Agile: Overview and Guide to your Project Management

What is agile?

In simple words "Agile" is a project management methodology that uses short development cycles called “Sprints” to focus on continuous improvement in the development of a product or service.

What are some of its objectives?

Its geared toward continuous improvement, the agile methodology can greatly increase your project’s prospects for success. And helps you avoid multiple phases of projects in long run which is typically derived based on UAT feedback.

What are the key principles of agile?

Key principles that still guide agile project management best today:

1. Customer satisfaction is always the highest priority and is achieved through rapid and continuous delivery
2. Changing environments are embraced at any stage of the process to provide the customer with a competitive advantage
3. A product or service is delivered with higher frequency
4. Stakeholders and developers collaborate closely on a daily basis
5. All stakeholders and team members remain motivated for optimal project outcomes, while teams are provided with all the necessary tools and support, and are trusted to accomplish project goals
6. A final working product is the ultimate measure of success
7. Sustainable development is accomplished through agile processes whereby development teams and stakeholders are able to maintain a constant and ongoing pace
8. Agility is enhanced through a continuous focus on technical excellence and proper design
9. Self-organizing teams are most likely to develop the best architectures and designs and to meet requirements
10. Regular intervals are used by teams to improve efficiency through fine-tuning behaviors

What are the benefits of agile?

Top 5 benefits that are experienced with agile:

1. Enhanced quality
2. Better customer experience
3. Increased transparency
4. Better predictability
5. Ease of doing business
6. Continous stakeholder engagement and satisfaction

What are some of the advantages of agile for project management?

Agile provides project teams, sponsors, project leaders and customers many project-specific benefits, including:

• More rapid deployment of solutions
• Reduced waste through minimization of resources
• Increased flexibility and adaptability to change
• Increased success through more focused efforts
• Faster turnaround times
• Faster detection of issues and defects
• Optimized development processes
• A lighter weight framework
• Optimal project control
• Increased focus on specific customer needs
• Increased frequency of collaboration and feedback

What are the factors that causes organizational hurdles to adopting agile?

Organizations looking to adopt agile for project management my encounter any of a number of common hurdles, such as the following:

• Organization structure or culture: Although project teams may be ready for agile development, the rest of the company may not be on board. Sponsors, executives, and functional leaders must also buy into and support agile for it to be truly effective.
• Unclear understanding of the impact: Simply executing projects using agile methodology isn’t enough to reap the desired benefits. Projects can still be executed in ways that don’t provide the entire business with the results that help achieve sustainable growth. Strategic alignment is still critical.
• Rushed testing cycles: Sprints can create a risk of rushed testing cycles. In the process of trying to get through sprints as quickly as possible, teams can become more focused on the timeline and miss simple aspects of the testing cycle, which can have potential significant repercussions. Defects can go undetected or are detected too late.
• Limited agile skill: Although agile is rapidly taking root, top agile talent can be hard to find and attract. Limited agile talent means limited benefits for companies wanting to execute projects using this methodology.