Impact analysis of the project manager skills on the success of agile software development projects in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Software industry has grown at a rapid pace over the past decade in line with the changes in business environment including automation and interconnectivity in fourth industrial revolution. The business world today is highly uncertain and complex due to the rapidly changing business needs which demand the software development companies to provide faster technology solutions while still dealing with the complexity and uncertainty. Agile is one of the most successful methodologies that is highly flexible and capable of dealing with these dynamic business demands; therefore, a trending shift in the industry from traditional project models to agile can be seen. Agile replaced the traditional project management role with self-managed teams. Nevertheless, studies indicate the existence of the title ‘project manager’ in most agile projects. Although many researchers have explored the contribution of the project manager’s tasks and responsibilities in agile projects, there were only a few empirical studies which explored the contribution of the soft skills were found; especially within Sri Lanka. Hence, a quantitative study was carried out with the objective of identifying the most significantly contributing skills of a project manager towards the success of agile software development projects. Primary data was collected through an online survey conducted among the Sri Lankan software professionals. The findings revealed that leadership, communication and team building skills of a project manager have a significant impact on the agile project success. The outcome of this study is expected to be beneficial for the project managers, top management of the project organizations, agile authors and researchers.