Reference no: EM133031287

BISM-Consulting is a large firm that specialises in IT and accounting services. The firm has a team of IT staff and business analysts. In addition to undertaking projects for clients the firm also creates new information systems for internal use, such as new human resources systems, accounting systems as well as novel collaboration platforms and clientfacing platforms. The firm prefers the internal approach to development because it allows it to obtain strategic value. Purchasing and using systems off-the-shelf would not allow the firm to deliver value differently to its competitors. Because the firm specialises in IT consulting it also has internal expertise in system development, which allows it to deliver high quality products. A recent audit of past projects completed at the firm uncovered that thirty percent of information system development projects were delivered late, over budget or did not meet the initial business needs and user requirements. In addition, ten percent of projects were considered to be a failure at the end of the project. This adds up to millions of dollars in wasted resources over time. Several of the issues identified in the audit is that user requirements are not properly captured or unclear when captured in the requirements phase of the Waterfall methodology, that the overall Waterfall process is slow, and users and managers are detached from the process of information systems development. Often projects go down the wrong path and because of sunk costs, it is hard to turn them around.

This is a concern for senior management because many projects it has scheduled for the coming years are novel and important as part of the firm's digital transformation. If these future projects are not successful it will have implications on its long-term competitiveness. The firm uses the Waterfall approach across all its information systems development projects and has been doing so for the last 15 years. It has not changed this approach since it started developing its own systems. In fact, many of the business analysts and IT staff have been with the firm for a very long time and are only familiar with the Waterfall approach.

You have joined the firm as a business analyst. Your manager has asked you to get ready for a brief explanation on why an alternative approach to Waterfall could result in more successful outcomes. Your manager has heard of Scrum, in particular, and is interested to know how it could offer new ways of developing information systems that are better than Waterfall.

Q1(a). Explain to your manager what is meant by the "change friendly nature" of Scrum and how Scrum handles change during the execution of a project compared to Waterfall.

Q1(b). Using the Scrum process and concepts, give three reasons why Scrum could lead to more successful outcomes than the Waterfall approach for information systems development at BISM-Consulting. (Can I please get detailed explanations of the reasons please?)