Comparison of traditional and agile approach to manage product development projects

Abstract

Telecommunications have become highly important for the successful business operations of almost every organization in the world, in the public and private sector, and is the core of most multinational companies' businesses. Telecommunications are an integral part of the global communications network; they are critical for organizations as well as for individuals and have socio-economic value. Large telecommunication companies are doing business in an environment where there is a discrepancy between the need for the introduction of innovations into the portfolio of services and the traditional methods of service development, as well as their market placement. With the expansion of the internet in the industry, the ways of distribution and consumption of digital services have changed considerably. Taking into consideration the increasing complexity of regulations and the environment in which projects that support the development of ICT products and services are led, the right choice of project management methodology is becoming more important. Alongside with the usage of traditional approaches to project management, there is a development of new methodologies through the introduction of dynamic models for achieving project results more quickly. This thesis is based on research conducted on a telecommunications company representative in the region, with the assumption that the introduction of agile methodologies can achieve competitiveness in the highly competitive market of modern telecommunications services. The presented results are based on research conducted in the large telecommunications company, with an emphasis on the recognition of requirements for the introduction of different project management methodologies in the service development process. Based on surveys of management and employees of the company that is involved in the process of service development, test and agile management have been introduced along with the existing traditional management. This paper shows a comparison between these two methodologies on one project which includes the introduction of an innovative ICT service. Based on the results, the hypothesis which assumes that the introduction of agile management provides competitiveness on the market of telecommunications services has been confirmed.