2024

Project Management Methodologies

A Review of Project Management Methodologies Used
in Software Development and other IT Projects
PAVEL DOBIAS, C00301332, SETU, CARLOW
Table of contents
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................... 2
2. What are project management methodologies .............................................................................................. 2
3. Why we use project management methodologies ....................................................................................... 2
4. Looking at different methodologies...................................................................................................................... 3
A. Agile .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
1. What is it ................................................................................................................................................................ 3
2. Why use it ............................................................................................................................................................. 3
3. Final thoughts...................................................................................................................................................... 3
B. Scrum ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4
1. What is it ................................................................................................................................................................ 4
2. Why use it ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
3. Final thoughts...................................................................................................................................................... 6
C. Kanban......................................................................................................................................................................... 6
1. What is it ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
2. Why use it ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
3. Final thoughts...................................................................................................................................................... 7
D. Waterfall ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7
1. What is it ................................................................................................................................................................ 7
2. Why use it ............................................................................................................................................................. 8
3. Final thoughts...................................................................................................................................................... 9
E. Prince2 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
1. What is it .............................................................................................................................................................. 10
2. Why use it ........................................................................................................................................................... 10
3. Final thoughts.................................................................................................................................................... 12
F. Extreme Programming methodology .......................................................................................................... 13
1. What is it .............................................................................................................................................................. 13
2. Why use it ........................................................................................................................................................... 13
3. Final thoughts .................................................................................................................................................... 16
5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16
6. References .................................................................................................................................................................... 16

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 1. Introduction
In this review I’m going to write about different frameworks that are implemented in using project
management methodologies in software development and other IT projects.

I'm going to mainly focus on the ones that are widely used and are in other sense popular.

I hope to get some better understanding from this review on how these methodologies are
implemented and used.

I'm going to talk about what are project management methodologies and why do we use them.

Then I'm going to focus on certain methodologies that are widely used.

At the end I'm going to give you a conclusion what I've learned and found out.

2. What are project management methodologies

(Teamwork, 2024), (Wrike, 2024)

Project management methodologies are structured ways to do projects. More specifically, it is

set of guidelines, tools and steps that help us organize our projects in a way that optimizes its
effectiveness and performance.

This helps us to:

• organize our projects and finish them on time

• finish our goals which we set before making the projects
• make the project in a budget
• keep a consistent quality of the project

These methodologies give us clear way for planning and finishing the project.

Different methodologies are used for different types of projects. This is based on the size of the
project, the difficulty and how many factors we need to think about.

There isn’t just one which fits everyone needs. Rather, there are multiple you can choose from.
Choosing the correct one is vital for project success.

3. Why we use project management methodologies

There are multiple reasons why we use these methodologies a simple answer is that it makes
the difficult process of making a successful project easier and more manageable. I'm going to
list a few of these reasons which I found to be the most important ones from my perspective.

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 • Increase effectivity - a clearly defined process provides work environment where
everyone knows what they're supposed to do.
• Decrease the risk of failure - a structured way provides a control over errors and how to
overcome them
• Fast adaptations for changes - certain methodologies are made for changes, and how to
react to them
• Communication - they simply help providing better communication between the team
and leaders

4. Looking at different methodologies

A. Agile

(Adobe, 2024) (APM, 2024)

1. What is it

Agile project management methodology is widely used in project management processes. But
the reality is that it isn't technically methodology, instead it's best defined as a project
management principle that is used with other methodologies.

The basis of an agile approach is:

• Collaboration
• Speed and efficient
• Iterative processes backed by data

2. Why use it

When it comes to using agile, teams often pair it with specific methodologies to use alongside
agile such as scrum, kanbend etc.

This flexibility about agile, that it can be used by anyone, is a great strength, but the hard part is
to find the right methodology to use it with.

Agile offers life cycles of project, composed of several iterations steps toward completing the
project. This approach is used to promote adaptability since the benefit of iteration is that it can
be easily adjusted, rather than using linear path like other methodologies.

3. Final thoughts

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On its own Agile is not a methodology but rather an approach to creating projects. I would say I
like it, and the other methodologies using Agile approach. The ability to adapt to changes seems
usable, with the fact that working environments are prone to chaos and changes.

B. Scrum

(Institute Project Management, 2024) (Adobe, 2024)

1. What is it

Scrum is as an agile framework designed to help individuals, teams and organizations by

developing adaptive solutions for complex problems.

Scrum is divided into steps:

1. Order to work on complex project

2. The team turns this complexity into increments, using an event called sprint
3. The owners (stakeholders etc.) evaluate and adjust the results for the next sprint
4. This is repeated until the project is finished

Scrum is intentionally left incomplete offering guidance rather than giving detailed step by step
instructions, this way the team can decide how to use it.

Scrum is based on a method that says that knowledge comes from experience and making
decisions based on what we see, while trying to reduce waste and focus on the important parts.

This is why Scrum uses rather incomplete approach, for it believes that the important decisions
should be made by the team working on the project. Rather than having strict guidelines with no
room for proper decisions.

2. Why use it

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The framework works through short cycles called sprints, typically lasting one to two weeks,
teams work together during these sprints to complete specific project goals, this differs from
other models where tasks can be broken down into sequential steps.

What is sprint?

Sprint is foundation of this methodology. It is made to create consistency within the project.

All the sprints are connected to ensure workflow and reviewed after each completion. This is to
ensure that future adaptations are met.

The main purpose is to ensure that the goal is being achieved, this is done by ensuring
inspection of each sprint, adapting it based on the outcome.

The sprint is rather short, usually around 2 weeks, this can lead to problems, if these arise it is
possible to go back to previous sprints, using the sprint backlog created by the teams.

These sprints are typically made by a small team, this makes it so even in a large team area,
they can be split. These teams consist of three roles:

• Scrum master
- Coaches the teams, helping them to achieve high-value increments
- Ensures that the goal of the project is understood by everyone involved
- Essentially a leader of the scrum project
• A product owner

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 - Accountable for maximizing the value of the project
- Makes sure that effectiveness is met, ensuring that stakeholders are happy
- When something needs to be changed it goes through product owner
- Their decisions are final and must be respected
• Developers, teams
- These are the people creating the increments for each sprint
- They need to have the skills to do so, this depends on the project
- They are accountable for each sprint, needing to provide logs etc.

3. Final thoughts

I would say scrum is an interesting approach, using short bursts of tasks to complete within a
certain amount of time is interesting. But I am a bit worried that this could lead to burnouts and
lack of morale. This depends on the management and on the way how people approach this.

Overall, I would like to try Scrum, if I had the chance to, so far it sounds the most applicable
methodology, combining with other tools as well.

C. Kanban

(Adobe, 2024) (Atlassian, 2024)

1. What is it

Kanban mainly uses visual elements like boards, stamps etc. This approach is again used with
Agile to better visualize work that needs to be done. This requires full communication and
transparency within the team to ensure workflow.

2. Why use it

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Kanban uses Kanban Board to visualize projects. These boards can be physical (such as
bulletin board or whiteboards) or digital (such as Figma).

This Leads to a better workflow. Being able to see the progress in real time usually in some kind
of software where you can change and drag the boards around and create the projects like in
Figma for example.

Because this method isn't defining process like others, every team uses it differently, but the
focus of Kanban is to do the most important parts of the projects keeping the framework simple.

Kanban flow, is used as key point of this methodology, using task progression trough visualized
workflows ensuring they are met. Combining Boards and Flows ensures the completion.

This is optimized by the team, allowing freedom of making the choices within the project, while
everyone in the team sees the changes being made in real time. This creates good environment
in which teams and individuals can thrive. By getting feedback trough these board, ensures
good morale.

3. Final thoughts

I would say that Kanban is a great tool to have, while combining it with other methodologies, not
on its own.

This makes it vital for modern projects, when I feel like having visual aids is a great way to
emphasize teams to work harder and create better morale.

The process of using Kanban seems a bit complicated, but I think if I would be presented with
Kanban board, it wouldn’t take long to understand it fine.

D. Waterfall

(Adobe, 2022, 2023)

1. What is it

It is a linear process in which the work cascades like a waterfall down and is organized in a
sequential order.

To make sure this approach works each task needs to be done in an order which is set before
the projects started. This ensures that the work stays on track, but it also works well with
communication because the teams working know what is currently worked on.

This approach can be summed up as measured twice cut once, this is one of the reasons why
waterfall method is so successful because it ensures that the quality of the work is met, while
documenting in advance, such as user interface, user testing etc.

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This documentation research is vital because it is easier to estimate the time needed for each
task. Which will predict a more predictable release date.

But this leads to its biggest downside, if we compare it to agile methodology, if some
parameters change along the way it is harder to adapt and change the course of the project
then agile.

2. Why use it

As mentioned before waterfall methodology follows a chronological process in which tasks are
done. These tasks are set before, fixed dates, certain requirements and the final outcomes.

This doesn’t require a constant communication between the individual teams, for all that is
crucial for completion of the task is set before the individual teams start working on them. Of
course, there can be a change and as I mentioned before waterfall is not great with changes.

Waterfall process usually includes stages like this:

• Requirements
- This methodology believes that all requirements needed for the project can be
gathered and understood up front
- This is done with a set of requirements usually provided by the person who is the
leader of the project or wants this project to be done
- For example, the requirements include the costs, risks, success metrics, timelines for
completion etc.
• Design
- After we gather our requirements, the designers can create scope and purpose of
the project, what is going to be the workflow of this project etc.

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 - When this is done this design can be implemented into the actual design of the
project
• Implementation
- Because we already set all the requirements and what the project is going to be
about etcetera this process is the shortest
- In this phase the programmers take the design and implement it into code
- If the programmers encounter some big problems, usually it is the designers’ fault
and they need to go back to the design phase.
• Verification or testing
- Before the project is officially released there needs to be testing
- This is done to ensure quality, efficiency etc. of the project
- The testers will go back to the design documents and user case seniors, which were
created before starting the project or in the design phase itself to be able to test this
product
- This makes it much easier because we already have the stuff we need for the testing
• Release and maintenance
- This is when the project is finished and released to the market or to the customer
- This isn't the end though, because there needs to be a maintenance after the
release, there could be certain bugs, or the user can request an update.

3. Final thoughts

Overall, the waterfall methodology is straightforward way of doing projects. Since the way how
to do the project is so clear from the beginning, each person working on the project knows what
they're supposed to do.

But this brings disadvantage, which is that these projects takes much longer than others.

On the other hand, if we compare it with an agile methodology, there are certain flaws. Like I
mentioned before, this methodology doesn't go well with sudden changes, and it is harder to
adapt throughout the process of making the project.

Nowadays Waterfall is viewed as an old-style traditional approach, but this method is still good
for creating well planned projects and it's still used by many.

E. Prince2

(Adobe, 2024) (Asana, 2024)

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 1. What is it

Prince 2 uses waterfall methodology to define stages within a project, same as waterfall it is
regarded as a traditional product, but it's still used.

This approach emphasizes organization and control, and it is linear in nature.

2. Why use it

Following Prince2 guidelines, we can create a thorough project and make most effective
methodology altogether. It aims to define the roles within the management of this project, and it
is used to streamline a ton of small projects tasks into one bigger project.

Duo for its complexity, it is used for larger projects in larger companies, in smaller projects this
over complexity could halter and slow down the process of creating the project.

One of the strengths of Prince 2 is its popularity, there are a lot of courses and sources to learn
this methodology.

This makes Prince2 beginner friendly methodology. So, it is great for a new team starting a
project, that have never used a methodology before.

The process that is defined is simple, but it offers clear steps to follow, there's not much room
for changes but this is a good thing when you are beginning. Because it will make less errors.

It has great entryway to methodologies because the terms used in Prince2 are also used in
other methodologies, so after using Prince2 the team can go into methodologies more
advanced or more suited for their needs.

A key in Prince2 methodology is clarity. There are given roles, aspects and phases of creating a
project.

Each team member has its clear and designated role within the project, this can create
guidelines which can be followed but the looser guidelines of other methodologies have its
advantages as well.

These roles are:

• Project manager
- The leader of the project who is responsible for planning, executing and finishing the
project
• Team manager
- this is applicable only if there are large teams, if so, these are people who lead
individual teams, and they all go to project manager for questions etc.
• Team members
- Individuals creating teams, responsible for creating the project

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 - Each team member has its assigned role, telling him what to do
• Project board
- A group which makes important decisions for the project
• Customer
- Pretty self-explanatory customer is the person who receives the outcome of this
project
- there are different types of customers, for example it can be a contractor who wants
a software app for its company

Every Prince2 project has aspects, their function is to track project progress. Overall, they are
important information for the teams working on the project, knowing them is crucial for
progression.

These aspects are:

• Project scope
- Scope outlines goals, deadlines and deliverables your project is working towards
• Costs
- The cost of your project
- This is important so we don’t run out of money while working on the project
• Timescales
- The amount of time needed to finish the project
- Typically, there is a set deadline, before the project is started, and the timeline is
made to fit the deadline need
• Risk
- There is a risk with every project, and calculating the probability of it is important
- We cannot control everything, there are certain variables we can’t control, and we
need to make risk management process, to identify what risks you may encounter
• Quality
- It is necessary to create guidelines defining the standards of production of the project
- This ensures that the final project meets the standards we set
• Benefits
- Every project needs justification to make one, this depends on project board
- Basically, we need to prove them that the project will be profitable and will yield good
results

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In addition to these principles, there are also phases to guide the team to completion.

These principles are:

• Starting the project

- The team submits a plan, a rough outline of what making the project entails
- This is to provide general idea of what to expect from it
- If approved, the team created more detailed plan to work on
• Directing the project
- After the review, the board decided what is required for the project completion
- This could mean adding more people, assigning team leaders and delegating
resources
• Initiating the project
- The board choose a project manager to lead and create even more detailed plan for
the project
- This includes the previously mentioned principles
- When this is done the project can officially begin
• Controlling the project
- This is where the project manager delegates, managing the tasks to different team
members, ensuring their completion
• Managing the product delivery
- Project manager needs to ensure that the process of creating the project is going
smoothly
- Project board reviews the outcomes of certain tasks, and decided if they meet the
standard set before
• Managing stage boundaries
- At the end of each stage, project board reviews and decides if the project is good
and if so, can continue
• Closing
- Project manager finishes any final tasks (such as documentation, outcomes etc.) and
makes final report completely ending the lifecycle of the project

3. Final thoughts

Overall, Prince2 is presenting itself as beginner friendly, there is some truth to this, using
precise guidelines to lead the project to completion sounds simple enough.

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This however can be double edged sword. While these guidelines provide a path to take, I think
it could be overwhelming to follow all of them. This is where I like Agile methodologies, they give
you much more space to breath and think.

I understand why Prince2 is so popular, for the risk involving seems minimal, which means the
company loses less money.

I think combining Prince2 with Kanban could solve this problem. But I am no expert.

F. Extreme Programming methodology

(Adobe, 2024) (Asana, 2024)

1. What is it

XP is designed for short-term projects. Usually set in shortest deadlines, XP offers short
development cycles and large number of releases. This way makes sure to optimize productivity
while yielding quick results. Offering calculated risks.

It is and Agile methodology, focusing on being adaptable and fast. And as such, it is iterative,
using short sprints, adapting the needs of customers and evaluating after each sprint.

Core values of XP include:

• Feedback
• Respect
• Communication
• Simplicity

2. Why use it

Extreme programming is as it sounds, extreme. It uses strict guidelines and values to make the
project.

This method shouldn’t be overused, for its fast-paced nature, this methodology can lead to
burnouts and lack of morale.

It uses sprints same as Scrum, but the biggest difference is that XP is more rigid, with
guidelines encouraging constant contact between the developers and the customers.

XP is not for every project, and there are guidelines indicating when you should use it:

• Manage a smaller team

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 - Because of its compact nature, XP is best with smaller teams
• Constant contact with customers
- XP needs a contact with customers, even needing them for testing and final approval
- This needs to be cleared with customers beforehand, so they know what they are
getting into
• Have an adaptable team tan can embrace change
- The team needs to be prepared for the fast-paced nature of XP and changes
- XP often requires prioritizing work before personal affairs
- Throwing out a lot of hard work can get messy, and team needs to be ready for it
• The team is good at coding
- XP isn’t for beginners; it needs teams ready to get down for business

When you decide to choose XP, there are certain values and rules you need to follow.

XP is value driven, instead of using external motivation to do projects, XP allows access to less
complicated and more streamlined methods, based on these values:

• Simplicity
- Before starting working, you should always ask: Is there a simpler way to do this?
- Important part is to understand that even if it sounds simpler it doesn’t need to work
better, there needs to be balanced to accomplish the project
• Communication
- As mentioned before XP relies on constant communication, this is to make sure that
when something happens the team members aren’t afraid to speak up
- Honesty and being open to your teammates are crucial for success, because there is
high possibility that issue you are dealing with has already been solved
• Feedback
- XP uses user stories and feedback from customers to better understand how to
make the project
- This is done by having constant releases to gain this feedback from customers, while
having constant communication with them to make sure that their feedback is valid
• Courage
- Courage is expected from the developers, as mentioned above, the constant
communication and skill required can cause vulnerability within the project
- An example would be, when you miss deadline, the supervisor won’t discuss it with
you, just hold you accountable and expect you to go back to work

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 - This isn’t for everyone, and could lead to bad morale
• Respect
- Same with courage, there needs to be respect between the developers and with the
customers
- Respecting others means that you can disagree with one another and not feel hurt
by it, this leads to better effectivity, when you are not afraid to speak up to your
supervisors and teammates

When we learn the values used in XP we can start following the rules. Combining values and
rules together creates an approach to work on the project. The rules are quite strict as
mentioned, this differs with other Agile methodologies. And are as follows:

• Planning
- In this step we value if the project is fit for XP, we test this by communicating with the
customer, using user stories and feedback
- We look at our values and determine if the project is fit, if yes, we can move on
• Managing
- We need to manage a workspace, because XP requires so much communication it is
important to create a workspace, where this can be done easily
- This allows the team to do reviews and daily discussions which fuels the workflow
- This workflow needs to be constantly maintained and make sure that the project is
being done within the deadline
• Designing
- With designing you need to start from small and start iterating it to make it more
complex
- When you have the bare bones of the project you can start building on it
• Coding
- One of the key features of XP is that even with coding you stay in contact with the
customer
- This allows you to test and use feedback within each step you take
- Same as with other stuff in XP, coding is strict and has certain rules, that’s why the
seniority is needed
• Testing
- You should always test throughout the process of making the project
- All the code needs to be tested before being released

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 - This should eliminate almost all errors and bugs, while using the feedback to make
sure that the final project is what the customer needs

3. Final thoughts

I can see XP being used in certain situations, its strict but agile approach is specific and is not for
every project. This is shown by having values and rules dictating if your project is good fit.

If the project is good fit, I could see this approach could work well. There is probability of burnout
but other then that, if the process is well supervised, it could yield great projects.

It is not for everyone though, and I could see that one weak minded individual within the team
could halter others. But in perfect conditions this seems like the quickest way how to do projects.

5. Conclusion
After reading about multiple methodologies, I have found that each offer something different, while
some share a lot of similarities, their approach, rules and values differ.

Personally, I would prefer the linear approaches, I like to have my work organized and being given
guidelines seems the best way to do the projects. One big flaw I noticed is that they are not ready
for sudden changes, which I would imagine happens a lot within the workflow.

Agile methodologies seem better on paper, giving you more freedom to choice, and being able to
adapt to changes well. But for me this makes room for error and making mistakes. Maybe
combining it with Kanban to visualize the process would help, but that’s something I would have to
try myself.

Overall, I found out lot about this topic, and I am interested in trying to use some of these
methodologies in future.

6. References
Institute Project Management. (2022). What is scrum methodology? (online), available:
https://projectmanagement.ie/blog/understanding-scrum/?null#null

Teamwork. (2024) What is project management methodology? (online), available:

https://www.teamwork.com/project-management-guide/project-management-methodologies/

Wrike. (2024) What is project management methodology? (online), available:

https://www.wrike.com/project-management-guide/faq/what-is-a-project-management-
methodology/

Adobe. (2023) Popular project management methodologies (online), available:

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/methodologies

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APM. (2024) What is Agile project management (online), available:
https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/find-a-resource/agile-project-management/

Atlassian. (2024) What is Kanban project management (online), available:

https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban

Adobe. (2022) what is waterfall methodology in project management (online), available:

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/waterfall

Asana. (2024) what is prince2 project management methodology (online), available:

https://asana.com/resources/prince2-methodology

Asana. (2024) what is extreme programming methodology (online), available:

https://asana.com/resources/extreme-programming-xp

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