International Journal of Engineering Insights: (2023) Vol. 1, Nro.1, Regular Paper

https://doi.org/10.61961/injei.v1i1.4

Methodological proposal for the integration of agile

methodologies and PMBOK

Francisco Javier Galora-Silva · Alex V. Nu˜nez

Received: 10 June 2023 / Accepted: 2 September 2023

Abstract: Proper project management is a constant

need faced by most organizations worldwide. There is

a growing focus on combining PMBOK practices with

agile principles, creating a hybrid approach that lever-

ages the best of both worlds. In this sense, this paper

proposes to deepen and combine the most eﬀective ele-

ments of the Project Management Body of Knowledge

(PMBOK) with the agile approach to project manage-

ment. This is done taking into account that adequate

project management will allow aligning the organiza-

tion’s objectives and generating value for all parties in-

volved. As a result, it is expected to obtain optimal

conclusions from the development of the project and

achieve the best results from the application of AG-

ILE+ PMBOK best practices. This will serve as a pro-

posal for other organizations in the sector to continue

evolving their management practices.

Keywords Management · Project · Agile · PMBOK ·

Practices

1 Introduction

In an increasingly complex and competitive world, project

management has become crucial to ensure the success-

ful implementation of strategic initiatives. It provides a

structure and systematic approach to address projects

of diverse nature, from infrastructure construction to

software development, new product launches, events,

scientiﬁc research, and more.

A project can be deﬁned as a set of non-repetitive activ-

ities that require planning and the deﬁnition of objec-

tives, costs, and time [1] and for this reason, adequate

Francisco Javier Galora-Silva

Universidad Internacional de la Rioja

Espa˜na

Tel.: +593-99-5488354

francisco.galora049@comunidadunir.net

Alex V. Nu˜nez

Essex County College

Estados Unidos

anunez16@email.essex.edu

management that involves the application of knowl-

edge, skills, tools and techniques to meet the requested

requirements is key.

In recent years, project management is gaining more

and more visibility and importance for public and pri-

vate companies, however, proper management is still a

very complicated process [2] since management covers

all levels of the organization, which may contain one or

many business units and may pay one or hundreds of

people, these may range from simple to very complex

projects, and may be employed in one location or in

several locations in several countries [3].

Project management is based on various methodolo-

gies and frameworks, such as PMBOK (Project Man-

agement Body of Knowledge), PRINCE2 (Projects IN

Controlled Environments), Agile, Scrum, Kanban, among

others [4].

These methodologies provide principles, tools and

techniques that help project managers meet project spe-

ciﬁc challenges and adapt to changing conditions[5].

However, many organizations still ﬁnd it diﬃcult to im-

plement proper project management and therefore fail

to maximize the return on their investments in the var-

ious projects they undertake.

The use of a project management methodology implies

a constant updating, in other words, that the organiza-

tion of the steps through which a given project will be

executed. In this sense, this work proposes to elaborate

a proposal of a methodology for integrated management

of the agile approach and the most appropriate princi-

ples of PMBOK.

2 Related Works

In the literature it has been identiﬁed that there are few

studies that develop the integration of agile methodolo-

gies and PMBOK for ICT project management, since

these are performed independently and not integrating

the characteristics of each of these, so the development

of this work will be of great contribution to the scien-

tiﬁc and academic community.

9 International Journal of Engineering Insights, (2023) 1:1

Initially in [6], comparing the project management pro-

cesses deﬁned by the PMBOK principles with a number

of agile project management processes and methodolo-

gies, the paper demonstrates that agile methods do not

deﬁne all the facets necessary to cover all aspects of

project management in the traditional sense and that

this result implies that the integration of agile methods

with the PMBOK principles will beneﬁt the software

project management community.

On the other hand, in [7], compares the PMBOK princi-

ples with the agile methodologies, analyzing the advan-

tages and disadvantages of using each of them in project

management. It is mentioned that to successfully exe-

cute these phases there must be a cultural change in

the organization, where it is accepted that continuous

improvement of the processes is necessary.

In [8], an analysis of the diﬀerent phases of PMBOK and

their relationship with the approach to agile method-

ologies in project management is made, stating that

the agile approach goes in a completely diﬀerent direc-

tion from traditional methodologies, by rejecting plan-

ning and rigid processes, it tries to increase ﬂexibility,

so that integrating these two management methodolo-

gies would signiﬁcantly beneﬁt the management of a

project.

The CHAOS Report, from The Standish Group com-

pany [9], which is generally published every two years

since 1994 with the aim of measuring success and failure

in more than 50,000 IT projects, mentions the success

or failure of software projects. 000 IT projects, mentions

the success or failure of software projects, and describes

that in 2020, only 31% of all projects surveyed were

successful (i.e. delivered on time, within ’budget and

with the features and functions required from potential

customers), 50% were considered challenging (projects

delivered late, over budget and/or with less than the

required features and functions), 19% were unsuccess-

ful (projects cancelled before completion or were deliv-

ered and never used). However, these results show an

increase in project success rates since 2015, when the

success rate was only 29%, highlighting the importance

of implementing better project management practices

[10].

The literature identiﬁed in previous paragraphs demon-

strates the importance of using methodologies in project

management, since they are a determining factor in the

success or failure of a project. And the integration of

several methodologies will allow to generate new knowl-

edge when managing projects and will be a great sup-

port in the scientiﬁc and academic ﬁeld.

3 Proposal

Although project management under agile methodolo-

gies is mostly focused on highly technical projects, many

organizations appreciate the value of using the best

practices they recommend and apply them to projects

outside the area of software design and development.

An agile project is not predictable in its entirety, only

the general requirements of the stakeholder will be known

at the beginning, instead, a close accompaniment is

planned with the stakeholders to collect the require-

ments and perform iterations between weeks, if there

are changes this does not represent a big problem in

the execution of the project. It is proposed to use an

Fig. 1 PMBOK integrated with agile methodology

agile approach throughout the project cycle to opti-

mize the process and increase customer involvement.

In the initialization phase, the amount of unnecessary

documentation will be reduced and the customer will

be encouraged to be actively involved in the develop-

ment. In the planning stage, an agile approach will also

be applied by making use of available frameworks and

tools, such as the Kanban board. During the execution

of the project, the focus will be on developing modu-

lar and functional products in short periods of time,

which will allow presenting complete prototypes that

the client will be able to test. The process is described

in Figure 1.

However, in the monitoring and closure process, the

PMBOK recommendations will be followed, since, ac-

10 International Journal of Engineering Insights, (2023) 1:1

cording to the ”Agile Alliance” documentation, in projects

with stable requirements and low level of uncertainty,

an agile approach might not be adequate, since regu-

lar controls and reviews would not be necessary if the

requirements do not change.

3.1 Initialization phase

This ﬁrst stage focuses on two important documents

detailed in Table 1, one that deﬁnes the project (Project

Charter) and a document that shows the needs and

requirements of the project (Scope Charter). In order

to apply an agile approach at this stage, a reduction of

the documentation is proposed.

3.2 Planning

This is one of the most extensive, even using an agile

approach in the development of the project, the mini-

mum necessary documentation must be generated to be

able to keep a correct control of the generation of prod-

ucts, functions, functionalities and answers required by

the diﬀerent stakeholders.

It is within this process where the 10 areas of knowl-

Fig. 2 Kanban board

edge that the Project Manager must manage are put

to the test [11]. Once the whole project is planned, we

start to take parts of it and deﬁne how it will be devel-

oped within an iteration, for this we will use a Kanban

board (in Figure 2) to manage all the tasks [12].

3.3 Execution

In this stage, all the procedures necessary to complete

the work established in the project management plan

are carried out in order to meet the established require-

ments. The Execution Process Group (see Figure 3) [13]

comprises the actions to complete the work deﬁned in

the project management plan and satisfy the project re-

quirements. This involves coordinating resources, man-

aging stakeholder involvement, and integrating and ex-

ecuting project activities as set out in the project man-

agement plan.

Fig. 3 Execution process group

The main beneﬁt of this Process Group is that it

ensures that the work necessary to meet the project re-

quirements and objectives is carried out according to

the established plan. Much of the project’s budget, re-

sources and time are dedicated to the execution of these

processes. It is important to mention that during this

stage, change requests may arise that, if approved, may

result in one or more planning processes to modify the

project management plan, project documents and pos-

sibly baselines.

Another crucial aspect during the execution stage is

procurement and resource management. This involves

ensuring that all necessary resources are managed and

available to the team according to the planned sched-

ule.

In terms of procurement management, it is critical to

meet the requirements to accomplish the tasks of the

current iteration. This includes contacting suppliers, re-

viewing the agreements established with them, verify-

ing that the products purchased are the correct ones,

and ensuring timely delivery of the products to the

work team. In addition, within procurement manage-

11 International Journal of Engineering Insights, (2023) 1:1

Table 1 Documents of the initial phase

Project Charter Scope Charter

Purpose or justiﬁcation of the project Description of the project scope

General and clear objectives Acceptance criteria for the diﬀerent modules or deliverables

High level requirements List of deliverable

High level description of the project Project exclusions

Timeline of important dates Project constraints

Budget summary Project assumptions

List of stakeholders

Name of person responsible for approving deliverables

Formal assignment of the project to the project manage

Name of persons who have authority over the project

ment, the Project Manager is often faced with manag-

ing potential risks associated with these procurements.

3.4 Monitoring and control

In this phase, a performance evaluation will be carried

out according to the established schedule. The proposed

agile approach provides options for control and testing.

For this project, the continuous integration approach

will be adopted, along with meetings to discuss and

share the tasks to be carried out in each iteration and

to verify the correct functioning of the implemented

product.

Approaches such as Acceptance Test Driven Develop-

ment (ATDD), Test Driven Development (TDD) and

Behavior Driven Development (BDD) will not be used

[14], as these methodologies are more oriented to soft-

ware development. The acceptance criteria will be de-

ﬁned during the initial task socialization meeting for the

iteration, without adding more conditions afterwards.

It is important to keep in mind that any delay repre-

sents a waste of economic resources or a mismatch in

the schedule that must be corrected. A delay in devel-

opment aﬀects both the critical path and the eﬀorts to

correct it. Project progress control can be approached

from several perspectives, such as monetary expendi-

ture or development time and schedule.

In this paper, it is proposed to focus only on monetary

expenditure control, as it is the most relevant informa-

tion for the PMO and the customers.

The control of the implementation of the products de-

scribed at the beginning of the iteration is not exhaus-

tively detailed, as it is based on the expected results

and the established requirements. All requirements are

analyzed according to the characteristics of a good re-

quirement, both individually and as a group, and within

these characteristics, veriﬁability stands out. The re-

view of the correct functioning of the prototype or im-

plementation will be carried out through demonstra-

tions, in which the team will show the developed or

implemented elements. If suﬃcient functionalities are

achieved to satisfy a speciﬁc requirement, this could

be considered a milestone, and it is suggested that the

demonstration be carried out together with the client

to approve the progress or indicate if changes or im-

provements are required, thus ensuring that the whole

project moves in the right direction.

3.5 Closing

The execution of formal closures focuses on the com-

plete closure of the project, although it is also possible

to perform formal closures after certain stages. During

this process, various activities are carried out, such as

formal acceptance of deliverables, closure of adminis-

trative issues, and disbanding of teams that collabo-

rated together. In addition, lessons learned are shared

and ﬁnal reports are produced. If an agile methodol-

ogy is used, the socialization of opinions on its use and

possible improvements will be encouraged. Although

methodologies such as Scrum perform closures with re-

views and retrospectives in each sprint or iteration, in

this proposal only the closing event will take place at

the end of the project, without using such framework.

It is important to keep in mind that, although it is ex-

pected that the project will achieve all the proposed

objectives and satisfy the client, this is not always pos-

sible. However, a project, by its very deﬁnition, must

be formally closed through the signing of closing docu-

ments, such as the Project Charter and the Scope Char-

ter. Agreements with suppliers must also be closed and

all processes that have been initiated to assist in the

development of the project must be formally ﬁnalized.

4 Discussion

The integration of PMBOK and agile methodologies

has been a topic of discussion in the project manage-

ment arena for the past several years. Both approaches

have their advantages and challenges, and the combina-

tion of both philosophies can oﬀer signiﬁcant beneﬁts

12 International Journal of Engineering Insights, (2023) 1:1

to project teams and organizations in general [6].

On the one hand, the PMBOK provides a solid and

comprehensive structure for traditional project man-

agement. It deﬁnes a series of processes, knowledge ar-

eas and best practices that cover all stages of the project

life cycle [15]. This includes detailed planning, rigorous

control and extensive documentation, providing clarity

and control over the project scope, schedule and budget.

On the other hand, agile methodologies focus on adapt-

ability, collaboration and incremental delivery of value.

Agile teams work in short iterations, which allows for

rapid adaptation to changes and higher stakeholder sat-

isfaction by delivering frequent and functional results.

They also promote eﬀective communication and ongo-

ing collaboration between team members and stake-

holders.

The integration of these two approaches can bring greater

ﬂexibility and agility to project management, which

is especially beneﬁcial in environments where require-

ments change frequently or uncertainty is high. By com-

bining the structure and discipline of the PMBOK with

the adaptability and collaboration of agile methodolo-

gies, teams can better address emerging challenges and

take advantage of new opportunities.

However, this integration can also present some chal-

lenges. Organizational culture and resistance to change

can make it diﬃcult to adopt agile methodologies, es-

pecially in organizations that have been using tradi-

tional approaches for a long time. In addition, coor-

dination between teams and management of diﬀerent

frameworks may require careful planning and commu-

nication.

5 Conclusions

The integration of PMBOK and agile methodologies

can be highly beneﬁcial for organizations seeking to

combine the eﬃciency and control of the traditional

approach with the ﬂexibility and adaptability of ag-

ile methodologies. However, it is important to address

potential challenges and tailor the combination of ap-

proaches according to the speciﬁc needs and character-

istics of each project and organization. The key is to

ﬁnd a balance that allows getting the best of both ap-

proaches and maximizing project success.

The methodological proposal by integrating PMBOK

and the agile manifesto considers the opportunities for

improvement of the current situation, the good prac-

tices identiﬁed, the documentation found and the ob-

servation made, resulting in a methodology that adapts

to the needs of the project or company and solves the

current problems.

As future work is intended to implement the method-

ological proposal in a real case, in this way it will be

possible to verify the real beneﬁts or drawbacks that

may present the proposal developed in this research.

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