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Abstract
Agile management practices are based on an iterative cycle that seeks to ensure design and development projects are delivered according to schedule and budgetary constraints while allowing flexibility to be applied to the project scope. Agile is now being applied to areas beyond the information technology (IT) sector and the question arises: Can agile management practices be applied to higher education institutions? Universities are complex organizations undertaking education, research and knowledge exchange activities supported by a range of administrative areas and professional services. Universities also face a number of challenges, including financial pressures and funding constraints, increasing levels of competition and the introduction of new technologies. Therefore, this paper will provide a review of agile and examine how agile project management can be applied to the operations of universities. This will include exploration of a series of illustrative cases that will identify the opportunities for applying agile management techniques at universities through describing specific examples for education, research and knowledge exchange. Following conclusions the paper includes recommendations on the potential application of agile management practices to higher education institutions.
Keywords
Agile project management, Scrum, higher education institutions, research, education, knowledge exchange.
Introduction
The adoption of agile project management has been gathering pace over the last several years (Vlaanderen et al, 2011) and it is now being applied across different applications (Denning, 2013). In a broad sense, agile management offers flexibility through allowing decisions on the product or service to be taken as late as possible in the project lifecycle. There is also a clear focus on ensuring the product meets the business need as well as promoting opportunities for close working with the customer. Furthermore, t he agile methodology is focused on reducing administration and excessive planning through adopting l ean practices and related areas include Scrum, Extreme Programming and DSDM (Dynamic Systems Development Method). Agile was originally developed in the software industry as an alternative to the traditional 'waterfall' project management methodology and as an approach to accommodate the uncertainty that accompanies software development. Highly complex projects will of course still require significant planning but the agile approach offers a potentially quicker and more adaptable route through reduced levels of process and documentation for certain types of projects. The use of...