EXTERNAL RESEARCH REPORT Keeping in touch with the Project Management field's latest developments is key for grounded and relevant research. As managers, it is essential to know the latest research...

Project Management Latest Development        4
PROJECT MANAGEMENT LATEST DEVELOPMENT
Table of Contents
External Research Report    3
Introduction    10
Measurements in EVA    10
Benefits of EVA Use    11
References    12
External Research Report
1. Scheduling in Agile Projects
In case of agile project methodology, everything available in such projects are transparent and clear. There are several steps which are followed by the clients and the decision makers such as commencement, scheduling, appraisal and testing process. But in the case of a traditional approach, it’s the project manager who is the ultimate owner of the project and reins the project. The other team members are unable to make decisions which may be beneficial for the development of the project. It’s the agile process which helps in facilitating the team members for viewing the correct project from the initiation to the end. In such case, the level or degree of transparency plays a crucial role in forming a well-integrated and congenial work environment (Kashyap, 2022). Further, the traditional project management are generally linear. As per this approach, the project is being segregated into different phases. Each of these phases have a set of unique goals. Also, the project manager of a traditional project is able to implement a comprehensive timetable, who are able to assign resources to each specific jobs and finally they are able to list all the tasks which must be completed in all the phases. Hence, for the larger projects which are divided into discrete phases such as the building projects, it is this strategy which is a great success. Therefore, the project which are more flexible like the ones in software development process, do not have much benefits derived from it. On the contrary, the agile process with respect to project scheduling is iterative in nature. Further, it’s the project which are segregated into manageable halves, or sprints under this process. Each of the sprints have a different objective and it’s the project manager who develops a thorough plan which is able to list all the tasks which should be completed during each of the sprints. For the project which have a more flexible character such as software development projects, it is this strategy which is a great success.
In order to make the project schedule to be accomplished in a better manner, there is a need to resolve the important snags. Further, the project manager should have a thorough awareness with respect to the objectives of the project. Secondly, it’s the project managers who needs to develop a realistic timeline which needs to be considered.
The critical issues which need to be addressed for a better project schedule performance are communication, accountability and unrealistic deadlines and planning fallacies. Due to poor communication the managers are unable to allocate the project, delegate tasks, deliver instructions and clarify the roles and responsibilities making confusion for the stakeholders. It’s the communication issues which can be regulated with a well-structured communication plan through emails, meetings, memos and telephonic or online conversation. Poor or lack of accountability is essential for a successful project outcome. Hence, accountability must be implemented for each project members in a project. If there is no proper accountability displayed by each employee of the organization, then it can cause rippling effect which may affect the phases of workflow. In order to resolve this issue, the project manager must communicate ways to complete a specific task which is dependent on the completion of others. One of the biggest issues which may impact the project are setting unrealistic goals which is especially due to improper estimation techniques, poor estimation, optimum bias and extreme pressure from the leadership. The project manager in such situation can acquire inputs from the employees, team members and various stakeholders on the timeline required to complete a specific task, the duration of reviewing it and finally approving the specific deliverable. Hence, it is essential to use a project management tool which will allow the project manage to monitor and regulate the schedules of the project along with the timelines and helps the team members to keep a track of the schedules (Faust, 2021).
2. Cost Estimation Techniques and Budgeting in Agile Projects
The cost estimation required for an Agile project is more iterative, well-integrated and collaborative in nature in comparison to the acquisition method. There is a misconception in Agile that it is not a long-term plan. There is a long-term plan along with estimation of costs necessary for the Agile programs. For planning a project, the programs must provide high-level answers to the questions on the plan to deliver, the cost required, the timeline of the project and the benefits which can be acquired from the project. The projects must use the cost estimation process and evaluation benefits in different types of products and for various purposes in the acquisition phase which consists of the trade-off analysis, economic and business case evaluation and estimation of the life-cycle costs. Hence, it’s the cost estimation and the valuation of benefits which matures gradually as we are able to acquire sufficient information with respect to the program.
There may be increase or decrease in the costs observed in the Agile development...