Max Weber in the Head – Agility in the Heart: The Contribution of Agile Project Management to the Digital Transformation of Public Administrations

The digital transformation of the public sector is a topical issue that poses a great challenge to public administrations in Germany. To facilitate the transformation process, administrations have recently introduced agile project management methods. However, existing scholarly literature does not offer insights into how administrations apply agile project management and what it is used for. Using a single case study based on strategy papers and expert interviews, this bachelor thesis draws on a com-prehensive understanding of digital transformation to elaborate on how agile project management can contribute. The results indicate that agile project management is primarily used in single digitalisation projects and changes key components in the project procedure. Specifically, agile project manage-ment changes the way projects are conceptualised, executed, and controlled by strengthening collabo-ration, customer orientation, flexibility, and the ability to experiment in administrations. This paper further reveals that the use of agile project management does not introduce far-reaching institutional changes but offers public administrations the ability to act appropriately according to the task they face. Additionally, anecdotal evidence points to a potential change in bureaucratic culture enabling institutional change.