Agile methodologies are becoming increasingly popular within software development teams. As companies adopt these methodologies to improve their processes and deliver higher qualityproducts, it is imperative that students have a firm understanding of how Agile project management methodologies function, as well as how to effectively work in those settings to remain competitive in the job market. This paper reviews current research into Agile project management methodologies, in particular Scrum, Extreme Programming and the Hybrid model. There is a wealth of research on when and which methodology to implement, the best scenarios for each methodology, and teaching existing teams to use these methodologies. However, research is scarce in regard to when and where these methodologies could be incorporated into academics. Two experiments were performed comparing two agile methodologies during each experiment. During the first experiment development teams worked under the guidelines of Extreme Programming and Scrum. The second experiment conducted had the development teams working under the guidelines of the Hybrid model and Extreme Programming. The performance of these methodologies was then compared using velocity, defects detected and time to completion. By comparing the performance of these three Agile methodologies, it was determined where these methodologies would best fit into an academic curriculum. Extreme Programming was found to best fit the learning objectives in early courses in Computer Science or Information Systems. Scrum was determined to fit best into the objectives of intermediate level curriculum, while the Hybrid model was found to be well suited for senior level capstone curriculum.

Recommended Citation: Gray J., Baker E., Simmonds D., Cummings J., (2018). A Comparative Analysis of Agile Project Management Methodologies. UNCW MS CSIS Proceedings. V. 12 , N. 1 .