Exploring the Evolutionary Characteristics of Project Management Approaches at Different Levels of Operations

Project management sets the foundation of software development and is considered a critical area as it has a direct relationship with project success. In recent years, project management has rapidly evolved into a more structured and sophisticated methodology which is vital not only to meet the growing stakeholder expectations and technology improvements but also a mandatory requirement for the software development companies to achieve competitive advantage and maintain business survival. Software project management approaches have evolved from traditional to agile to global with a shift in their inherent characteristics at different levels of operations and this shift poses a challenge for companies in choosing the appropriate approach based on their project needs. Current literature lacks attention in understanding the evolutionary characteristics of the varying project management approaches at the different operational levels. This study investigates the project management approaches at the individual, project, team and company levels to examine how these approaches vary in terms of characteristics in traditional, agile, and global software development contexts. Improved understanding of the evolution of project management approaches and their underlying characteristics will enable project management professionals and software developers to make appropriate decisions to achieve project success.