IBM: Fixed prices for IT projects are unethical

use," he said. "That means they're managing their IT investment like an investment and not like a gamble."

But as with any process change, the effects won't be seen immediately. James Kricfalusi, service delivery executive at TEKSystems, said it can take time for the process to take hold.

"Sponsors and executives equate agile with immediate results," he said. "This is not realistic. Trust the team, relax and let them do their thing. Lower your expectations in the beginning because most of the initial advances cannot be in the functionality of the first release."

According to Kricfalusi, in the early work on an Agile project, initial iterations are an investment in frameworks, new ideas, process definitions and understanding of the requirements. The initial release may miss the mark, but the team will have developed a cheap and effective means of providing effective feedback to improve later versions.

Judge the results relative to the time frame of the existing processes, Kricfalusi advised.

"If your prior project time frames were 6 months to a year, it will take about that long before you can have the proper perspective to evaluate your progress."

ProjectWorld 2008 wrapped up Thursday.

--With files from IDG News Service