Agile project management – a future approach to the management of projects?

Like other professions, project management is constantly developing, new techniques are emerging, while newer, more effective approaches are being established. As an innovative modern approach, agile project management is most frequently mentioned and many experts argue that it is becoming the project management of the 21st century. The approach was developed in the field of software development and has delivered a number of novelties and benefits for the project team and the project client. On the other hand, it highlights some ‘new’ approaches that are not foreign to ‘traditional’ managers and raises a series of dilemmas about the actual benefits it brings. Even greater dilemmas arise when we attempt to use the approach for other types of projects. This speculative article summarises the most significant innovations introduced by the agile approach and critically assesses the possibility of extending the agile approach to other types of projects.