Agile methods are a popular approach to software project management that aim to deliver value to customers faster and more frequently. They emphasize collaboration, feedback, adaptation, and continuous improvement over rigid plans, documentation, and contracts. In this article, you will learn how to use agile methods to deliver software projects quickly and effectively.
Agile methods are a set of principles and practices that guide software development teams to deliver working software in short iterations, usually between one and four weeks. Each iteration, or sprint, has a clear goal and a prioritized list of features, or user stories, that the team commits to deliver. The team works together to plan, design, code, test, and deploy the software, while regularly communicating with the customer and other stakeholders. At the end of each sprint, the team reviews the results, gets feedback, and adapts the plan for the next sprint.
Possibly the single most important aspect is that the first functionality is delivered into production live use by the business much more quickly than with 'waterfall'. Even if this first functionality is the minimum viable, it is never the less tangible benefit and is the 'value' to the business. And rapid, early delivery in this way maintains their enthusiasm to continue funding (the next sprint).
Agile methods offer several advantages in software project management, such as faster delivery, higher quality, better alignment, greater flexibility, and higher morale. By breaking down the project into small and manageable chunks, the team can deliver working software faster and more frequently, reducing the time to market and increasing customer satisfaction. Testing and integrating the software throughout the development process helps detect and fix defects early, avoiding costly rework and technical debt. Involving stakeholders in the planning and feedback sessions ensures that the software meets user needs and expectations. Embracing change and uncertainty allows the team to respond to new opportunities and challenges, while self-organizing and cross-functional teams enable team members to leverage their skills, share responsibility, and learn from each other.
In my experience, business enthusiasm and engagement are greatly improved, and hence adoption, because the business stakeholders feel much more closely involved in each design step and tangible benefits are delivered quickly into the business. Business users can much more easily communicate to the delivery team the aspects they like and the gaps remaining. So, valuable learning is quickly fed back and incorporated into the later sprints very effectively. From an investment model point of view, the project's Internal Rate of Return is greatly improved, because of the early delivery of benefits.
In order to start using agile methods, you must adopt a mindset and culture that promote agility. This includes focusing on delivering value to the customer, collaborating with stakeholders, empowering the team to make decisions, experimenting and learning from feedback, and continuously improving. Additionally, you need to select an agile framework or methodology that is suitable for your project context and goals. Common frameworks are Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming (XP). Scrum defines roles, events, and artifacts for managing software development in sprints. Kanban visualizes the workflow of tasks on a board with columns representing different stages of the process. XP emphasizes technical excellence and customer satisfaction through practices such as pair programming and test-driven development.
To measure how well you are using agile methods to deliver software projects quickly, you need to track and analyze metrics that reflect your project objectives and customer value. Velocity, which is the number of user stories or points that the team completes in a sprint, can help with planning and forecasting. Burnup or burndown charts are graphical representations of the work done or remaining in a sprint or a project, which can help with identifying issues or risks. Additionally, customer satisfaction can be measured by surveys, reviews, ratings, or testimonials to improve quality and retention. Furthermore, business value can be measured by key performance indicators (KPIs), such as conversion rate, churn rate, or net promoter score (NPS), to prioritize features and optimize return on investment (ROI).
It's important as an Eng or Product leader that you push back on any effort to compare story points across teams. It's an arbitrary unit of measurement for a reason: the goal is relative sizing, not absolute or direct conversions to delivery date commitments.
To improve your agile practices and deliver software projects more quickly and effectively, you need to follow the principle of inspect and adapt. This involves collecting data and feedback from your metrics, customers, stakeholders, and team members to identify what is working well and what needs improvement. Experimenting with new ideas, techniques, or tools that can enhance your agile performance is also essential; testing them in small and safe increments will provide valuable insights. Evaluate the results and outcomes of your experiments, implement the changes that bring positive value, discard the ones that do not, and repeat the cycle of inspect and adapt for continuous improvement. Agile methods are not a one-size-fits-all solution but a flexible and adaptive approach that requires constant learning and improvement. To get started, adopt an agile mindset and culture, choose an agile framework or methodology, measure your agile performance, and improve your agile practices.