Impact of the Applied Project Management Methodology on the Perceived Level of Creativity

Abstract

The phenomenon of creativity has been studied by many authors and there have been numerous research studies conducted about how to induce it. In software development project contexts, especially when comparing agile and waterfall methodologies, this topic seems to be unexplored. The authors aimed to fill this research gap by conducting a survey based on quantitative research that involved 61 project managers or employees. The perceived creativity in project activities is operationalized through the degree of innovation content and extraction in the project, as well as through factors that relate to the exploitation of creativity as the way how it is learned and recognised. The use of the agile development approach was characterized by agile practices such as the use of standups, sprint plannings and user stories. The results of the research suggest that the chosen software development approach has an impact on the perceived use of creativity, whereas learning is significant in cases where the stand-up tool of agile project management is used.