Does Agile Mean Being Fast? Scrum Framework, NFL, and Other Agile Concepts

IT workers (myself included) have probably heard something like this after being assigned a delivery date: “Isn’t your team Agile? Shouldn’t you have finished this task faster?”

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in [June, 2023] and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

If you’re in the IT field, you might roll your eyes, or at least pause to consider the question. But to be fair, there’s some truth to it. Agile is meant to speed up delivery. As Atlassian puts it:

“Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver value to their customers faster and with fewer headaches.”

However, in this article, I’ll explain why being Agile doesn’t always mean completing a project faster. Instead, it enables teams to deliver smaller, incremental results more quickly, fostering greater adaptability when changes arise.

Agile is more than a process; it’s a mindset that everyone on the team should understand. If a company attempts to be Agile but focuses solely on finishing tasks quickly, it risks missing the core principles of agility. This approach will likely make the project less flexible and ultimately slower to complete when unexpected changes come up.

I’ll now explore how applying (or neglecting) Agile principles can impact your project’s success. If you’re new to Agile, this article will help you understand its fundamental concepts before we dive into the details.

The Meaning of “Agile”

According to the Cambridge dictionary, agile means: “Able to move your body quickly and easily.” Notice that words like fast or faster aren’t even listed among the synonyms.

For companies, the Agile approach doesn’t focus on speed for speed’s sake. Instead, it’s about the ability to change project plans quickly and easily in response to evolving needs. So, how can a company become Agile? There are several frameworks within the Agile approach that can support this transformation. In this article, I’ll use the Scrum framework as an example.

Let’s dive into how Scrum works and how it can help a company embrace an Agile mindset. Most IT projects don’t follow a straight line — failures happen, and plans evolve throughout development. With Scrum, however, the project becomes more adaptable, allowing teams to quickly address and solve emerging challenges. Scrum divides the project into smaller, manageable chunks that can be planned and delivered over short periods (typically 2, 3, or 4 weeks). This approach provides greater flexibility, allowing the team to quickly adapt and adjust course as needed. By delivering incrementally, the team can incorporate feedback early on and make necessary changes before the next sprint, ensuring continuous progress and responsiveness to evolving requirements.

Scrum Team Roles

A Scrum team typically consists of the following roles:

• Product Owner
• Developers
• Scrum Master

Every project has a product backlog, which is a collection of tasks to be completed within a sprint. – The Product Owner is responsible for creating and managing the product backlog. Their duties include understanding customer and business requirements, transforming these into tasks, adding them to the backlog, and defining the value and goal for each sprint. – The Development Team works to complete tasks during the sprint and moves the project forward. – The Scrum Master coaches the team on Scrum methodology, helping the Product Owner define sprint goals and ensuring the development team has the guidance to deliver them effectively.

Cycle Steps

Scrum follows a cycle of steps (often called rituals) that must be followed to maintain agility:

• Planning;
• Sprint;
• Retro.

Planning: This is when the Product Owner presents the sprint backlog to the development team, outlining the sprint’s tasks and goals. The Scrum Master and developers can identify any gaps or potential issues that might affect the completion of tasks before finalizing the sprint plan.

Sprint: The development phase begins after planning. During the sprint, developers work on their assigned tasks. Every day, the team meets for a Daily Standup (or Daily Scrum), which is a quick meeting where each member shares updates on their tasks. This meeting helps the team stay agile by allowing them to adjust their plans and priorities to meet sprint goals.

During these standups, the team can reassess if certain tasks will take longer than expected, decide whether additional resources are needed, or reprioritize tasks to ensure the sprint’s success. Retro: After the sprint ends, the team holds a Retrospective?to review the results. They reflect on what went well, what didn’t, and what could be improved in the next sprint. This meeting sets the stage for the new cycle by incorporating lessons learned into future work.

These cycle steps create an environment where team members can adapt their plans, ideas, and direction during the course of the project. Each sprint provides stakeholders and customers with a working portion of the project, giving them the opportunity to provide valuable feedback.

If any changes are required, the Product Owner updates the product backlog, and the development team begins to address them in the next sprint.

To maintain both speed and agility, strong communication among team members is essential. The company must also respect the sprint process and avoid unnecessary interruptions. Interfering with the sprint’s focus can disrupt communication and result in a rushed, rather than agile, development process. This can create bottlenecks and complications that slow down future sprints.

Demonstrating the Impacts of the Sprint

The name Scrum comes from a sport called rugby. In rugby, Scrum is called after some infringement of the rules, the team reunites, and the play restarts.

As with Scrum, the sport American Football National League (NFL) is based on rugby too. The goal of both sports is to advance into the other team’s territory and score, whether by reaching the ball in the end zone or kicking the ball into the field goal. The main difference is that instead of waiting for some infringement, in the NFL, after all plays, the teams reunite.

All plays in the NFL start with the coach planning and informing the quarterback what play the team has to run. Then, the quarterback informs all players on the field about the play, formation, and directions. The players get set at their positions, and the play starts.

One of the plays chosen by the coaches could be the running play, in which the quarterback gives the ball to the running back and has to wait for the blocks to open free space to start sprinting toward the goal.

For the play to be successful, communication needs to be clear and everyone must understand the play, if not, it will be easy for the defenders to stop the play.

Unsuccessful Running Play

Sometimes, the team members are not aligned or clear about their roles, which results in a poorly executed play in football. In such cases, defenders take advantage of gaps and quickly reach the running back, blocking his path.

The reasons for this can include:

• The coach selected a poor game plan;
• A lack of communication between the coach and the players;
• The team failed to anticipate a defender’s movement.

Regardless of the reason, the result is the same: the running back is stopped early, leading to an unsuccessful attempt to advance towards the end zone. To see a clear example of how poor communication leads to a failed running play, check out this video.

Successful Running Play

On the other hand, when all players understand their roles and responsibilities, the running back can have a strong start after passing the initial blocks from defenders. This allows him to excel at what he does best: using agility to change direction and avoid additional defenders while maintaining speed towards the end zone. This often results in a successful sprint, as demonstrated in this example video.

So, Does Agile Means Being Fast? Final Thoughts

On the NFL field, the running back is the fastest player on the field, but being faster doesn’t mean being the best player. The running back needs agility to change his direction.

The same happens within a company: you can have the fastest development team, but like a running back running towards the end zone, IT projects aren’t a straight line. The team needs to have a great plan and communication to avoid blocks at the start of a sprint. Only then can the developer begin to build an Agile project, being prepared for late direction changes while still running a fast sprint towards the goal.

So to answer the question:

“Isn’t your team Agile? Shouldn’t you’ve finished this task faster?”

No, the goal is to build a flexible project, so the project plans can change, while the development team keeps working as fast as they can.