Self-Managing Teams in Agile Project Management – Pain or gain

Due to an increasingly dynamic global environment with a high unpredictability, the classical project management approach in software development changed. New agile methods were introduced which promise a faster, cheaper, and better software development with on-time, and on-budget delivery of the agreed scope. Core of the agile approach are self-managing teams, where the team members are empowered to manage their tasks themselves. The new form of team organization promises many benefits. Based on a literature review, the paper provides an insight into the basics of selfmanaging teams. It furthermore provides an evaluation of the approach, considering benefits and limitations. The aim of the paper is to come to a final judgment, if self-managing teams in agile project management should be considered as pain or gain.