MSPM1-GC2040 – Agile Project Management

Project 2 – The Agile Organization
At the beginning of this course, we discussed what it means for an organization to be agile in a
business or operational sense. As we explored agile project management in greater detail, we
have also considered the forces which either foster or restrain the use of agile approaches. For
this final individual written assignment, students are asked to consider what are the
characteristics of organizations which are most likely to adopt and regularly use agile methods
successfully. Can you define the ideal “agile organization”, e.g., one which is suitably responsive
to a turbulent environment but is also capable of using agile frameworks such as Scrum, XP or
Kanban successfully for all of their projects?
In a two to four-page paper (using the standard assignment template), students must describe:
• The characteristics of an organization’s culture which would support the use of agile
methods throughout the organization.
• The management structure (if any).
• Human capital management policies such as recruitment and compensation.
• Common behavioral traits of managers, leaders and employees working on project
teams.
Ideally, you would be able to find an example of an existing organization which exemplifies at
least part of your vision of an agile organization. You may identify particular industries or types
of organizations (government, non-profit, etc.) which you feel would be more conducive to the
use of agile methods.
You are permitted select a relevant work situation of your own experience, or even an account
of an organization in a source you select from a trade journal, newspaper or magazine article,
book or web-based source to support your arguments. If you do reference a third-party source,
please be sure to list its name and provide a link to it if it is available on the Internet or in the
Bobst Library’s digital archives.
Submit this assignment in the designated area in NYU Classes by 11:55 PM on August 13th
.
Each written assignment for this course must be word processed, have a 12-point font size, be double
spaced and submitted on the scheduled due date. Reports and/or papers that are submitted after the
due date will be automatically reduced in score by 20% before they are read. All written reports must
be submitted with a cover sheet, using the template provided for the course. Failure to include a cover
sheet will result in an automatic reduction in points. The cover sheet must include student name,
course name, course ID number, the assignment name given above and the date of submission.
The criteria the instructor will use to evaluate student performance with respect this assignment is listed
below:
An exemplary score (95 to 100 points) will be given to summaries which:
MSPM1-GC2040 – Agile Project Management
Project 2 – The Agile Organization
• Clearly describe the characteristics of the ideal agile organization for each of the four
dimensions listed above in the bullets.
• Describe a type of organization or provide an example of an existing one which meets at least
some of the characteristics you have described.
• Examples taken from third party sources are cited, and a reference list is appended to the
paper. If you decide to write about terms used in any of the course lessons, it is permissible to
simply state that.
• Provide a well-organized and well-written paper which aligns to the theme of the assignment.
Students may, but do not have to, use section headings and bullets to organize their content.
An effective score (80 to 94 points) will be given to summaries which:
• Clearly describes the characteristics of an ideal organization covering only three of the four
dimensions listed above.
• Provide citations for third-party sources.
• Display some aspects of a well-organized, well-written summary, but contain minor defects in
organization or use of language and are not completely persuasive.
An ineffective score (0 to 79 points) will be given to summaries which:
• Clearly describes the characteristics of an ideal organization covering less than three of the four
dimensions listed above.
• Does not provide citations for third-party sources.
• Display little or no aspects of a well-organized, well-written summary, do not use language
effectively and are not at all persuasive.