Research and Refine Research Topic

ASSIGNMENT 2: REFINING YOUR TOPIC

Complete the following questions designed to help you refine your research topic. Review the guidance provided on the Tips for PMGT Research document and guidance provided on the GRAD 695 course page and Student Toolbox:

· GRAD 695 Course Page Course Overview, Course Expectations and Research Resources

· HU Library Research Step by Step and Credo Reference

· MIT Libraries Refining a research topic

· HU PMGT Graduate Research Topics

· HU Digital Commons Digital Commons

Naga Srinivas Guntupalli

Professor Stephen Wall Smith

Research Methodology and Writing

Harrisburg University

Abstract

This paper is consists of proposed project management research topic with short description. Paper directs on refinement of the selected research topic which completely focuses on mainly project management’s research need. Paper focuses on the keywords and parameters in order to broaden and elaborate the topic. Paper also responds to the questions with review which includes content, references, sources and citations.

Proposed Project Management Research Topic and short description:

The proposed project management research topic is execution agile methodology into retail domain projects. In order to have more changes in the requirements which are gathered from the retail users. To make satisfy the retail application users, it is important to satisfy the user requirements in terms developing, testing and deploying into the production environment without any delays and agile projects in retail industry can be completed on time.

Directions for Refining Your Research Topic: Conduct research and narrow or broaden your topic to focus on a specific PM research need, complete the table below. Repeat the process until you have achieved below 30 results to research. Add more rows as needed.

Keywords and parameters used in search to narrow or broaden topic	Number of Results
Retail domain agile projects	9,800
Agile Unified Process in retail domain	4,800
Product leadership in retail domain	900
Product backlog requirements including features and stakeholder in retail domain with agile methodology	468
Inception, Elaboration and Transition in retail domain with agile methodology	290
Stakeholder management, sprint planning, iterative approach, stakeholder prioritization, stakeholder communication. in retail domain with agile methodology	190
Scrum roles and meetings in retail domain with agile methodology with scrum framework	85
Scrum master in retail domain industry with agile scrum framework	30
Controlling and scheduling of the project	18

Review the following resources and provide responses to the following questions. Your responses should be at least 100 words in length and contain paraphrased content and citations.

Question 1: Discuss which of the resources from Section 1 was most helpful to you and how it helped frame your topic.

From section 1 article named “How retail industry CEOs can drive agile to grow their business” helped me and as per what I selected, it help me in understanding the importance implementation of agile methodology in important prestigious projects where the current process should be aligned with the agile methodology in terms adoption. I helped in understanding the importanc level towards agile methodology such as requirement adjustment through user feedback when the deployment in takes place in sprint where the project team can work can changes to make user satisfied. Agile methodology has helped in adapting toward new business and product innovations.

Question 2: List three things you learned about research process from this exercise.

1. In retail domain projects, important aspect would be how the new organization’s processes can be improved from the current process through implementation of agile projects in order enhance the current system to retain the customers and stay alive in the competition of retail industry.

2. It is important engage subject matter experts in the retail domain projects, in order to know the issues of the users and with that requirements would be known. Subject matter expert can share the knowledge of the requirements of the retail users. Agile project management methodology would be more added value to the projects when the requirements are more exposed to the project team. As requirements in retail domain are wide and I feel agile methodology would be the best in implanting to finish the project successfully.

3. When there are multiple requirements or the requirements which often change in the retail industry, it is important correct sprint planning in place. Sprint planning should make every estimate should be accurate in terms of accomplishing the requirements on time for that it is important prioritize the requirements correctly through project team meeting and discussions.

Question 3: List and describe three insights that you have noted about your research topic through this exercise Limit your response to specifically to your topic, NOT the research process.

Below are the 3 insights that I have noted about my research topic.

1. I have recognized through my research that with the help of agile methodology in retail domain the quality of benefits can improved when the project is successfully delivered. The delivery of products would be at good pace (David, 2008)

2. It is important how the retail companies trust the agile methodology when they are more in traditional waterfall methodology. It would be key how the companies would shift to agile and how quickly they can adapt towards agile after realizing the benefits.

3. Execution of agile methodology in retail domains will be added advantage but only challenges how the processes can be effective once the agile methodology is implemented. Some retail companies face issues while following agile methodology lack of depth exposure towards the methodology and lack of knowledge in the current resources where cause is when there is no right training methods aren’t been implemented.

Question 4: How can your proposed topic add to the existing body of knowledge in project management?

As per PMBOK guide, I strongly believe that project teams collobrativeness is really important. I think detailed planning is important in the agile project management under retail domain because retail domain is combination of various stakeholders and requirements. In order to deliver correctly, the requirements should be planned correctly in every sprint through priotization level. Project sponsors will play key role in the agile projects where they should be helpful in providing continuous feedback to the resources involved in the project so that user or customer requirements can be met according to the specifications and functionalities. When there are more requirements then the work breakdown structure needs to be done correctly towards the resources so that the deliverables can be accomplished on time (A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Project Management Institute (2017).

Question 5: Name 3 to 5 identified gaps in the existing literature or recommendations for future research? (These are often found in the conclusion section of articles and research studies)

1. The organizations which starts the agile methodology it is important to make sure they implement organization’s change management processes correctly by the change management team and subject matter experts of retail domain. Organization need to have assessment of change management and change needs to be measured in every level of the organization with implementation agile methodologies.

2. In the current literature, the important gap which I found was estimates given by resources of the project such as developers and testers. Testing team would give one specific estimate where as development team may give one specific estimate. Both the estimates needs to be aligned in terms accomplishing the tasks in one sprint.

3. Even though the agile project methodologies are implemented, some retail domain companies still could not able to manage the project in delivering on time because some of the organization’s processes are not well aligned with the agile framework.

Question 6: Based on this research and any preliminary research, describe the focus of your research paper.

Based on this preliminary research, “implementing and executing the agile methodology with scurm framework in all retail domain companies by alignment of current processes with a best organization change management strategies.”

The focus on the research paper was to involve and engage the resources and subject matter experts who can work on the requirements correctly, closely monitor the requirements to make sure which requirements are more trending in the market and make sure work on the requirements and make the customer satisfied when product and servies are successfully launched when the projects delived successfully and adding value to the organization as wells to the customers.

List at least 5 references used in APA format:

· Boonstra, A. (2009). Identifying and managing stakeholders in enterprise information system projects. International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems, 5(4), 1-16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/921601543?accountid=8289

· Clark, C. E. (1999). Developing stakeholder communication. American Marketing Association. Conference Proceedings, 10, 219. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/199480361?accountid=8289

· Knowledgehut (2017). Can Agile Testing Spread Its Magic In The Retail Sector? From https://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/agile/can-agile-testing-spread-magic-retail-sector

· (2018, April 5) Walmart Communications, Hundreds More High-Tech Pickup Towners Are Headed Your Way from https://blog.walmart.com/innovation/20180405/hundreds-more-high-tech-pickup- towers-are-headed-your-way

· Project Management Institute (2017) A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)

GRAD 695 A2 Topic Refinement Assignment Jun 2019	2