Introduction

Globally, the market conditions are dynamic, the expectations towards those conditions are high which requires the companies to adopt intertwined and dynamic strategies to venture deals with diversified operation structure which is in collaboration with the integrated supply chain. These strategies require the projects to be agile and adaptable to fulfil the business delivery and customer loyalty criteria. The role of agile leaders come into play here as the shortcomings of traditional project management has created the need for the adoption of agile project management. This paper will overlook the leadership in the agile project setting with comparison to the traditional project, also agile leaders and their challenges, and recommendations for the upcoming agile leaders.

Leadership In Agile Project Setting as Compared to Traditional

Traditional project management (TPM) is characterized as the use of information, information, resources, and techniques to meet project needs. Therefore, TPM includes five phases: implementation, preparation, execution, reporting, and monitoring, led by and assisted by the project manager and project team. Besides, project management is concerned with meeting the requirements of scope, time, cost, risk, and quality where different procedures and roles parallel to ensure project progress and execution across the various phases of the project (Snyder, 2014). TPM is based on systematic procedures and methods in which the project manager and the team seek to identify and complete the project at one time, by comprehensive up-front planning; however, in TPM, once the phase is finished, it is anticipated that it will not be reviewed (Hass, 2007).

By comparison, it is difficult to function with the strict and structured approach of TPM for certain forms of projects such as software and IT projects. TPM was considered to be very unproductive in this form of the project because the criteria are ambiguous, immaterial, uncertain and subject to change (Chin, 2004). The field of software and IT has been motivated to create an innovative form of project management, which aligns with software projects’ values, ideas, and design. Agile Project Management (APM) was therefore developed for the management of software and IT-related projects in the field of software development. In recent years, APM has also brought too much traction to other sectors as a result of APM’s performance in IT and applications (Owen, Koskela, Henrich, & Codinhoto, 2006). APM is a synthesis of TPM principles and versatile, compact, collaborative and adaptable methods for regular changes (Rico & PMP, 2008).  The idea of agile software development approaches has been strongly influenced by APM principles and practices. Despite its arrival recently, APM has the benefit of greater flexibility and cooperation which facilitates its expansion across several sectors, including the public sector (Rico, Sayani, & Sone, 2009).

There is a specific focus on the collaborative leadership style for APM and specifically in software project management, which in contrast with the traditional leadership style is based on strict control and command (Lee-Kelley & Kin Leong, 2003). In a study by Crowe (2013) APM and TPM demand that project managers, project management and key players work together to ensure they know the status of the project. Besides, any barriers affecting project progress should be eliminated by the Project Manager. APM aims to do so by stressing the values of servant governance that make the project manager a leader rather than a taskmaster. The project manager will encourage the team in forming working relationships, define simple rules and foster cooperation, rather than providing strict guidelines for the team to obey. Servant leaders shouldn’t question the team they’d not be able to do something.

Agile Leaders

Agile leaders are considered the guardian of the agile environment, their primary responsibility is to uphold the agile environment which would assist the teams to be efficient and effective. Though there are many leadership styles associated with agile leaders, in its true context agile leaders do not lead the team or reflect any dominating leadership, also in their true sense, they do not manage or show the direction to the team directly. The concept of an agile leader leads them to make boundaries for the teams, and assure the team can engage in an agile manner. They concentrate on the organisation to encourage innovation and learning in the agile environment, creating chemistry to inflict the values and goals of the project/organisation within a framework which is rewarding for the organisation as well as the workers. Leaders are vital to the organisation/project as they create an environment which promotes agile culture (Abrahamsson, Salo, Ronkainen, & Warsta, 2017). In a study by Joiner and Josephs (2007) agile leadership competencies were studied and they concluded that four competencies are essential firstly context-setting agility where leaders use context-setting versatility to search their environment, predict potential changes and take decisions on next initiatives. The ability to assess the optimal size of an effort and the expected outcomes is also part of this leadership agility competence. As leaders evolve to the post-heroic stage, their vision is extended to include important long-term developments beyond the limits of their industry. The second competency is stakeholder agility where leaders use the versatility of stakeholders to identify core stakeholders, consider the stakeholders and determine the degrees to which their opinions and priorities are associated. This expertise involves also involving stakeholders in the respect that contribute to greater alignment. The third competency the researchers found essential was creative agility where creative ingenuity transforms complex, new challenges into optimal outcomes. Leaders continue with a deep understanding of the ingenuity intrinsic to their case, although it seems to be familiar. Since they are deeply aware of the shortcomings of each experience, they carry out their policies in such a way that questions are brought into question and several points of view are articulated. The Last competency is self-leadership agility managers are interested in self-leading by identifying the sort of leader they want to be, by using their regular activities to play with and focus on this ambition. We thus grow a deep urge to become conscious of emotions, ideas, and actions which should normally be inevitable. In agile leadership the team has considerable power and responsibility for certain facets of its function, such as preparation, preparation, assigning of tasks to members and decision making: the team has complete authority to do whatever is necessary to accomplish this objective, where the leader is not the coordinating part of the team but the group organizes themselves and makes decisions about which to do. The leader is focused to eliminate barriers to the process, implementing and taking decisions at regular meetings and validating them by management (Abrahamsson et al., 2017; Erickson, Lyytinen, & Siau, 2005; Schwaber & Beedle, 2001).

Challenges in Agile Leadership

The challenges in agile leadership have not been studied as the opportunities it presents to an organization, in a study by Van Waardenburg and Van Vliet (2013) they concluded the main challenges which are faced by the agile leaders. Firstly, Management buy-in and understanding is the main challenge where low management involvement, lack of understanding of the agile philosophy and increasing landscape complexity. Secondly, the command and control culture of the organization is to be revised which is to a more collaborative culture in agile, changing the culture and the mindset is a vital challenge. Whereas, the agile leadership will inflict fear in the workers as the skill deficiencies will be more transparent and affect day to day operations. Furthermore, finding the right human resources which fit into this culture and lack of motivation from the staff makes it a concerning challenge for the leader.

Overcoming Challenges

To overcome the management buy-in, culture change and low involvement can be overcome by communication, the two-way communication can further engage the top management which leads them into grasping the agile philosophy if they are communicated the major benefits of agile. Going agile needs executives, senior management and middle management understanding and a determination that something is going to improve in the field of project management. The drawbacks of the transition area to be considered and the specifics of how the changes impact company operations. To overcome the culture restraints and day to day operations, the overall challenge can be overcome by the Agile Coach is a mentor who assists the company owner and staff in incorporating agile strategies and is responsible for the progress of the project. The Agile Coach also fixes challenges for the team and attempts to minimize external involvement with the work of the team. Delved Agile Coaches have a range of strategies, approaches, and methods to assist the manager and the company owners in finding and addressing problems and disputes to inform and teach the enterprise about agile activities. This will assist in increasing motivation and create efficiency in day to day operations for the organization (Gregory, Barroca, Sharp, Deshpande, & Taylor, 2016; Van Waardenburg & Van Vliet, 2013).

Symptoms of Poor Leadership

The symptoms of poor leaderships which are stated in research by (Schyns & Schilling, 2013)

• Lack of Communication
• High Employee Turnover
• Demotivated/Uninvolved Employees
• Micromanage all situations
• Lack of Vision
• Differentiating amongst employees
• Lack of Job Satisfaction amongst employees
• Low performance

Initial Challenges for Agile Software Development Team

Lack of shared understanding towards the project goal seems to be the initial essential challenge for any agile software development team, and they react to the change quite slowly, this requires the lead for end-to-end communication which ensures that all information needed by the team is available inside the team. Face-to-face connectivity is an important pillar of the agile concepts. When an agile team relies on other teams or projects, particularly back-end members, it is difficult to connect face-to-face. Backend framework engineers are introduced to the agile team to assist manage dependencies (Van Waardenburg & Van Vliet, 2013).