Exploring Challenges and Solutions in Agile Project Management: A Case Study in a Financial Institution

According to a survey, 40% of agile projects were successfully completed, while fewer than 15% of waterfall projects were. Motivated by the high probability of success, one of the financial institutions in Indonesia decided to implement agile project management for its software development. Implementing agile in a highly regulated financial institution, such as banks, presents its own challenges, such as a delay in the delivery of work products, fail to meet users’ expectations, and increases users’ reluctance to adopt the system. This research conducts a systematic literature review to identify the critical failure factors and prioritize them using Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The objective of this study is to identify challenges in agile project management in the case study and to propose recommendations. The research identified the top ten key challenges in implementing agile practices, namely prolonged task switching, task dependency, real-time analysis requirements, automating data collection, capturing diverse data, lack of teamwork, team members being over-qualified or under-qualified to do the tasks, lack of acceptance criteria, lack of cross-functionality, and lack of management commitment. Solutions were developed based on the PMBOK Guide-Seventh Edition, relevant previous studies, and interviews with both the internal and external project managers. This research provides a deeper understanding of the challenges of implementing agile project management in financial institutions, especially in developing countries, and addresses the complexities of adopting agile in highly regulated environments.