Is Agile Project Management fit for small tech start-ups?

Abstract

Like other professions, project management is evolving, with approaches to project management emerging. As alternatives to the traditional project management methodology, agile software development life cycle models provide innovative approaches to software development. Agile approaches are incremental in nature, with a primary focus on the deliverables of the iterations. These approaches have proven effective in highly complex projects, characterized by high uncertainties and large enterprises have adopted them, with considerable success. While the use of use of agile approaches to project management has brought in large organizations, their applicability in small startups is questionable. This is largely due to the differences between large and small enterprises. Small scale startups have limited funding, limited number of developers and are constantly faced with the constraints of time and cost and may not be able to use agile approaches with ease. Through a critical examination of the benefits and disadvantages of agile approaches to software development, particularly Scrum and Extreme Programming, this paper explores the possibility of extending agile approaches to small startups. The paper concludes that agile approaches to project managers are not fit for small tech startups.