An investigation of the project management approaches of agile and plan-based companies

Abstract

Background Agile Methods have been around for almost 20 years but still, there is an ongoing debate whether they are able to improve software development. In particular, project management is one of the most controversial aspect of Agile Methods. Objective This paper investigates how Agile companies implement project management compared to the ones adopting plan-based approaches. Methodology The research problem is defined using the Goal Question Metric approach. A questionnaire has been defined and submitted to senior members of the staff of 122 companies over a timeframe of four years (2016-2019). Results The results of the research highlight that even if some important differences exist, all the companies approach project management in similar ways: many approaches that are considered Agile are used in Plan-Based companies as well.