1) Why does the classic waterfall project planning model fail in this situation? What is it about the IT department’s processes that lead to their finished systems being rejected constantly?
2) How would an Agile methodology correct some of these problems? What new development cycle would you propose?
3) Why are “user stories” and system “features” critical components of an effective IT software development process?
4) Using the terms “Scrum,” “Sprint,” and “Development team,” create an alternative development cycle for a hypothetical software development process at Northwest Regional Hospital.
This case illustrates a common problem in software and IT development, where programmers and IT staff are anxious to lock in specifications as early as possible so they can get to work without having to worry about invasive or disruptive input from the end users. Unfortunately, what typically happens is that the finished product is not what the users needed or thought they needed, and a long list of fixes and modifications are required to make it work correctly. This case is based on a true story in a hospital IT department that routinely struggled with these sorts of user conflicts until they shifted to an Agile methodology.