Agile project management is introduced and compared with the traditional, more rigid, sequential, waterfall project management approach. Agile is an incremental, iterative planning methodology that works well when the scope is likely to change during the development cycle. Expanding on the customer responsiveness of Agile, Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development technique that emphasizes keeping the code simple and reviewing it frequently. The Theory of Constraints (TOC) was developed to allow managers to identify and resolve system constraints using five steps: identify the constraint, exploit the constraint, subordinate everything else to the constraint, elevate the constraint, and determine if a new constraint has been uncovered. The critical path is the network system’s constraint. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) was developed as an alternative to PERT to develop more effective and accurate schedules by identifying and eliminating resource conflicts. CCPM can also be applied at the project portfolio level by creating capacity constraint buffers (CCBs) to control the transition between projects.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand why Agile Project Management was developed and its advantages in planning for certain types of projects.

2. Understand the key features of the Extreme Programming (X P) planning process for software projects.

3. Understand the logic behind Theory of Constraints and its implications for Critical Chain scheduling.

4. Distinguish between critical path and critical chain project scheduling techniques.

5. Understand how critical chain methodology resolves project resource conflicts.

6. Apply critical chain project management to project portfolios.

Reflect on the assigned readings for the week. Identify what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding.

Also, provide a graduate-level response to each of the following questions:

1. What are the practical implications internally (in terms of team motivation) and externally (for the customer) of making overly optimistic project delivery promises?