Homeworking Project Management & Agility as the New Normal in a COVID-19 World

Abstract

The Covid-19 global pandemic crisis has had a deep and profound impact on fundamental elements of society, the economy, and the environment as a whole. Key organisations, businesses, sectors and industries vital for delivering crucial projects have been affected by the relatively fast onset of Covid-19 on a global scale. As a result, organisational routines and project management processes that would have focused on established methods and practices have incurred dramatic changes leading to a greater emphasis on agility as part of a more exhaustive strategic Covid-19 world, where new routines and processes become embedded as the new normal. This research focuses on the increased demand in Homeworking Project Management (HPM) and more significant agility requirements across dispersed virtual project management teams. Initial insights from semi-structured interviews with a crosssection of 12 high-level project professionals suggest that; (i) Transitional homeworking project management processes have a direct impact on collaborative and operational routines; (ii) There is a greater level of demand on agility with HPM teams which do not necessarily have the organisational infrastructure to support these, (iii) Technological resources are becoming a primary concern with inequality of information across HPM teams, and (iv) Increasing critical bottlenecks across dispersed HPM teams is adversely affecting tenable project outcomes.

Role of project management methodology in challenges faced in implementation of Information Systems projects in the new normal after pandemic

“…COVID-19 has created enormous challenges in project management but it also provides unique opportunities for employees to become innovative in their work practices ( Sonjit, Dacre, & Baxter, 2021). No project can be delivered smoothly during its lifecycle from concept stage till closure without facing some obstacles and issues (Mossalam, 2019).…”

“…The picture of digital divide was found to be strong in the current COVID-19 new normalcy. Organisational procedures and project management processes that were focused on already established methods and practices have now been subjected to dramatic changes leading to more emphasis on agile methods as part of a strategic COVID-19 world, where new routines and processes become the new normal ( Sonjit, Dacre, & Baxter, 2021).…”

Work-from-home and its implication for project management, resilience and innovation -- a global survey on software companies

“…We also agree with Kettunen, in finding that Agility is one of the top three factors for software companies to remain resilient during the pandemic. We have added evidence on teh strength of the role of agility [82,83] and leadership [83] in maintaining software companies' resilience and performance, both important in a startup context.…”

The Impact of Working From Home on the Success of Scrum Projects: A Multi-Method Study

“…However, Hummel et al "did not find a significant moderation effect of team distribution on the effect of shared understanding on project success" [27], indicating that co-location is not necessary for effective communication as long as the proper tools are in place [27]. This finding suggests that besides the adaptions to Scrum, organizations must provide appropriate technological resources for remote contexts [28].…”