Agile Project Management

Traditional VS Agile Project Management Framework

While traditional methodologies require the user to provide a detailed idea of the exact requirements with respect to the intended software, Agile developers, who truly understand what is agile project management, are more flexible through their iterative style of work. With agile development, the user is constantly in the loop suggesting improvements and reviewing every phase. This increased customer involvement works on two levels. One is that it makes reflective changes easy as opposed to traditional development where chunks of a system might have to be dismantled to improve a small part and the second is that it increases customer satisfaction drastically. In many cases, an agile waterfall hybrid is used.

Let us know the key differences between traditional and the agile project management framework:

Agile Project Management Phases

Agile projects are managed in five phases, called the Agile Life Cycle. These agile project management phases are Envision, Speculate, Explore, Adapt, and Close. Each phase of the Agile project management process plays a critical role in project success. The initiation phase sets the groundwork, planning establishes a roadmap, execution involves the development sprints, monitoring and controlling keep the project on track, and closure ensures that all deliverables meet the intended purpose.

Step-1: Initiating an Agile Project (Envasion)

Initiation is the preplanning stage where the project vision is set, and teams are assembled. Meticulous planning ensures that the project aligns with business objectives and that teams understand their roles and responsibilities.

Step-2: Agile Project Planning (Speculate)

The Agile planning phase is iterative and flexible, typically involving the creation of a product backlog, sprint planning, and assignment of tasks based on team velocity.

Step-3: Agile Project Execution (Explore)

The execution phase in Agile is characterized by short development cycles or sprints, during which teams work to deliver a set of prioritized features or functionalities. Frequent stand-up meetings are held for quick updates and to address any impediments.

Step-4: Monitoring and Controlling the Agile Process (Adapt)

Agile’s iterative nature necessitates a constant feedback loop. The monitoring and controlling phase involves tracking progress, communicating regularly with stakeholders, and making adjustments based on performance and customer feedback.

Step-5: Agile Project Closure (Close)

As the project nears completion, the Agile team focuses on delivering the final product increment and ensuring that all loose ends are tied. This phase includes final testing, documentation, and the handover to operations or next steps.

Agile Project Management Examples

As we embrace the Agile project management methodology, let’s highlight two real-world examples where Agile project management principles have been successfully implemented:

1. IBM’s Hybrid Agile Approach:

IBM has adopted a hybrid Agile model to deliver complex, multi-dimensional projects across its international teams. By combining both Scrum and Kanban methods, IBM tailors Agile principles to fit the varied requirements of its vast array of clients and projects. They employ Agile management tools to maintain visibility and coordination among teams, demonstrating the flexibility of Agile in managing large-scale projects efficiently and effectively.

2. Google’s Small Team Approach:

While Google operates at an incomparable scale, it adopts Agile project management through its focus on small team structures, known as “Project Oxygen.” This approach ensures that despite its size, teams within Google are nimble and able to innovate rapidly. Their philosophy advocates for the empowerment of each team, encouraging them to self-organize and make decisions quickly in alignment with Agile principles, leading to efficient product development and a strong culture of collaboration.

Understanding the Agile Project Management Methodology

While Agile offers a broad philosophy for managing projects with flexibility and interactiveness, teams can adopt several specific methodologies within the Agile umbrella based on their unique needs. Each is characterized by its own set of principles, practices, and deliverables. Some of the most prominent Agile project management methodologies are Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), and Lean.

1. Scrum:

Scrum is particularly geared towards managing complex projects. It structures development in cycles of work called Sprints, with cross-functional teams working closely to reach defined goals. An example of Scrum project management is a software company implementing a bi-weekly Sprint to introduce new features to their application.

2. Kanban:

Kanban emphasizes continuous delivery without overburdening the project team. The key to Kanban is visualizing the work process on a Kanban board to balance demands with available capacity. For example, a marketing team uses a Kanban board to track the progress of campaign materials from ideation to publication.

3. Extreme Programming (XP):

Extreme Programming (XP) focuses on improving the quality of the project and addressing customer needs in a fast and flexible manner. It is characterized by frequent “releases” in short development cycles, which improves productivity and introduces checkpoints where new customer requirements can be adopted. For instance, a tech startup may use XP to iterate rapidly on their product, releasing updates weekly based on user feedback.

4. Lean:

Lean methodology, derived from Lean manufacturing principles, aims to shorten the production cycle by eliminating waste. This translates into delivering more value with fewer resources in project management. An example of Lean principles at work might be an eCommerce company analyzing its development pipeline to remove bottlenecks, thus streamlining its process to deploy faster updates to the shopping platform.

Agile Project Management Principles

Agile management follows the following 12 principles, which form a set of guiding concepts that support project teams in implementing Agile projects. These concepts are used to implement agile methodologies in projects.

Principle # 1: Satisfying customers is a top priority:

Rather than a big bang delivery after months or even years of work, the functionality is delivered within weeks of the start of the project. Early continuous delivery of useful software promotes customer confidence and satisfaction.

Principle # 2: Welcome changing requirements, even late in development:

The whole point of delivery is meeting the customer’s needs thereby giving them a competitive edge. Rather than blocking necessary changes to the products as requirements change, Agile software development is designed to cope with the evolving requirements.

Principle # 3: Deliver working software frequently:

Again Agile management development emphasizes fast, iterative deliveries rather than the big bang delivery of software after a lengthy development process.

Principle # 4: Development and business work together:

Rather than working for a customer Agile project management encourages development teams to work with customers. In this way, a better working relationship can be established. Problems can be spotted and corrected more quickly and customers can see progress daily.

Principle # 5: The primary measure of success is working software:

In agile software development, working software is the measure of progress and success, which in a waterfall is nothing but little.

Principle # 6: The team regularly reflects on work and then tunes and adjusts its behavior:

Rather than waiting for the end of the project to conduct a post-project review. The Agile team is constantly reviewing the progress and processes to ensure they are working efficiently and effectively.

Principle # 7: Build projects around motivated people:

The development of agile project management software recognizes the importance of the team, the working environment, and stresses, the need for support and trust in the team, which are as critical for the projects as the software’s success.

Principle # 8: Face-to-face is the most efficient and effective method of communication:

While documentation status reports and memos are necessary evils in most businesses, discussing a project in person can eliminate many misunderstandings and omissions.

Principle # 9: Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design:

While agile project management methods improve customer satisfaction and the quality of the product, they technically also promote development agility.

Principle # 10: Follow simplicity during agile project management:

The art of maximizing the amount of work not done is essential. Agile says to eliminate low importance and low urgency issues and put them on the not to do list, keeping processes as simple as possible without the end product losing its desired functionality. Ask teams if they are producing something that is most useful with the least amount of time.

Principle # 11: Best architecture requirements and designs emerge from self-organizing teams, and artificially organized teams:

When a team’s structure is fixed by upper management with little knowledge of the requirements, customers, or personalities of the team itself can create situations where personnel are underutilized. In the worst case, projects fail simply because of poorly organized teams. In an Agile Development Environment, the team is empowered to organize themselves in a way, which allows them to be most effective and efficient.

Principle # 12: Agile processes promote a sustainable development:

The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace continuously. Agile Development proceeds at a more consistent pace rather than suffering from lows while waiting for decisions or approvals followed by a flurry of activity to meet arbitrary deadlines. These principles are fairly simple in concept but are profoundly deep in practice. For transition to an Agile work style or as a way to improve the current Agile practice principles espoused here are a good start.

How to Earn Agile Project Management Expertise?

Agile project management benefits professionals seeking to enhance their project management qualifications and expertise in a dynamic business landscape. By emphasizing flexibility and iterative progress, Agile methodologies align with principles taught in Online MBA Project Management programs, where innovative strategies and leadership skills are honed. Additionally, obtaining a Project Management Certificate grounded in Agile practices marks a pivotal step in demonstrating a commitment to excellence and continuous improvement in the field, providing individuals with a competitive edge and organizations with the assurance of best practices in managing and executing projects.