What Considerations Are Relevant?

Business Ethics: Midterm Essays 10/23/2012 What considerations are relevant when we assign blame for injurious acts? What is the distinction between excusing conditions and mitigating circumstances? Some say that moral responsibility is directed towards doing what is right and what is wrong. Well that is not necessarily the case; moral responsibility can also be aimed at at determining whether a person is morally responsible for doing something morally wrong. This is known as blame. Blame and moral responsibility can be used interchangeably.If someone is to be blamed for a wrong doing than that person is also held morally responsible for that wrong doing. Not all people are responsible for their wrongful or injurious acts. Injurious acts are harmful acts that one freely and knowingly intends to do. People have to consider the circumstances under which the person was morally right or morally wrong for their actions. Excusing conditions are conditions under which a person causes an inj ury on accident and is â€Å"excused† from blame and should not be held morally responsible. There are 3 considerations under which a person is not held morally responsible for an injury or a wrong.One is not held responsible if: â€Å"one did not cause or could not prevent the injury, one did not know he was inflicting injury, and if one did not inflict the injury out of his own free will. † When a person is morally responsible for an act of injury or wrong doing there are also 3 things to consider. A person is held responsible if: â€Å"one caused or helped cause it, or failed to prevent it, one did so knowing what he or she was doing and if one did so out of his out free will. † Excusing is when a person’s moral responsibility is excused by the absence of causality, knowledge and freedom.Mitigating factors can diminish a person’s moral responsibly but it depends on how severe the injury or wrong is. In addition to the excusing conditions, there are also 3 mitigating factions that can lessen moral responsibility. One circumstance leaves a person uncertain about what he or shit is doing. Another makes it difficult, but not impossible for the person to avoid doing it. The third circumstance minimizes a person’s involvement in an act. In general, the more serious the injury is, the less the mitigating circumstances will diminish responsibility.

Countryside attraction – New Forest National Park

My countryside attraction is New Forest National Park. This general description of countryside attraction explains the general appeal, impact of location, design features and key points about countryside operation and management. My individual investigation of Exmoor National Park examines each of these features in more detail. By doing a general description first it will help to highlight the key information on countryside attractions that can then be compared with man-made attractions. Countryside location and access: The key difference between countryside and man-made attractions is that the first are natural where as the second can be chosen. In Britain, there are over 10 national parks in various parts of the country but most of the parks are in the north. There are no national parks in the southeast London area. There are a variety of countryside natural attractions including gardens, nature trails, private farms, forests and woodland, wetland, smaller area of open space often used for out-door recreation, wildlife parks, and bird sanctuaries all of which are not national parks, but can be important countryside attractions. The coastal areas of Britain, separate to beaches and resorts, include costal walks, natural wildlife and scenery, which are popular with tourists. Location and access to countryside is important for the following reasons: 1. Promotion of tourism 2. Economic. Countryside tourism earns income for the tourism industry 3. Social. Countryside tourism provides opportunities for education, enjoyment and social entertainment. 4. Environment. The management of the countryside especially in national parks helps protect the environment for the benefit of wildlife, plants, farming animals, local communities, visiting tourists for now and the future. 5. Impacts of location and access can also be negative. Some countryside area attracts high numbers of visitors in peak season, which can have a negative impact on wildlife, farming, local communities, if not controlled. The seasonal popularity of countryside areas and the bad climate in winter can have a negative economic impact on employment, income for businesses and the country balance of payments. Appeal and popularity: The main appeal and popularity of Britain outside its heritage cities and its popular youth culture is the greenery of its countryside heritage, which is uniquely different to natural scenery attractions of other areas in the world. A major appeal and popularity is for a day-trip or short break customers travelling to the countryside on local or regional journeys. The majority of British customers are regional, but that is because there is a national motorway network, with limited rail access, there are also many national domestic tourists. Countryside events such as fetes and agricultural shows are also popular. Many are promoted on television and are especially attracted to the family visitor and international tourist, because of their link to local cultural heritage. In general British countryside has a good image and reputation. But it has suffered seriously from the ‘Foot and Mouth Disease' and competition with city attractions and cheap holidays abroad, especially a seaside product market. The countryside attracts particular interest groups such as schools, educational groups, senior citizens with more time, and enthusiasts of outdoor recreation. Design and technology of countryside: The natural landscape can be protected by managing and controlling access, building, roads, picnic areas, events and view points. Agricultural processors such as drainage, choice of crops, can also be controlled to help protect the nature and appearance of local environments. The location of entrances, exits, car parks, catering facilities, accommodation, can all be design to fit in to natural environment and to limit negative impact. Many rural villages have local government planning control to limit manmade environments, so they are based on local materials and construction methods which help maintain local crafts and traditions, e.g. Cotsworlds, Yorkshire Grystone welsh stone built walls are features of the British countryside that have been protected. Design and technology is also very important for the health and safety and security of access to outdoor recreation, involving water, rivers, lakes and costal areas, mountains with dangerous rock features, isolated areas and countryside that needs to be protected from the dangers of fire or manmade pollution.

Special Education for Disabilities

Disabilities affect every race, culture, sex, and religion. It is non-discriminatory. Almost everyone can think of someone they have come into contact with or are related to that has a disability, and we can all think of some torment or discrimination that has affected their life. Asylum, prison, basement, attic Sorry, allowed to exist but only as outcasts. Became a part of society but were not encouraged or allowed to participate in an attempt to gain their independence. Bill of right for disabled people-laws at the federal level Qualified Handicapped individual- a person who with reasonable accommodations can perform the essential functions as required for employment or education. Architectural Transportation Barrier Compliance Board Established legal channels to handle this Lead to Americans with Disabilities Act Moved to include State and Local Govt. Ensure a free and appropriate education Ensure and access effectiveness of the program Defines who provides services needed Today we have laws and they are enforced by strict guidelines. Our society as a whole accepts and allows for inclusion although some individuals still look down on special individuals and poke fun at them. Through education and exposure it is hoped that all of society will view each other as equal and unite. The greatest injustice to any individual is treating everyone the same. Everyone is an individual and should be treated in a way that recognizes their individuality and should be provided all the supports needed for them to gain and maintain independence and equality without discrimination.

Learning Styles Comparison Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Learning Styles Comparison - Coursework Example According to the Indiana University website, there exists three major learning styles which are visual, auditory and kinesthetic (Indiana University, 2008). The three major styles are discussed in the list below. Learners who use this style of learning heavily rely on their sense of sight. They learn optimally by looking at information presented in a visual form such as graphs, pictures, charts, maps, colors and other forms of diagrams. They are able to make meaningful conclusions from these diagrams. They also good in recalling information from documentaries, movies or motion pictures. Commonly, visual learners are easily distracted if they listen while looking at pictures or diagrams. They also easily recall things that were written down thus taking notes is a great aid to their learning (Indiana University, 2008). This learning style heavily utilizes a learner’s listening ability. Learners are able to understand and easily recall things that they were told or explained to by others. Auditory learners understand better if a set of instructions is read out to them rather than reading them by themselves. They are also better in reading and understanding body language from other individuals they interact with. If they want to internalize information, they can do this easily by reciting the information. Commonly, auditory learners have talents in music and they easily differentiate voices and noises of different things. This learning style heavily relies on the sense of touch as it involves a more practical approach to learning. Learners who use this style learn things by actually doing them. Commonly, kinesthetic learning is associated with students or learners who are good in mathematics and sciences as they involve relating theory to practice and they are more comfortable learning in groups. In class, such students learn optimally when they are taking notes (Indiana University, 2008). 3. Logical learning style- This learning

Equal Employment Oportunity Commission Research Paper

Equal Employment Oportunity Commission - Research Paper Example It also forbade employers from recruiting or relieving employees on the based on gender or ethnicity. While the issue of race has been the cornerstone for the Civil rights act, the inclusion of gender into this provision happened much later due to the efforts of Representative Howard Smith. While skeptics alleged that Smith has done so in order to weaken support for the bill, the latter argued that he had done so only to demonstrate his support for the National Women’s Party. The inclusion of gender gains significance especially in cases where it is a distinctive attribute necessary for the job. The title VII of the Civil Rights Act led to the creation of the ‘Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC)’, which is the focus of this research study. The primary purpose of the EEOC is to ensure that no employers can (Choate, 2009): "fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his comp ensation, terms, conditions or privileges or employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." McDermott (2009) says that the role and significance of the EEOC has expanded over the years due to subsequent laws. Currently, the EEOC is tasked with eliminating discrimination in the hiring, firing and promotion of employees on the basis of race, gender, religion, color, age, ethnicity or physical disabilities. The EEOC also protects workers from discrimination in pay, training and the number of working hours. While the debate to assign protected-class status to each of these employee classes has been ongoing for several years, the role of affirmative action is also an important domain that influences the operation of the EEOC and is discussed in subsequent sections. About the Commission The EEOC was formed on 2nd July, 1965 out of six different statutes including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the 1990 A mericans with Disabilities Act, the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and the 2008 ADA Amendments Act (Stallworth, 2008). Thus, the EEOC has been affected by several statues over the years (Doan, 2009). Each year, the commission handles thousands of complaints related to discrimination and harassment in the private sector, For instance, over 100,000 complaints were filed in 2009 alone. The number of complaints that were eventually filed as cases is historically low (only 300 cases filed in 2009), and are regarded as public records (Keppler, 2010). The cases handled by the EEOC receive widespread coverage in the media and are often discussed extensively in regional radio and television based on the state of origin of the involved parties. Cases that are deemed to have national ramifications are revealed by the press office of EEOC at its offices in Washington. The EEOC is headed by a number of commissioners and the general counsel who are appointed by the President of the United States. Such a ppointments must also be ratified by the Senate. The EECO operates through a central office that is assisted through a network of regional Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) offices. The latter process the information and complaints received as per the provisions of the various laws discussed in the preceding section. The regional EEOs

Rich and Ruby Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rich and Ruby - Case Study Example The trust is designed to remain in place for the benefit of Harriet and be distributed equally between Rich and Rebecca when Harriet dies. According to the financial statements, Rich and Ruby have a net worth of $22,000,000 at their disposal which comprises various assets and cash and cash equivalents. Rich is involved actively in the family business and is concerned fully about the welfare of his children and their children. Rich also plans to pay for Katie’s remaining education balance for two years to finish her doctorate degree in bio-gastric anthropology and strongly believes that the world is not yet fully exploited by people with opportunities. Rich also plans to support Caryn, Katie’s life partner even though Ruby his wife and Alvin his son do not approve of the relationship. Rich is in a good financial position with the company’s net annual income of $750,000 and a salary of $200,000 annually. The fact also that the company is worth $8,000,000 and is exp ected to grow at an annual rate of 10% for the next 6 to 8 years makes it advantageous for Rich to use the finances at his disposal and allocate them effectively and efficiently. Rich also owns the building in which the Macadam company operates valued at $3,000,000 and is leased for $250,000. Rich has come to the realization that his estate has grown significantly over the years and will continue to grow further in the coming years. He further considers that his estate will increase as a result of the inheritance he receives from his father’s and mother’s estate. Rich is not opposed to a gifting program that will enable him and Ruby to enjoy their retirement’s years which he has set to be $300,000. Furthermore, Rich intends to pass on the company business to his son Alvin should he retire or die whichever comes first. Rich has a good plan regarding the estate inheritance that is aimed at passing on the benefits of the estate to the family descendants and ensurin g that the lives of all family members are stable and comfortable. Rich is aware of the financial constraints that are in the family and wants a plan that is fully beneficial and successive in nature. Rich wants his daughter Katie and Son Alvin to get an equitable distribution of the available inheritance given the efforts of his son to the growth and success of the business. Assuming that Harriet dies in 2013 with an estate of $15,250,000 and a federal state tax of $5.25 million, and the father’s inheritance of $500,000 and an equal inheritance share between Rich and Rebecca his sister, he will receive $7,250,000 of the estate inheritance. According to this case probate assets are those assets belonging to a deceased person which pass to the beneficiaries named in the decedent’s will or decedent heirs if there is no will as determined by law as part of the probate process. These types of assets do not have a beneficiary designation or survivorship feature to control t he reception of the property when the decedent dies. Examples of probate assets include; personal property, proceeds from a life insurance policy owned by the decedent on his or her life payable to the decedent’s estate upon death, banks or brokerage accounts that do not have a beneficiary designation, and, finally the real property owned entirely by the decedent. Non- probate assets, on the other hand, are assets

Alternative Ways of Serving Arrest Warrants Assignment

Alternative Ways of Serving Arrest Warrants - Assignment Example Many occurrences have been witnessed where such attempts to serve people with the arrest warrants has ended up causing violence, harm and death to the officers serving the warrants or to the recipients themselves. When the officers go to serve the individuals concerned with such arrest warrants, the individuals may choose to lock the offices out of their residence, so that they do not receive the warrants. The individuals can also opt to harm the officers serving them with the warrants or even harm themselves to ensure they are not arrested. Non-reception of such arrest warrants would mean that the individuals do not appear in court to answer the charges against them. Currently, many instances where individuals have attempted to block the officers from serving them with arrest warrants have been reported. Therefore, there is a need to seek for alternative ways to serve the concerned people with such warrants of arrest. In light of the above, such alternatives such as serving the arre st warrants to people through messages to their phones and E-mails should be applied. This is helpful in ensuring that the officers serving the arrest warrants do not necessarily have to go to the residence of the individuals concerned. These alternatives can save time and cost, while alleviating the risks associated with presenting the warrants to the physical address. Worth noting, however, is the fact that the courts may not recognize such methods. This limits the alternatives open, leaving only the physical presentation of the warrant as the only practical method.

Research and argument Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

And argument - Research Paper Example This harassment of the LGBT community extends to higher learning institutions like universities and colleges. Students belonging to this community face verbal and physical violence from fellow students thus making their academic environment horrible (Andreatta 197). The society sees this community as immoral and their security becomes an issue. LLC, living learning community, intends to support this community by introducing housing that recognizes unity among the LGBT members. It aims at bringing together this community and helps them achieve recognition from the society. It also aims at providing them with a safer environment where they can interact, share, and understand their surroundings better. LLC believes that the housing issue will succeed. They hope to make housing arrangements where students of the same identity will stay together regardless of their gender. This will only be successful if students put their efforts in implementing the idea. This housing idea has led to man y arguments for and against the emerging model of LGBT housing on U.S. campuses. There are groups supporting the idea but others who are against it. LGBT housing is a good idea because it recognizes the LGBT community. The housing idea will bring together the LGBT community and promote their self-esteem. The community members have low self-esteem because the society seems not to accept them thus humiliating them and their feelings. When they are staying together, they are able to share some challenges they face and work on the solutions to that. Sharing of their experiences in campus and the society will strengthen their togetherness and behavior. They will be able to fight for their rights in the campus and spread the same spirit to other members in the society. LGBT community is real and it is growing at a high rate in US and in the world. If the members do not raise their voices and fight for

AED Wk 8 DQ 1 Replies Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

AED Wk 8 DQ 1 Replies - Coursework Example John smith: exceptionalities addressed include john’s outstanding intelligence, his ability to learn things fast with little help from instructors especially if they are hands on. in addition, John thrives on organization, structure and procedures as they provide him with balance. This is revealed by the fact that any change in school program leaves him confused and emotional. The teacher should incorporate instructive technology to keep John’s attention considering he enjoys working with electronics. Few, short and doable assignments should be given enabling him to complete tasks. Organization and structure should also be emphasized in the classroom environment and dealing with behavior (Rosenberg, Westling & Mcleaskey, 2007). Ethan Andrew: exceptionalities addressed include his academic excellence especially in mathematics and reading. He is also good at sports including basketball and swimming. His lack of attention is caused by lack of proper rest, as he is not sleeping well. This could be because of watching TV after bed as he does after eating. The classroom environment should be organized with everything placed in its designated location to ease finding things. At home, the mother should provide procedures of things to do while getting ready for school. The teacher should also eliminate distractions in class (Rosenberg, Westling & Mcleaskey, 2007). Sumer smith: exceptionalities addressed involve her capability to work one-on-one with the teacher and other students. Additional information is that she is a below average student hence will need attention and adaptation from the teacher to ensure she catches up with the other students. This is indicated by her inability to process information, as she should at her age and grade. The teacher should make use of instructional technology that converts texts to sound, has images and colorful illustrations. One-on-one and peer

Product Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Product Assessment - Research Paper Example The research paper describes how the usage of landline is endangered by the invention of new technology. The best foreign country where the telephone manufacturers of USA should market their products is in Ethiopia, Africa. The marketing strategies to target and position the products are also elaborated in the paper. 1. Landline Usage in USA During the 20th century, landline has been the only source of communication in USA. More or less every household had the access to landline for their communicating purpose with the outside world. There have been times when a particular village in USA used to have only one phone and that phone has been their only source of communication with the outside world. Landline not only served as the only mode of communication for the people of USA at that time but it also acted as a savior in time of emergencies. The target market of landline in the 20th century was the upper class people who could afford the costly rental connections. Landline connection was not at all cheap for the lower income group. But with the advent of wireless phones and the Voice Over internet Protocol (VoIP), the use of landline is slowly becoming obsolete. The people of USA are now attracted towards the usage of mobile phones and they also prefer the usage of internet for communicating with their near ones, friends and others (Shimp 322). 2. Declining use of landline in USA The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has identified that in June 2010 one of every four American homes has access to wireless telephones and they relied on its services. About 24.9% of the adults in households of USA have deserted the use landline and is using cell phones. 29% of the children in households are also using cell phones and thus in USA the need for landlines are becoming obsolete (Blumberg â€Å"Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey 2010†). In USA the subscription to wireless connections has risen from 33. 8 million in 1995 to 322.9 million in June 2011 (â€Å"American Community Survey†). The reason behind this rising number of cell phone users are due to its feature that it can be carried to any place. Cell phone has the advantage of communicating with anybody at any point of time. The texting option has also become popular among the youths of USA, which has totally removed the use of landline by the youth. (â€Å"US Wireless Industry†) Another reason for landline becoming obsolete is the injection of 3G in the USA market. 3G Internet connections have made it possible for the mass to communicate with their close ones more conveniently through video chat. It has been seen that USA has the most unique subscribers of 3G than any countries (â€Å"Submissions Accepted for MobileCON 2013 Best Mobile IT Solutions of the Year†). About 32.9 % of the people living in poverty have also been using wireless telephones of cell phones. This shows the popularity of cell phones a mong all classes of people in USA. This also implies that cell phone connections are quite affordable (Blumberg â€Å"Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey 2010†). It has been said for color television it took 21 years to reach every house of the

The problems encountered while accounting for intangibles are Essay

The problems encountered while accounting for intangibles are accurately identified and explained - Essay Example For example expenditures in research and marketing ill generate cash flows but quantifying the amount of the cash is normally difficult hence their omission in the balance sheet. Secondly, recognition of assets in the balance sheet requires the ability to measure the value or the cost reliably. In the case of intangible assets like marketing or research, reliable measure of value or cost cannot be made because of the uncertainty in the amount of cash flows to be generated is very high (Spiceland, 2009). Further, it may be difficult to determine which assets the expenditures have contributed value for. Moreover, IASB requires that for an asset to be recognized in the balance sheet, control must be determined. The enterprise must have the rights on the assets or control that gives the exclusive benefits to the organization. Skilled staff may thus not be classified as intangible assets because the organization does not own the employees. This makes it difficult to account for the intangible assets especially when there are no legal rights. Finally, assets must result from previous transactions or past events for them to be recognized and classified. This does not posed a very big problems since the purchase price can always be determined if the asset was obtained. Problems normally arise only when the assets are produced by the organization. Internally generated assets cause a problem of determining their existence from a single transaction hence difficult to measure. Organizations must therefore ensure that they account for intangible assets in conformity to the IASB so as to prevent overstating or understating the financial

The Supreme Court on ‘Hazelwood’ Essay Example for Free

The Supreme Court on ‘Hazelwood’ Essay Both judges and school officials have been thinking about and dealing with the nature of students’ rights to free speech through the 1970s and 1980s, since Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School Dist., the 1969 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that acknowledged student rights. Stating that students do not â€Å"shed their constitutional rights . . . at the schoolhouse gate† (393 U.S. at 506), the Court upheld the right of three Des Moines high school students to wear black armbands as a peaceful symbol of opposition to the Vietnam war. . . . The Court’s ruling and reasoning subsequently were applied to student expression other than the wearing of armbands, from theater productions to art shows, from school assemblies to student publications. . . . The Supreme Court, balancing students’ constitutional freedoms and administrators’ traditional responsibilities, said in Tinker that school officials could not stop expression simply because they disliked it. . . . Student journalists’ efforts to gain press freedom experienced a major setback on January 13, 1988, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hazelwood School Dist. v. Kuhlmeier that school administrators could censor a school-sponsored newspaper. Just as Tinker had started an era of expanded student rights, so Hazelwood signals a departure that could lead toward more restriction of students’ expression. The Hazelwood principal believed that the stories he censored—accounts of unnamed, pregnant students and a report on the impact of parental divorce on students—were unfair and inappropriate for teenagers. He was concerned that the â€Å"anonymous† students could be identified, that the school would appear to be condoning teenage pregnancy, and that divorced parents criticized should be consulted prior to publication. . . . Instead of ruling narrowly on student newspapers, the Court in Hazelwood gave discretion to school officials to: 1. Serve as publisher. . . . 2. Censor, if there is a â€Å"reasonable† educational justification, any expression that does not properly reflect the school’s educational mission. The Court called it reasonable to censor a newspaper story that school officials believe is not â€Å"fair,† expression that deals with â€Å"sensitive topics,† and content that is â€Å"ungrammatical, poorly written, inadequately researched, biased or prejudiced, vulgar or profane, or unsuitable for immature audiences.† 3. Use this power to control expression through any school-sponsored activity. Legal distinctions between class-produced and extra-curricular publications disappeared. Theater production, art shows, debates, and pep rallies are just some of the schoolsponsored activities now under tighter control. . . . 4. Review student expression in advance, even when no guidelines define what will or will not be censored. Constitution of the United States, Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Causes of the Financial Crisis

Causes of the Financial Crisis Introduction Financial crisis occurs when there is instability in the finance systems which pose danger to the economic, political, social and international affairs leading to decisive changes. It will reveal perspectives on the functioning situation of monetary economies. Financial crisis does not affect only the country itself; it is like a contagious disease that spreads to neighbouring environments and across to its partners especially in this modern time where the world is interconnected. It is financial mismanagement which leads quickly to economic destruction, diminishes individual and national wealth, lost growth, etc. It is an interruption to financial markets which is connected with falling asset prices that will result in the inability to pay debts among debtors and intermediaries that spread out through the financial system. By this happening it will cause disorder to the flow of markets capacity to pump capital within the economy. On the basis of international crisis, this commotion will overflow into national borders, causing disorder to the market’s ability to allot capital internationally. When this happens, no one takes blame or at least will admit that they foresee it coming. It causes a lot of violent changes around the country and across the globe with devastating consequences. On the aspect of Private and individuality; this will result to unemployment; people will not be able to find work, loss of properties, families will lose their homes to foreclosure process and many will be in arrears on their mortgage payments. Household wealth worth a lot of billions of Euros will disappear, life savings, retirement accounts all will go down the drain. Business and commerce; large and small businesses will feel the sting of the economic recession. Manufacturing will decline, global trade will diminish, and some will file for bankruptcy and be forced out of business (Angelides and Thomas, 2011) People will become angry about what is happening. Some people who have worked hard all their lives, obeyed the law and played by the rule will probably find themselves out of work and about to lose their family homes will not know what the future has in store for them. The segment who is mostly affected by any financial crisis is the private people and the communities. Businesses will move out of communities, banks will stop lending money; there will be shortage of cash flow, consumers reduce their spending and practically everything is at a standstill. The after effects/impacts of the crisis stays on and will be felt for decades to come, and rebuilding the economy takes a lot of hard work and dedicated efforts. In this research paper I will discourse the causes of financial crisis; what are the reasons why from time to time there is an economic recession, and enumerate why certain financial crisis are contagious. I will use the 2008 financial crisis as case study to illustrate my answer, and finally conclusion. Causes of financial crisis The causes of financial crisis could be a little complicated and not a very straight forward explanation could be given. It is a crisis on one hand that could be blamed on government action, and on the other hand, it could be blamed on government inaction (is not doing enough) but the bottom line is that it is a problem cause by human beings. It is not caused by nature or computer error. Financial crisis have occurred dozens of times since the seventeenth century (The Economist, Jan., 2009). Understanding financial crisis is crucial in avoiding them, but that leaves the question; why financial institutions and their agencies/bank regulators never see the possibility of crisis coming? The crisis that occurred in 2008 which was the most recent and will not most probably be the last was the most severe and the most global since the Great Depression of the 1930s. I must not fail to point out where this crisis started from or its origin. Financial crisis is always associated with the financial systems of global powers, and the one that happened in 2008 was no exception. Since the collapse of Soviet Union, United States has been the dominant superpower and while momentarily being the most influential and extremely powerful nation was full of assurance that economic liberalization and the rapid growth of communications technology would give the world economic expansion. The move towards integrated global economy has been instrumental in the amassing of wealth by a few individuals which has created inequality. In the process of the government trying to bring down the gap between the haves and have not’s in the US; some of the policies gave rise to the financial crisis. We human beings have always been obsessed with money, and have the excessive desire to acquire more of it. And generally people tend to spend more than they have; banks are willing to give loans and these loans some will be paid back and some will not be paid back, by so doing this is creating huge debts that have the potentiality to cause a dramatic effect to the financial set up of the country. This is part of the reasons why from time to time Central banks pumps money into the financial system so as to have enough money in circulation. Before the start of the crisis financial institutions (mortgage brokers and bankers) were high spirited and excited about the financial bubbles that they became very optimistic and began to take huge financial risks. The professionals put in charge to manage public finance tend to ignore warnings and fail to ask questions, and not able to manage evolving risks. Failures in the financial regulation and the lack for proper supervision: When it comes to finance, there must be laws and rules put in place to govern the procedures. These principles must be adhered to irrespective of personality or circumstances. Financial experts put in charge of all financial institutions must discharge their duties effectively and professionally by acknowledging that they are there foremost to protect public money and to regulate the financial system if possible overhaul them from time to time. Financial institutions should not regulate themselves. When financial institutions regulate themselves, security protection that ensures safety and avoid sudden and widespread disaster of public money could be removed or not followed strictly. With this approach trillions of dollars will be vulnerable. By governments allowing financial firms the choice to select their own preferred regulators to work with always results in the supervising being weak. In the financial system, regulators have lots of powers in different areas to protect it (the financial system) but out of their own reasons they do not do so, that is oversight. The collapse of the housing bubble: The financial crisis of 2008 which started in the US as the result of a downturn in real estate values caused primarily by rising defaults in subprime mortgages. The government encouraged financial institutions to make mortgage loans available to low income earners and the underprivileged in their various communities under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in an effort to bridge racial equality and increasing homeownership by lending one hundred percent loans for mortgages with no down payments. In the past there had been charges of racial discrimination with regards to not approving housing loans to minorities and the low income earners. To facilitate the granting of this mortgage loans a lot of times did not require all necessary documentations from the borrower and their income details. In this case a lot of this underprivileged income earners were paid on cash basis, so there was no official evidence of verifying there actual income. But a l ot of subprime lending did not take place under CRA sponsorship. Instead the majority occurred with Countrywide and New Century rather than commercial banks such as Wells Fargo, Citibank, and JPMorgan Chase (Friedman, 2011) There were lots of little programs developed by the US government at both the federal, state and local levels intended to encourage more people to buy homes, thereby channelling more artificial demand into the housing sector like The Pro-ownership Tax Code. Developers were frequently receiving hand outs, free land, new roads and tax privileges to build new homes. First-time homebuyers in some areas received thousands of dollars tax credit. There were special treatments in agreement to buy a home as an investment, for example if a couple bought a house for half a million dollars and sold it for one million they will not pay capital gains tax, but if that couple invest in business that same money in stock or any other business that is not real estate and later sell that business for profit they will pay capital gains taxes of fifteen percent. Woods Jr. (2009) in his publication said â€Å"it is not to suggest that any of these tax breaks are undesirable or should be repealed; a tax break is an oasis of freedom to be broadened, not a loophole to be closed. Instead they should be extended to as many other kinds of purchases as possible, in order not to provide artificial stimulus to any sector of the economy.† America’s Federal Reserve started the boom by increasing the supply of money through the banking system with the purpose to reduce interest rates. This system stimulated growth in the production of longer term projects such as construction, raw materials and capital goods. So this low interest rate made construction and real estate flourish vigorously in the early 2000. Real estate is not a common category of products that all consumers demand because of affordability in terms of credibility and finance. In order wards not enough consumers out there could afford to purchase expensive homes. So the Federal Reserve (Fed) came up the idea to increase money supply through banks, and banks with loose lending principles made home purchases went beyond the usual, and the notion of living the American dream was not far-fetched. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) including the Federal Housing Administration were all backed and sponsored by the Fed to be lending money to people who wanted to purchase houses. Criteria for lending were lowered and loans were approved at a record breaking level. All the new money that the Fed created was being routed into the housing market through their representative agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This stimulus was the biggest that gave unnatural rise to the housing prices. Housing prices went up quickly instead of taking a gradual rising process supposedly with the rate of inflation or the rise in average incomes; the bubble eventually busted and the housing prices went down and this caused the housing market to collapse and recession followed; borrowers were prone to increasingly rising interest rates and falling home values, and could not be in a position to refinance their mortgages leading to higher monthly payments and constant failures to meet financial obligations resulting in foreclosures. Because of the causes arising from these defaults substantial amounts of low investment grade-rated mortgage-backed securities to default and the highest rated securities to be downgraded. The US government refusal to rescue the Lehman Brothers and eventually filed for bankruptcy was also another fall in abundance of hope. Financial institutions holding mortgage –backed securities started writing down their relative worth which made them to become more financially vulnerable, as a result causing concern over counterparty risk and as such organisations started withdrawing from doing business with them (Kolb, 2010) Financial institutions inclination on risk taking could cause financial crisis. There was a view that instincts for self-preservation inside major financial firms would shield them from fatal risk-taking without the need for a steady regulatory hand, which the firms argued, would stifle innovation (Angelides, Thomas, 2011) when financial institutions act recklessly by taking too much risk something is bound to happen, especially when institutions are involved in trading, and in trading, money can be made as well as lost, example, large investment banks and bank holding companies tend to centralise their activities more on risk trading activities that bring in heavy profits. They expose themselves to danger in acquiring and making loans to borrowers with poor credit rating. Some of these institutions grew competitively as a result of poorly executed acquisition and integration strategies that made effective management more challenging Financial institutions and some credit rating agencies are adopting mathematical models to be used as reliable predictors to predict risks, by so doing replacing judgement in a lot of occurrences. Before the financial crisis of 2008, the Republic of Ireland enjoyed a long period of economic boom, both in credit growth, bubbles in real estate, excellent and educated workforce, and an attractive location for inward investment especially from the US firms. These attracted people from all over the world to come and live in the country. Because of the rise in population there was urgent need for more houses to be built which brought growth to the construction industry and Ireland recorded the highest number of employment in the history of the state. All these led to the boost in the banking sector. The banks were willing to lend, in fact banks were literally forcing people to take loans even if they didn’t need them. Credit cards were being issued to customers as long as there was weekly income coming into their account despite the fact these customers did not request for credit card. Home owners mortgaged their homes. A lot of people were encouraged to buy houses; incentive s were given to fist time buyers so as to motivate them. At the bust, the economy collapsed, companies started folding, people were made redundant, unemployment rose, banks started feeling the heat and government came to their rescue and bailed them out. A lot of money was pumped into real estate and prices of homes went up. As a result of banks’ lending money anyhow to people personal debts were rising faster than income and foreclosures everywhere. Banks stopped lending, and prices in the market dropped. The 2008 financial crisis was contagious spillover resulting from the United States subprime market. The cross-border processing was moving with great speed because of the close connections inside the financial set up and the powerfully organised supply chains in global product markets. Financial crisis of 2008 was contagious because we are now in a global market. There is evidence of significant increases in cross-market correlations in the more recent times. Global market, social media plays an effective roll, stock markets, single currency such as the Euro and the Eurozone, all trading at international level. What happens to one affects all. Conclusion Judging from a lot of the information surrounding the 2008 financial crisis and its causes, it was more like it happened mainly because of government oversight to supervise and monitor the financial experts and their institutions to constantly make sure they are in alignment with the regulatory systems is not appropriate; that seem to miss the whole point, but rather too many loans were issued on risky basis to unqualified customers that were not credit worthy, and the government fully aware of this encouraged and kept on pumping money into circulation for their political gain. The old ways of scrutinising applications for loans were abandoned by the lending institutions for a riskier method so that everyone get to live the American dream. Bibliography Angelides, P, Thomas, B (2011) The financial crisis inquiry report: Final report of the  National Commission on the causes of the financial and economic crisis in the  United States, Government Printing Office. Barton, D., Newell. R., Wilson, G. (2002) Dangerous markets: Managing in financial crisis  John Wiley Sons Publishers Buckley, A. (2011) financial crisis, context and consequences, Financial Times Prentice Hall Ciro, T (2013) the global financial crisis: Triggers, responses and aftermath  Ashgate Publishing limited Foster, J. B., Magdoff, F (2009) the great financial crisis: Causes and consequences  NYU Press Friedman, J (2011) what caused the financial crisis, University of Pennsylvania Press Goldstein, M (1998) The Asian financial crisis: Causes, cures, and systemic implications  Peterson Institute Gordon, G. B (2012) misunderstanding financial crisis: Why we don’t see them coming  Oxford University Press Kindleberger, C. P., Aliber, R. Z (2011) Manias, panics and crashes: A history of financial  Crisis, sixth edition, Palgrave Macmillan Publishers Kolb, R. (2010) lessons from the financial crisis: Causes, consequences and our economic  Future, John Wiley Sons Publishers Portes, R., and Swoboda, A. K. (1987) Threats to international financial stability  CUP Archive The Print Edition (Jan.17, 2009) the financial crisis, The Economist Woods, Jr. T. E (2009) Meltdown: A free-market look at why the stock market collapsed, the  Economy tanked, and the government bailout, Regnery Publishing.

Practices of Agile Methods in Project Management

Practices of Agile Methods in Project Management Abstract This paper describes the practices of agile methods from the viewpoint of project management. The project management techniques are complex processes that require the understanding and coordination of several domains of knowledge. As more and more software projects engage Agile Methods, there are emerging patterns of success and failure. With growing adoption of Agile Methods, project managers increasingly need to understand the applicability to their projects and factors that drive key project performance characteristics. Agile Methods have advantages, especially in accommodating change due to volatile requirements. However, they also present concomitant risks with managing the many dependent pieces of work distributed across a large project. The paper is divided into four parts. In the first part an overview of the project management and its processes and knowledge areas discussed. after that the agile methods discussed following with a short history of RAD(We should mention that just three most used and famous methodologies are discussed). In the second part the project management approaches and a brief definition of each approach are given. In the third part we looked at the agile methodologies from project management areas view such as cost, time, quality and risk management and we compared agile methodologies and we explained their advantages and disadvantages. In the fourth part we discussed about combination of agile methodologies and their utilization in large and complex projects. And finally we propose our own idea about the future of project management in agile methods. Keywords Project Management, Rapid Development Methodologies, Agile Project Management, History of RAD, Project management approaches, Agile Performance Measurement, Investment and Risk, Agile Enterprise Framework, Agile Methodology Fit Introduction What is Project? A human activity that achieves a clear objective against a time scale A project is a one-shot, time-limited, goal-directed, major undertaking, requiring the commitment of varied skills and resources. A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. A project is temporary in that there is a defined start (the decision to proceed) and a defined end (the achievement of the goals and objectives). Ongoing business or maintenance operations are not projects. Energy conservation projects and process improvement efforts that result in better business processes or more efficient operations can be defined as projects. Projects usually include constraints and risks regarding cost, schedule or performance outcome. What is Project Management? Many have attempted to define project management. One example, Oisen,3 referencing views from the 1950s, may have been one of the early attempts. Project Management is the application of a collection of tools and techniques (such as the CPM and matrix organization) to direct the use of diverse resources toward the accomplishment of a unique, complex, one-time task within time, cost and quality constraints. Each task requires a particular mix of theses tools and techniques structured to fit the task environment and life cycle (from conception to completion) of the task. Notice in the definition are included some the success criteria, The Iron triangle. Those criteria for measuring success included in the description used by Oisen3 continue to be used to describe project management today. The British Standard for project management BS60794 1996 defined project management as: The planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to the specified cost, quality and performance. The UK Association of project Management (APM) have produced a UK Body of Knowledge UK (BoK)5 which also provides a definition for project management as: The planning, organization, monitoring and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all involved to achieve the project objectives safely and within agreed time, cost and performance criteria. The project manager is the single point of responsibility for achieving this. Other definitions have been offered, Reiss6 suggests a project is a human activity that achieves a clear objective against a time scale, and to achieve this while pointing out that a simple description is not possible, suggests project management is a combination of management and planning and the management of change. Locks7 view was that project management had evolved in order to plan, co-ordinate and control the complex and diverse activities of modern industrial and commercial projects, while Burke8 considers project management to be a specialized management technique, to plan and control projects under a strong single point of responsibility. While some different suggestions about what is project management have been made, the criteria for success, namely cost, time and quality remain and are included in the actual description. Could this mean that the example given to define project management Oisen3 was either correct, or as a discipline, project management has not really changed or developed the success measurement criteria in almost 50 years. Project management is a learning profession. Based upon past mistakes and believed best practice, standards such as BS 60794 and the UK Body of Knowledge5 continue to be developed. But defining project management is difficult, Wirth,9 indicated the differences in content between six countries own versions of BoKs. Turner10 provided a consolidated matrix to help understand and moderate different attempts to describe project management, including the assessment. Turner10 further suggested that project management could be described as: the art and science of converting vision into reality. Note the criteria against which project management is measured is not included in that description. Is there a paradox however in even attempting to define project management? Can a subject which deals with a unique, one-off complex task as suggested as early as Oisen3 be defined? Perhaps project management is simply an evolving phenomena, which will remain vague enough to be non-definable, a flexible attribute which could be a strength. The significant point is that while the factors have developed and been adopted, changes to the success criteria have been suggested but remain unchanged. Could the link be, that project management continues to fail because, included in the definition are a limited set of criteria for measuring success, cost, time and quality, which even if these criteria are achieved simply demonstrate the chance of matching two best guesses and a phenomena correctly. Prior to some undergraduate lectures and workshops about project management, the students were asked to locate some secondary literature describing project management and produce their own definition. While there were some innovative ideas, the overriding responses included the success criteria of cost, time and quality within the definition. If this is the perception about project management we wish those about to work in the profession to have, the rhetoric over the years has worked. Has this ho wever been the problem to realizing more successful projects? To date, project management has had the success criteria focused upon the delivery stage, up to implementation. Reinforced by the very description we have continued to use to define the profession. The focus has been to judge whether the project was done right. Doing something right may result in a project which was implemented on time, within cost and to some quality parameters requested, but which is not used by the customers, not liked by the sponsors and does not seem to provide either improved effectiveness or efficiency for the organization, is this successful project management? Project Management Life Cycle The process flow of Project management processes is shown below. The various elements of project management life cycle are Need identification Initiation Planning Executing Controlling Closing out a) Need Identification The first step in the project development cycle is to identify components of the project. Projects may be identified both internally and externally: Internal identification takes place when the energy manager identifies a package of energy saving opportunities during the day-to-day energy management activities, or from facility audits. External identification of energy savings can occur through systematic energy audits undertaken by a reputable energy auditor or energy service company. In screening projects, the following criteria should be used to rank-order project opportunities. Cost-effectiveness of energy savings of complete package of measures (Internal rate of return, net present value, cash flow, average payback) Sustainability of the savings over the life of the equipment. Ease of quantifying, monitoring, and verifying electricity and fuel savings. Availability of technology, and ease of adaptability of the technology to Indian conditions. Other environmental and social cost benefits (such as reduction in local pollutants, e.g. SOx) b) Initiation Initiating is the basic processes that should be performed to get the project started. This starting point is critical because those who will deliver the project, those who will use the Bureau of Energy Efficiency project, and those who will have a stake in the project need to reach an agreement on its initiation. Involving all stakeholders in the project phases generally improves the probability of satisfying customer requirements by shared ownership of the project by the stakeholders. The success of the project team depends upon starting with complete and accurate information, management support, and the authorization necessary to manage the project. The initiation stage should include a plan that encompasses the following areas: Analyzing the business needs/requirements in measurable goals Reviewing of the current operations Financial analysis of the costs and benefits including a budget Stakeholder analysis, including users, and support personnel for the project Project charter including costs, tasks, deliverables, and schedule c) Planning The planning phase is considered the most important phase in project management. Project planning defines project activities that will be performed; the products that will be produced, and describes how these activities will be accomplished and managed. Project planning defines each major task, estimates the time, resources and cost required, and provides a framework for management review and control. Planning involves identifying and documenting scope, tasks, schedules, cost, risk, quality, and staffing needs. The result of the project planning, the project plan, will be an approved, comprehensive document that allows a project team to begin and complete the work necessary to achieve the project goals and objectives. The project plan will address how the project team will manage the project elements. It will provide a high level of confidence in the organizations ability to meet the scope, timing, cost, and quality requirements by addressing all aspects of the project. Project planning generally consists of determining how to plan (e.g. by level of detail or rolling wave); developing the scope statement; selecting the planning team; identifying deliverables and creating the work breakdown structure; identifying the activities needed to complete those deliverables and networking the activities in their logical sequence; estimating the resource requirements for the activities; estimating time and cost for activities; developing the schedule; developing the budget; risk planning; gaining formal approval to begin work. Additional processes, such as planning for communications and for scope management, identifying roles and responsibilities, determining what to purchase for the project and holding a kick-off meeting are also generally advisable. For new product development projects, conceptual design of the operation of the final product may be performed concurrent with the project planning activities, and may help to inform the planning team when identifying deliverables and planning activities d) Executing Once a project moves into the execution phase, the project team and all necessary resources to carry out the project should be in place and ready to perform project activities. The project plan is completed and base lined by this time as well. The project team and the project managers focus now shifts from planning the project efforts to participating, observing, and analyzing the work being done. The execution phase is when the work activities of the project plan are executed, resulting in the completion of the project deliverables and achievement of the project objective(s). This phase brings together all of the project management disciplines, resulting in a product or service that will meet the project deliverable requirements and the customers need. During this phase, elements completed in the planning phase are implemented, time is expended, and money is spent. In short, it means coordinating and managing the project resources while executing the project plan, performing the planned project activities, and ensuring they are completed efficiently. e) Monitoring and Controlling Project Control function that involves comparing actual performance with planned performance and taking corrective action to get the desired outcome when there are significant differences. By monitoring and measuring progress regularly, identifying Bureau of Energy Efficiency variances from plan, and taking corrective action if required, project control ensures that project objectives are met. Monitoring and Controlling includes: Measuring the ongoing project activities (where we are); Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be); Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again); Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented In multi-phase projects,process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan. Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: Continuing support of end users Correction of errors Updates of the software over time Monitoring and Controlling cycle In this stage, auditors should pay attention to how effectively and quickly user problems are resolved. Over the course of any construction project, the work scope may change. Change is a normal and expected part of the construction process. Changes can be the result of necessary design modifications, differing site conditions, material availability, contractor-requested changes, value engineering and impacts from third parties, to name a few. Beyond executing the change in the field, the change normally needs to be documented to show what was actually constructed. This is referred to as Change Management. Hence, the owner usually requires a final record to show all changes or, more specifically, any change that modifies the tangible portions of the finished work. The record is made on the contract documents usually, but not necessarily limited to, the design drawings. The end product of this effort is what the industry terms as-built drawings, or more simply, as built. The requirement for providing them is a norm in construction contracts. When changes are introduced to the project, the viability of the project has to be re-assessed. It is important not to lose sight of the initial goals and targets of the projects. When the changes accumulate, the forecasted result may not justify the original proposed investment in the project. f) Closing out Project closeout is performed after all defined project objectives have been met and the customer has formally accepted the projects deliverables and end product or, in some instances, when a project has been cancelled or terminated early. Although, project closeout is a routine process, it is an important one. By properly completing the project closeout, organizations can benefit from lessons learned and information compiled. The project closeout phase is comprised of contract closeout and administrative closure. This phase consists of: Project close: Finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally close the project or a project phase Contract closure: Complete and settle each contract (including the resolution of any open items) and close each contract applicable to the project or project phase Project Management Knowledge Areas with the Related Processes Each of the nine knowledge areas contains the processes that need to be accomplished within its discipline in order to achieve an effective project management program. Each of these processes also falls into one of the five basic process groups, creating a matrix structure such that every process can be related to one knowledge area and one process group. Risk Management Software development projects represent an investment of resources by the projects sponsor, an investment that often yields little or no return. The Standish Groups Chaos Report 1994 states that fewer than 10% of software projects in large companies were successful. Medium sized companies do better with 16% of their software projects being successful, and small companies succeed on 28% of their software projects (Standish 1994). Given these statistics it is worthwhile to invest significant effort in Risk Management for software projects. Research at The Standish Group also indicates that smaller time frames, with delivery of software components early and often, will increase the success rate. (Standish 1994). Integration Management Extreme Programming offers nothing to help integrate the efforts of non-software developers. Unfortunately, some advocates of Extreme Programming suggest that the efforts of technical writers, database managers, and quality assurance specialist are not required. In reality, while Extreme Programming does not explicitly describe how to integrate the work of others, the practices do not preclude the ability to integrate with other efforts. Small Releases make Integration Management a more continuous process in contrast to processes that place deployment, documentation, and testing at the end of the schedule. Continuous Integration At a more tactical level, the Extreme Programming practice of Continuous Integration requires that the work of software developers be integrated on a daily basis. While this practice can cause additional overhead for individual developers, it allows the team to identify problems daily that would otherwise become undiscovered rework accumulating until all developers integrate their individual work products. Scope Management Time Management Ask most software development teams for a copy of their project plan and you will receive an activity list formatted as a Gantt chart. Many times these activity lists will describe several phases of activities such as Analysis, Design, Construction, and Testing. Areas of functionality will be broken out under these headings in order to assign them to specific programmers, but seldom are the assignments identified in the Gantt chart clearly traceable back to a Requirement or other specification documents. All too often, the missing item that would help a team improve their planning practices is a well-constructed Work Breakdown Structure. Extreme Programming focuses almost all of its planning efforts on building a thoughtful Work Breakdown Structure and its constituent Work Packages. Extreme Programming does not teach Work Breakdown Structures and Work Packages explicitly, however, careful study of the Story Cards used in Extreme Programming reveals that they are almost identical to Work Packages in their key attributes. Human Resources Management Often one of the most challenging aspects of project management is managing human resources. For software development projects in particular this includes the complex juggling of technical tasks between individual software developers who have different individual skills, effectively treating each developers assigned tasks as an independent subproject. This type of project plan often suffers from key resource bottlenecks and status meetings reduced to determining which individuals are falling furthest behind. Extreme Programming addresses this head-on by eliminating the dependency on individual developers. Work Packages are scheduled and authorized based on the needs of the business and the users not the needs of the software developers. All developers are cross-trained to work in all areas of the code base. Developers broaden their skills, and project managers stop worrying about keeping individual software developers for the entire duration of the project. The process maintains know ledge of the full code base in the team, not in individuals. Quality Management As programmers move from work authorization to work authorization, and often from one area of the code to another, it is easy to see that maintaining quality in the work product could be challenging. Extreme Programming requires a very disciplined design approach to allow freedom in assigning resources while maintaining high quality. Communications Management When a project manager mentions the need for improved communications on a project, software developers often immediately envision an increased number of meetings and documents. While formal meetings and written documents have their place in a communication plan there are many other tools for facilitation of communication between project participants. The Extreme Programming practices include several simple practices intended to enhance communications. Costs Management Often a Project Manager is evaluated on his or her ability to complete a project within budget. The costs include estimated cost, actual cost and variability. Contingency cost takes into account influence of weather, suppliers and design allowances. How the 80/20 Rule can help a project manager? The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial. Successful Project Managers know that 20 percent of the work (the first 10 percent and the last 10 percent) consumes 80 percent of your time and resources. The History of RAD Traditional lifecycles devised in the 1970s, and still widely used today, are based upon a structured step-by-step approach to developing systems. This rigid sequence of steps forces a user to sign-off after the completion of each specification before development can proceed to the next step. The requirements and design are then frozen and the system is coded, tested, and implemented. With such conventional methods, there is a long delay before the customer gets to see any results and the development process can take so long that the customers business could fundamentally change before the system is even ready for use. In response to these rigid, cascading, one-way steps of Stagewise or Waterfall Models of development, Barry Boehm, Chief SW Engineer at TRW, introduced his Spiral Model. The Spiral Model is a risk-driven, as opposed to code-driven, approach that uses process modeling rather than methodology phases. Through his model, Boehm first implemented software prototyping as a way of reducing risk. The development process of the Spiral Model separates the product into critical parts or levels while performing risk analyses, prototyping, and the same steps at each of these levels. Similarly, Tom Gilbs Evolutionary Life Cycle is based on an evolutionary prototyping rationale where the prototype is grown and refined into the final product. The work of Boehm and Gilb paved the way for the formulation of the methodology called Rapid Iterative Production Prototyping (RIPP) at DuPont in the mid-to-late 1980s. James Martin then extended the work done at DuPont and elsewhere into a larger, more formalized process, which has become known as Rapid Application Development (RAD). RAD compresses the step-by-step development of conventional methods into an iterative process. The RAD approach thus includes developing and refining the data models, process models, and prototype in parallel using an iterative process. User requirements are refined, a solution is designed, the solution is prototyped, the prototype is reviewed, user input is provided, and the process begins again. What is Agility? There is no Agility for Dummies. Agility isnt a silver bullet. You dont achieve it in five easy steps. So what is it? From one view agility characterized in two statements: Agility is the ability to both create and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent business environment. Agility is the ability to balance flexibility and stability (Highsmith 2002). In an uncertain and turbulent world, success belongs to companies that have the capacity to create change, and maybe even chaos, for their competitors. Creating change disrupts competitors (and the entire market ecosystem); responding to change guards against competitive thrusts. Creating change requires innovation: developing new products, creating new sales channels, reducing product development time, customizing products for increasingly smaller market segments. In addition, your company must be able to respond quickly to both anticipated and unanticipated changes created by your competitors and customers. An example of a product development effort in which all the aspects of agility come into play is that of small, portable DNA analyzers. These instruments can be used for analyzing suspected bio-terror agents (e.g., anthrax), performing quick medical diagnoses, or undertaking environmental bacterial analysis. These instruments must be accurate, easy to use, and reliable under wide-ranging conditions, and their development depends on breakthroughs in nanotechnology, genome research, and micro-fluidics. Developing these leading-edge products requires blending flexibility and structure, exploring various new technologies, and creating change for competitors by reducing delivery time. These are not projects that can be managed by traditional, prescriptive project management methodologies. Some people mistakenly assume that agility connotes a lack of structure, but the absence of structure, or stability, generates chaos. Conversely, too much structure generates rigidity. Complexity theory tells us that innovation—creating something new in ways that we cant fully anticipate (an emergent result) occurs most readily at the balance point between chaos and order, between flexibility and stability. Scientists believe that emergence, the creation of novelty from agent interaction, happens most readily at this edge of chaos. The idea of enough structure, but not too much, drives agile managers to continually ask the question, How little structure can I get away with? Too much structure stifles creativity. Too little structure breeds inefficiency. This need to balance at the edge of chaos to foster innovation is one reason process-centric methodologies often fail. They push organizations into over-optimization at the expense of innovation. Agile organizations dont get lost in some gray middle ground; they understand which factors require stabilization and which ones encourage exploration. For example, in a high-change product development environment, rigorous configuration management stabilizes and facilitates flexibility just as a focus on technical excellence stabilizes the development effort. Overview and definitions The Agile Movement in software industry saw the light of day with the Agile Software Development Manifesto4 published by a group of software practitioners and consultants in 2001 (Beck et al. 2001; Cockburn 2002a). The focal values honored by the agilists are presented in the following: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan These central values that the agile community adheres to are: First, the agile movement emphasizes the relationship and communality of software developers and the human role reflected in the contracts, as opposed to institutionalized processes and development tools. In the existing agile practices, this manifests itself in close team relationships, close working environment arrangements, and other procedures boosting team spirit. Second, the vital objective of the software team is to continuously turn out tested working software. New releases are produced at frequent intervals, in some approaches even hourly or daily, but more usually bi-monthly or monthly. The developers are urged to keep the code simple, straightforward, and technically as advanced as possible, thus lessening the documentation burden to an appropriate level. Third, the relationship and cooperation between the developers and the clients is given the preference over strict contracts, although the importance of well drafted contracts does grow at the same pace as the size of the software project. The negotiation process itself should be seen as a means of achieving and maintaining a viable relationship. From a business point of view, agile development is focused on delivering business value immediately as the project starts, thus reducing the risks of non-fulfillment regarding the contract. Fourth, the development group, comprising both software developers and customer representatives, should be well-informed, competent and authorized to consider possible adjustment needs emerging during the development process life-cycle. This means that the participants are prepared to make changes and that also the existing contracts are formed with tools that support and allow these enhancements to be made. According to Highsmith and Cockburn (2001, p. 122), what is new about agile methods is not the practices they use, but their recognition of people as the primary drivers of project success, coupled with an intense focus on effectiveness and maneuverability. This yields a new combination of values and principles that define an agile world view. Boehm (2002) illustrates the spectrum of different planning methods with Figure 1, in which hackers are placed at one end and the so called inch-pebble ironbound contractual approach at the opposite end: Hawrysh and Ruprecht (2000) state that a single methodology can not work for the whole spectrum of different projects, but instead the project management should identify the specific nature of the project at hand and then select the bes Practices of Agile Methods in Project Management Practices of Agile Methods in Project Management Abstract This paper describes the practices of agile methods from the viewpoint of project management. The project management techniques are complex processes that require the understanding and coordination of several domains of knowledge. As more and more software projects engage Agile Methods, there are emerging patterns of success and failure. With growing adoption of Agile Methods, project managers increasingly need to understand the applicability to their projects and factors that drive key project performance characteristics. Agile Methods have advantages, especially in accommodating change due to volatile requirements. However, they also present concomitant risks with managing the many dependent pieces of work distributed across a large project. The paper is divided into four parts. In the first part an overview of the project management and its processes and knowledge areas discussed. after that the agile methods discussed following with a short history of RAD(We should mention that just three most used and famous methodologies are discussed). In the second part the project management approaches and a brief definition of each approach are given. In the third part we looked at the agile methodologies from project management areas view such as cost, time, quality and risk management and we compared agile methodologies and we explained their advantages and disadvantages. In the fourth part we discussed about combination of agile methodologies and their utilization in large and complex projects. And finally we propose our own idea about the future of project management in agile methods. Keywords Project Management, Rapid Development Methodologies, Agile Project Management, History of RAD, Project management approaches, Agile Performance Measurement, Investment and Risk, Agile Enterprise Framework, Agile Methodology Fit Introduction What is Project? A human activity that achieves a clear objective against a time scale A project is a one-shot, time-limited, goal-directed, major undertaking, requiring the commitment of varied skills and resources. A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. A project is temporary in that there is a defined start (the decision to proceed) and a defined end (the achievement of the goals and objectives). Ongoing business or maintenance operations are not projects. Energy conservation projects and process improvement efforts that result in better business processes or more efficient operations can be defined as projects. Projects usually include constraints and risks regarding cost, schedule or performance outcome. What is Project Management? Many have attempted to define project management. One example, Oisen,3 referencing views from the 1950s, may have been one of the early attempts. Project Management is the application of a collection of tools and techniques (such as the CPM and matrix organization) to direct the use of diverse resources toward the accomplishment of a unique, complex, one-time task within time, cost and quality constraints. Each task requires a particular mix of theses tools and techniques structured to fit the task environment and life cycle (from conception to completion) of the task. Notice in the definition are included some the success criteria, The Iron triangle. Those criteria for measuring success included in the description used by Oisen3 continue to be used to describe project management today. The British Standard for project management BS60794 1996 defined project management as: The planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to the specified cost, quality and performance. The UK Association of project Management (APM) have produced a UK Body of Knowledge UK (BoK)5 which also provides a definition for project management as: The planning, organization, monitoring and control of all aspects of a project and the motivation of all involved to achieve the project objectives safely and within agreed time, cost and performance criteria. The project manager is the single point of responsibility for achieving this. Other definitions have been offered, Reiss6 suggests a project is a human activity that achieves a clear objective against a time scale, and to achieve this while pointing out that a simple description is not possible, suggests project management is a combination of management and planning and the management of change. Locks7 view was that project management had evolved in order to plan, co-ordinate and control the complex and diverse activities of modern industrial and commercial projects, while Burke8 considers project management to be a specialized management technique, to plan and control projects under a strong single point of responsibility. While some different suggestions about what is project management have been made, the criteria for success, namely cost, time and quality remain and are included in the actual description. Could this mean that the example given to define project management Oisen3 was either correct, or as a discipline, project management has not really changed or developed the success measurement criteria in almost 50 years. Project management is a learning profession. Based upon past mistakes and believed best practice, standards such as BS 60794 and the UK Body of Knowledge5 continue to be developed. But defining project management is difficult, Wirth,9 indicated the differences in content between six countries own versions of BoKs. Turner10 provided a consolidated matrix to help understand and moderate different attempts to describe project management, including the assessment. Turner10 further suggested that project management could be described as: the art and science of converting vision into reality. Note the criteria against which project management is measured is not included in that description. Is there a paradox however in even attempting to define project management? Can a subject which deals with a unique, one-off complex task as suggested as early as Oisen3 be defined? Perhaps project management is simply an evolving phenomena, which will remain vague enough to be non-definable, a flexible attribute which could be a strength. The significant point is that while the factors have developed and been adopted, changes to the success criteria have been suggested but remain unchanged. Could the link be, that project management continues to fail because, included in the definition are a limited set of criteria for measuring success, cost, time and quality, which even if these criteria are achieved simply demonstrate the chance of matching two best guesses and a phenomena correctly. Prior to some undergraduate lectures and workshops about project management, the students were asked to locate some secondary literature describing project management and produce their own definition. While there were some innovative ideas, the overriding responses included the success criteria of cost, time and quality within the definition. If this is the perception about project management we wish those about to work in the profession to have, the rhetoric over the years has worked. Has this ho wever been the problem to realizing more successful projects? To date, project management has had the success criteria focused upon the delivery stage, up to implementation. Reinforced by the very description we have continued to use to define the profession. The focus has been to judge whether the project was done right. Doing something right may result in a project which was implemented on time, within cost and to some quality parameters requested, but which is not used by the customers, not liked by the sponsors and does not seem to provide either improved effectiveness or efficiency for the organization, is this successful project management? Project Management Life Cycle The process flow of Project management processes is shown below. The various elements of project management life cycle are Need identification Initiation Planning Executing Controlling Closing out a) Need Identification The first step in the project development cycle is to identify components of the project. Projects may be identified both internally and externally: Internal identification takes place when the energy manager identifies a package of energy saving opportunities during the day-to-day energy management activities, or from facility audits. External identification of energy savings can occur through systematic energy audits undertaken by a reputable energy auditor or energy service company. In screening projects, the following criteria should be used to rank-order project opportunities. Cost-effectiveness of energy savings of complete package of measures (Internal rate of return, net present value, cash flow, average payback) Sustainability of the savings over the life of the equipment. Ease of quantifying, monitoring, and verifying electricity and fuel savings. Availability of technology, and ease of adaptability of the technology to Indian conditions. Other environmental and social cost benefits (such as reduction in local pollutants, e.g. SOx) b) Initiation Initiating is the basic processes that should be performed to get the project started. This starting point is critical because those who will deliver the project, those who will use the Bureau of Energy Efficiency project, and those who will have a stake in the project need to reach an agreement on its initiation. Involving all stakeholders in the project phases generally improves the probability of satisfying customer requirements by shared ownership of the project by the stakeholders. The success of the project team depends upon starting with complete and accurate information, management support, and the authorization necessary to manage the project. The initiation stage should include a plan that encompasses the following areas: Analyzing the business needs/requirements in measurable goals Reviewing of the current operations Financial analysis of the costs and benefits including a budget Stakeholder analysis, including users, and support personnel for the project Project charter including costs, tasks, deliverables, and schedule c) Planning The planning phase is considered the most important phase in project management. Project planning defines project activities that will be performed; the products that will be produced, and describes how these activities will be accomplished and managed. Project planning defines each major task, estimates the time, resources and cost required, and provides a framework for management review and control. Planning involves identifying and documenting scope, tasks, schedules, cost, risk, quality, and staffing needs. The result of the project planning, the project plan, will be an approved, comprehensive document that allows a project team to begin and complete the work necessary to achieve the project goals and objectives. The project plan will address how the project team will manage the project elements. It will provide a high level of confidence in the organizations ability to meet the scope, timing, cost, and quality requirements by addressing all aspects of the project. Project planning generally consists of determining how to plan (e.g. by level of detail or rolling wave); developing the scope statement; selecting the planning team; identifying deliverables and creating the work breakdown structure; identifying the activities needed to complete those deliverables and networking the activities in their logical sequence; estimating the resource requirements for the activities; estimating time and cost for activities; developing the schedule; developing the budget; risk planning; gaining formal approval to begin work. Additional processes, such as planning for communications and for scope management, identifying roles and responsibilities, determining what to purchase for the project and holding a kick-off meeting are also generally advisable. For new product development projects, conceptual design of the operation of the final product may be performed concurrent with the project planning activities, and may help to inform the planning team when identifying deliverables and planning activities d) Executing Once a project moves into the execution phase, the project team and all necessary resources to carry out the project should be in place and ready to perform project activities. The project plan is completed and base lined by this time as well. The project team and the project managers focus now shifts from planning the project efforts to participating, observing, and analyzing the work being done. The execution phase is when the work activities of the project plan are executed, resulting in the completion of the project deliverables and achievement of the project objective(s). This phase brings together all of the project management disciplines, resulting in a product or service that will meet the project deliverable requirements and the customers need. During this phase, elements completed in the planning phase are implemented, time is expended, and money is spent. In short, it means coordinating and managing the project resources while executing the project plan, performing the planned project activities, and ensuring they are completed efficiently. e) Monitoring and Controlling Project Control function that involves comparing actual performance with planned performance and taking corrective action to get the desired outcome when there are significant differences. By monitoring and measuring progress regularly, identifying Bureau of Energy Efficiency variances from plan, and taking corrective action if required, project control ensures that project objectives are met. Monitoring and Controlling includes: Measuring the ongoing project activities (where we are); Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be); Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again); Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented In multi-phase projects,process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan. Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: Continuing support of end users Correction of errors Updates of the software over time Monitoring and Controlling cycle In this stage, auditors should pay attention to how effectively and quickly user problems are resolved. Over the course of any construction project, the work scope may change. Change is a normal and expected part of the construction process. Changes can be the result of necessary design modifications, differing site conditions, material availability, contractor-requested changes, value engineering and impacts from third parties, to name a few. Beyond executing the change in the field, the change normally needs to be documented to show what was actually constructed. This is referred to as Change Management. Hence, the owner usually requires a final record to show all changes or, more specifically, any change that modifies the tangible portions of the finished work. The record is made on the contract documents usually, but not necessarily limited to, the design drawings. The end product of this effort is what the industry terms as-built drawings, or more simply, as built. The requirement for providing them is a norm in construction contracts. When changes are introduced to the project, the viability of the project has to be re-assessed. It is important not to lose sight of the initial goals and targets of the projects. When the changes accumulate, the forecasted result may not justify the original proposed investment in the project. f) Closing out Project closeout is performed after all defined project objectives have been met and the customer has formally accepted the projects deliverables and end product or, in some instances, when a project has been cancelled or terminated early. Although, project closeout is a routine process, it is an important one. By properly completing the project closeout, organizations can benefit from lessons learned and information compiled. The project closeout phase is comprised of contract closeout and administrative closure. This phase consists of: Project close: Finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally close the project or a project phase Contract closure: Complete and settle each contract (including the resolution of any open items) and close each contract applicable to the project or project phase Project Management Knowledge Areas with the Related Processes Each of the nine knowledge areas contains the processes that need to be accomplished within its discipline in order to achieve an effective project management program. Each of these processes also falls into one of the five basic process groups, creating a matrix structure such that every process can be related to one knowledge area and one process group. Risk Management Software development projects represent an investment of resources by the projects sponsor, an investment that often yields little or no return. The Standish Groups Chaos Report 1994 states that fewer than 10% of software projects in large companies were successful. Medium sized companies do better with 16% of their software projects being successful, and small companies succeed on 28% of their software projects (Standish 1994). Given these statistics it is worthwhile to invest significant effort in Risk Management for software projects. Research at The Standish Group also indicates that smaller time frames, with delivery of software components early and often, will increase the success rate. (Standish 1994). Integration Management Extreme Programming offers nothing to help integrate the efforts of non-software developers. Unfortunately, some advocates of Extreme Programming suggest that the efforts of technical writers, database managers, and quality assurance specialist are not required. In reality, while Extreme Programming does not explicitly describe how to integrate the work of others, the practices do not preclude the ability to integrate with other efforts. Small Releases make Integration Management a more continuous process in contrast to processes that place deployment, documentation, and testing at the end of the schedule. Continuous Integration At a more tactical level, the Extreme Programming practice of Continuous Integration requires that the work of software developers be integrated on a daily basis. While this practice can cause additional overhead for individual developers, it allows the team to identify problems daily that would otherwise become undiscovered rework accumulating until all developers integrate their individual work products. Scope Management Time Management Ask most software development teams for a copy of their project plan and you will receive an activity list formatted as a Gantt chart. Many times these activity lists will describe several phases of activities such as Analysis, Design, Construction, and Testing. Areas of functionality will be broken out under these headings in order to assign them to specific programmers, but seldom are the assignments identified in the Gantt chart clearly traceable back to a Requirement or other specification documents. All too often, the missing item that would help a team improve their planning practices is a well-constructed Work Breakdown Structure. Extreme Programming focuses almost all of its planning efforts on building a thoughtful Work Breakdown Structure and its constituent Work Packages. Extreme Programming does not teach Work Breakdown Structures and Work Packages explicitly, however, careful study of the Story Cards used in Extreme Programming reveals that they are almost identical to Work Packages in their key attributes. Human Resources Management Often one of the most challenging aspects of project management is managing human resources. For software development projects in particular this includes the complex juggling of technical tasks between individual software developers who have different individual skills, effectively treating each developers assigned tasks as an independent subproject. This type of project plan often suffers from key resource bottlenecks and status meetings reduced to determining which individuals are falling furthest behind. Extreme Programming addresses this head-on by eliminating the dependency on individual developers. Work Packages are scheduled and authorized based on the needs of the business and the users not the needs of the software developers. All developers are cross-trained to work in all areas of the code base. Developers broaden their skills, and project managers stop worrying about keeping individual software developers for the entire duration of the project. The process maintains know ledge of the full code base in the team, not in individuals. Quality Management As programmers move from work authorization to work authorization, and often from one area of the code to another, it is easy to see that maintaining quality in the work product could be challenging. Extreme Programming requires a very disciplined design approach to allow freedom in assigning resources while maintaining high quality. Communications Management When a project manager mentions the need for improved communications on a project, software developers often immediately envision an increased number of meetings and documents. While formal meetings and written documents have their place in a communication plan there are many other tools for facilitation of communication between project participants. The Extreme Programming practices include several simple practices intended to enhance communications. Costs Management Often a Project Manager is evaluated on his or her ability to complete a project within budget. The costs include estimated cost, actual cost and variability. Contingency cost takes into account influence of weather, suppliers and design allowances. How the 80/20 Rule can help a project manager? The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial. Successful Project Managers know that 20 percent of the work (the first 10 percent and the last 10 percent) consumes 80 percent of your time and resources. The History of RAD Traditional lifecycles devised in the 1970s, and still widely used today, are based upon a structured step-by-step approach to developing systems. This rigid sequence of steps forces a user to sign-off after the completion of each specification before development can proceed to the next step. The requirements and design are then frozen and the system is coded, tested, and implemented. With such conventional methods, there is a long delay before the customer gets to see any results and the development process can take so long that the customers business could fundamentally change before the system is even ready for use. In response to these rigid, cascading, one-way steps of Stagewise or Waterfall Models of development, Barry Boehm, Chief SW Engineer at TRW, introduced his Spiral Model. The Spiral Model is a risk-driven, as opposed to code-driven, approach that uses process modeling rather than methodology phases. Through his model, Boehm first implemented software prototyping as a way of reducing risk. The development process of the Spiral Model separates the product into critical parts or levels while performing risk analyses, prototyping, and the same steps at each of these levels. Similarly, Tom Gilbs Evolutionary Life Cycle is based on an evolutionary prototyping rationale where the prototype is grown and refined into the final product. The work of Boehm and Gilb paved the way for the formulation of the methodology called Rapid Iterative Production Prototyping (RIPP) at DuPont in the mid-to-late 1980s. James Martin then extended the work done at DuPont and elsewhere into a larger, more formalized process, which has become known as Rapid Application Development (RAD). RAD compresses the step-by-step development of conventional methods into an iterative process. The RAD approach thus includes developing and refining the data models, process models, and prototype in parallel using an iterative process. User requirements are refined, a solution is designed, the solution is prototyped, the prototype is reviewed, user input is provided, and the process begins again. What is Agility? There is no Agility for Dummies. Agility isnt a silver bullet. You dont achieve it in five easy steps. So what is it? From one view agility characterized in two statements: Agility is the ability to both create and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent business environment. Agility is the ability to balance flexibility and stability (Highsmith 2002). In an uncertain and turbulent world, success belongs to companies that have the capacity to create change, and maybe even chaos, for their competitors. Creating change disrupts competitors (and the entire market ecosystem); responding to change guards against competitive thrusts. Creating change requires innovation: developing new products, creating new sales channels, reducing product development time, customizing products for increasingly smaller market segments. In addition, your company must be able to respond quickly to both anticipated and unanticipated changes created by your competitors and customers. An example of a product development effort in which all the aspects of agility come into play is that of small, portable DNA analyzers. These instruments can be used for analyzing suspected bio-terror agents (e.g., anthrax), performing quick medical diagnoses, or undertaking environmental bacterial analysis. These instruments must be accurate, easy to use, and reliable under wide-ranging conditions, and their development depends on breakthroughs in nanotechnology, genome research, and micro-fluidics. Developing these leading-edge products requires blending flexibility and structure, exploring various new technologies, and creating change for competitors by reducing delivery time. These are not projects that can be managed by traditional, prescriptive project management methodologies. Some people mistakenly assume that agility connotes a lack of structure, but the absence of structure, or stability, generates chaos. Conversely, too much structure generates rigidity. Complexity theory tells us that innovation—creating something new in ways that we cant fully anticipate (an emergent result) occurs most readily at the balance point between chaos and order, between flexibility and stability. Scientists believe that emergence, the creation of novelty from agent interaction, happens most readily at this edge of chaos. The idea of enough structure, but not too much, drives agile managers to continually ask the question, How little structure can I get away with? Too much structure stifles creativity. Too little structure breeds inefficiency. This need to balance at the edge of chaos to foster innovation is one reason process-centric methodologies often fail. They push organizations into over-optimization at the expense of innovation. Agile organizations dont get lost in some gray middle ground; they understand which factors require stabilization and which ones encourage exploration. For example, in a high-change product development environment, rigorous configuration management stabilizes and facilitates flexibility just as a focus on technical excellence stabilizes the development effort. Overview and definitions The Agile Movement in software industry saw the light of day with the Agile Software Development Manifesto4 published by a group of software practitioners and consultants in 2001 (Beck et al. 2001; Cockburn 2002a). The focal values honored by the agilists are presented in the following: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan These central values that the agile community adheres to are: First, the agile movement emphasizes the relationship and communality of software developers and the human role reflected in the contracts, as opposed to institutionalized processes and development tools. In the existing agile practices, this manifests itself in close team relationships, close working environment arrangements, and other procedures boosting team spirit. Second, the vital objective of the software team is to continuously turn out tested working software. New releases are produced at frequent intervals, in some approaches even hourly or daily, but more usually bi-monthly or monthly. The developers are urged to keep the code simple, straightforward, and technically as advanced as possible, thus lessening the documentation burden to an appropriate level. Third, the relationship and cooperation between the developers and the clients is given the preference over strict contracts, although the importance of well drafted contracts does grow at the same pace as the size of the software project. The negotiation process itself should be seen as a means of achieving and maintaining a viable relationship. From a business point of view, agile development is focused on delivering business value immediately as the project starts, thus reducing the risks of non-fulfillment regarding the contract. Fourth, the development group, comprising both software developers and customer representatives, should be well-informed, competent and authorized to consider possible adjustment needs emerging during the development process life-cycle. This means that the participants are prepared to make changes and that also the existing contracts are formed with tools that support and allow these enhancements to be made. According to Highsmith and Cockburn (2001, p. 122), what is new about agile methods is not the practices they use, but their recognition of people as the primary drivers of project success, coupled with an intense focus on effectiveness and maneuverability. This yields a new combination of values and principles that define an agile world view. Boehm (2002) illustrates the spectrum of different planning methods with Figure 1, in which hackers are placed at one end and the so called inch-pebble ironbound contractual approach at the opposite end: Hawrysh and Ruprecht (2000) state that a single methodology can not work for the whole spectrum of different projects, but instead the project management should identify the specific nature of the project at hand and then select the bes