MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Making It Easier to Manage and Scale Digital Projects

Organizations struggle to reap the benefits from agile methods at scale. Systematic processes for prototyping, testing, and launching ideas can fix that problem.

As business models across industries are destabilized by disruptive threats, organizations are searching for effective ways to manage their digital projects to deliver the highest value outcomes. Agile methodologies that were originally used in software development are increasingly being applied to cross-functional projects such as e-commerce websites and mobile apps.

While there has been progress, barriers remain, particularly in cases where companies try to coordinate multiple agile projects simultaneously and scale them across the organization. Although some managers are attempting to move beyond linear development processes in hopes of completing projects faster, most are working in siloes, with little or no interaction or cross-fertilization with other groups. The result is that there’s little opportunity for sharing best practices across functions, divisions, and regions.

About the Author

Patricia J. Guinan is an associate professor of organizational behavior and of technology, operations, and information management at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where Salvatore Parise is a professor of technology, operations, and information management. Robert Maguire is a specialist in rapidValueRealization at Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

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