Acta academica karviniensia 2019, 19(2):15-27 | DOI: 10.25142/aak.2019.011

COMPARISON OF AGILE AND TRADITIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT: SIMULATION OF PROCESS MODELS

Nils Engelhardt

FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management gGmbH, Herkulesstraße 32, 45127 Essen, Germany and UCAM - Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, Monasterio de los Jerónimos s/n, 30107, Guadalupe (Murcia), Spain

There are various process models for the successful implementation of product development projects. In addition to traditional project management - mostly represented by the waterfall or V model - methods of agile project management, e.g. Scrum, are increasingly in use. In the literature, the different approaches have already been described in detail. Here, an attempt is made to compare both process models by means of a simulation. This paper describes the implementation in a simulation model by using the software Matlab/Simulink®. The different approaches are modelled in a way that their effects on the project result can be statistically evaluated. A generic project was created with randomly generated parameters of the project properties. The various approaches of project management are then applied in sub-models to this project. The aim of this paper is to discuss the transfer of the characteristics of the project management approaches into the simulation and to show that the differences can be modelled accordingly.

Keywords: agile project management, product development, simulation, traditional project management.

JEL classification: C63, O32

Received: September 25, 2018; Revised: March 6, 2019; Accepted: June 19, 2019; Published: July 1, 2019  Show citation