Chat with us, powered by LiveChat

Agile IT Project Management and Governance

Agile IT Project Management and Governance is available as a postgraduate-level subject offered by the International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS). Please click the button below to find a postgraduate course suitable for you.

 

Subject Code:

ICT601A

Subject Type:

Core

Subject Level:

600

Credit Points:

4 credit points

Subject Aim:

Over the past decades, project management principles, methodologies, and practices have been incessantly evolving to inaugurate innovative approaches that are faster-flowing than traditional praxes in order to accelerate time-to-response in IT solution delivery. The adoption of continuous and iterative delivery has become a widely adopted modus operandi by organisations across diverse industry sectors and markets, given the rapid yielding nature of an adaptive lifecycle. Consequentially, agile project governance has instilled itself in organisations due to its degree of empowerment to generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.

This subject introduces students to agile project management concepts, principles, and practices in delivering information technology solutions. Throughout the subject, students will explore the core elements of adopting a contemporary agile project management philosophy, applying the knowledge, skills, and instruments that underpin its innate mechanism and using its inherent tools and techniques.

In this subject, students will solve organisational problems following an agile project lifecycle with a sound understanding of project governance by executing its underlying processes, constructing associated artefacts, and utilising an agile project management software. They will also survey prominent industry frameworks, including the roles and responsibilities that function within an agile IT project environment covering the intrinsic group dynamics.

Learning Outcomes:

a) Assess organisational value chain and design a conceptual IT project governance framework, justifying its applicability to the internal and external dynamics of an organisation.

b) Analyse the differences and relationships between traditional and agile project management methodologies and frameworks in an information technology context.

c) Implement an agile framework to deliver IT-enabled solutions for complex problems, executing its intrinsic phases, methods, and practices in the agile project life cycle.

d) Employ industry-recognised digital tools to plan, execute, and manage IT projects and construct associated artefacts in line with an agile project management framework.

e) Determine and apply effective collaboration methods in an agile IT project environment in line with the attitudinal and behavioural group characteristics.

Assessment Information:

Learning outcomes for this subject are assessed using a range of assessment tasks as described in the table below.

A supplementary assessment is not available in this subject.

Broad topics to be covered:

Topic: 
Week 1: Information Technology (IT) Governance 

  • Corporate governance 
  • IT governance in corporate governance 
  • IT governance domains 
  • Organisational responsibility for IT governance 
  • AS ISO/IEC 38500:2016 Corporate Governance of Information Technology 
Week 2: Agile IT Governance 

  • Project management in the IT context   
  • Introduction: SAFe for Lean Enterprises: Lean Governance and Portfolio Management 
  • Lean-Agile mindset and leadership  
  • The Disciplined Agile® Enterprise 
Week 3: IT Governance and Project Management 

  • Project management in the IT context and strategy alignment 
  • Organisational value chain and Project Portfolio Management (PPM) 
  • IT governance frameworks, mechanisms, and constructs for PPM 
  • AS/NZS 8016:2013 Governance of IT-enabled Projects 
  • ISO 21505:2017 Project, Programme and Portfolio Management — Guidance on Governance 
Week 4: Agile Project Management Fundamentals 

  • The Agile Manifesto and principles of agile methodology 
  • Agile vs traditional methodologies  
  • Agile frameworks and their comparative analysis 
  • Predictive, iterative, and incremental life cycles vs agile 
  • Agile PMO and project governance 
Week 5: The Scrum Framework and Environment 

  • Scrum pillars and values 
  • Team composition, roles, and responsibilities 
  • Traits of an effective Scrum Master and the role of the Project Manager 
  • Servant leadership 
  • Leading, coaching, and managing a Scrum team 
Week 6: Scrum: Initiation and Planning 

  • Product planning and the product roadmap 
  • The initial product backlog: epics and story cards 
  • Sprint planning 
  • Daily planning 
Week 7 – 10: Scrum in Action 

  • Scrum artefacts: product backlog, sprint backlog, and increment 
  • Requirements, epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria 
  • Agile events for communications 
  • Event scheduling methods and tools 
  • Estimation and velocity techniques 
  • Agile risk management in Scrum implementation 
  • Quality assurance and management in Scrum 
  • Monitoring and controlling with an information radiator 
  • Sprint reviews and retrospectives 
  • Product backlog refinement 
  • Scaling agile: Scrum@Scale  
  • Scrum of Scrums 
Week 11: Managing Change in Agile IT Projects 

  • Adopting an agile approach to change management 
  • The Change Agent: roles and responsibilities 
  • Business readiness 
  • Post-implementation and lessons learnt 

Please note that these topics are often refined and subject to change so for up to date weekly topics and suggested reading resources, please refer to the Moodle subject page.