Study of the Agile methods efficiency to mitigate the risk of project failure: the case of consulting firms

Details

Supervisors

De Jaegere, Tanguy

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en ingénieur de gestion

Abstract

Despite the use of traditional engineering methodologies, projects development has not been systematically successful. It often resulted in rejected, failed, delayed or abandoned projects. In fact, due to digitalization and rapid changes in user needs, the Waterfall methodology is leading a growing projects number to failure through a lack of adaptation to these new trends (Avison & Fitzgerald, 2003). Agile methods have recently emerged as a new and different way of developing projects than traditional methods. However, their effectiveness is still anecdotal and there is scant research in this subject in academic communities (Cao & Chow, 2008; Gustavsson, 2016). The introduction and analysis of macro-environmental factors that tend to favour the use of Agile methods in project management compared to old traditional methods such as the Waterfall methodology, help to identify an important actor in the economy: the consultants. Therefore, since the Agile methods predecessor is the Waterfall methodology, it is interesting to see whether the Agile approach is more efficient than the Waterfall approach in client’s projects of any kind carried out by consultants (Kerscher & Günzel, 2019; Gustavsson, 2016). Through interviews with five expert consultants, this qualitative research will compare the opinions of the literature with these actors in the field, employed in four different consulting companies. In conclusion, managerial implications of their use are identified and several answers regarding the efficiency of Agile methods for consultants compared to the Waterfall methodology are found.