizers for planning and project development? What are the benefits of user stories?

DQ2 What are the major differences between how agile teams and traditional project managers control scope creep? How does feature-based planning help to control scope in agile development?

 

MGT641 Agile Project Management

Week 4 Discussion

DQ1 What are the most important factors to consider when creating a release plan? How does release planning work to speed development processes and decrease time to market? What do you think are the challenges of this type of planning? Include in your discussion advanced release planning techniques.

DQ2 What are burn up charts and burn down charts? Describe when you would use a burn up chart versus a burn down chart. There has been a move in agile away from using the burn down chart in favor of the burn up chart. Why might the burn up chart be a more useful tool for measuring progress? What other tools might be useful?

 

MGT641 Agile Project Management

Week 5 Discussion

DQ1 Why are iterations important in agile project management? Think of a project you are working on in your personal life. What are the pitfalls of longer or shorter iterations in that project?

DQ2 What are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)? Describe a KPI that may be used by an agile team to track performance.

 

MGT641 Agile Project Management

Week 6 Discussion

DQ1 The functions of agile project leaders are very different from traditional project leaders. What are the characteristics of effective agile project leaders? How do agile project leaders add value to a project?

DQ2 How does participatory decision making in agile project management differ from unanimous decision making? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each type of decision making?

 

MGT641 Agile Project Management

Week 7 Discussion

DQ1 Why are cycle time improvements important for long term strategies, and why is value stream maps a useful tool?

DQ2 In agile project management, the traditional project phase known as “monitoring and controlling,” is replaced with “monitoring and adapting.” How does adapting differ from controlling in project management? What do you think are the key benefits of adapting in agile project management?

 

MGT641 Agile Project Management

Week 8 Discussion

DQ1 What are some common challenges and mistakes faced by agile teams? In particular, what do you think are the major challenges of scaling-up agile projects within an organization? How can these challenges and mistakes be overcome or avoided?

DQ2 How does agile project management expose poor work processes or stumbling blocks within organizations? How is this beneficial for an organization?