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Agile project management with Scrum: A case study of a Brazilian pharmaceutical company IT project

Adrialdo Azanha (Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba, Piracicaba, Brazil)
Ana Rita Tiradentes Terra Argoud (Department of Business Administration, Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba, Piracicaba, Brazil)
João Batista de Camargo Junior (Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba, Piracicaba, Brazil)
Pedro Domingos Antoniolli (Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba, Piracicaba, Brazil)

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business

ISSN: 1753-8378

Article publication date: 4 January 2017

18005

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the benefits of the agile project management (APM) framework compared to the traditional waterfall model, and understand how it can help companies add value and gain competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used was the exploratory qualitative research through a case study of a software project, developed with the support and application of the Scrum framework, in a pharmaceutical industry information technology project.

Findings

There were benefits found in the utilization of the agile framework, such as increased motivation and staff satisfaction, better control of requirements and especially higher quality of the delivered system, generating added value to the organization. Additionally, the project allowed the use of features from the first month of the application deployed, enabling a 75 percent reduction in development time, compared to traditional methods. The software development time was four months, 30 percent of what would be the total if the traditional methodology was adopted. Based on the results, the agile framework, especially the Scrum, proved to be a viable option as a project management approach.

Research limitations/implications

Since this research is an exploratory case study, its results cannot be generalized.

Practical implications

The paper provides relevant practical information and experiences to managers interested in implementing APM, as well as those interested in improving the management of projects.

Originality/value

This paper provides a case study with practical implications of using APM, and APM’s benefits and advantages are compared with the traditional waterfall approach. Companies can use this case study to better understand about the advantages and strengths of APM over the traditional approach.

Keywords

Citation

Azanha, A., Argoud, A.R.T.T., Camargo Junior, J.B.d. and Antoniolli, P.D. (2017), "Agile project management with Scrum: A case study of a Brazilian pharmaceutical company IT project", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 121-142. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-06-2016-0054

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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