Agile project management is a good fit for organisations that are focused on running one or more projects. Usually, in these projects, the needs are constantly changing. In this management method, the planning is short-lived and finally considers for the next few weeks and will continue to work after completing the previous steps. Therefore, Agile project management will have a good impact on the organisation’s goals and success. By choosing the right method, you can make a lot of progress in your business and it is possible by having the right information.
Here is some basic information about the Agile project management system that you can use to get to know it.
What is Agile?
Agile is a set of principles and values that are in the development environment of software products that lead to results such as useful and efficient products, satisfied customers, and a motivated workforce. The use of this methodology makes software produced completely under customer needs. This is because, according to this view, the customer plays one of the most important roles in the production of the project and is the only one who is aware of the real needs of the software.
It is good to know that in the Agile method, the product is delivered to the customer in multiple phases and the customer is fully connected to the project team. Therefore, the final product will be what he is looking for.
In the process, the project execution team, in collaboration with the customer, provides a software output at different intervals and receives and reviews its feedback. According to the results, they guide the products and services in the right
direction. This way they produce customer-friendly products and services by Agile.
What differentiates traditional and agile methods?
One of the traditional project management methods before Agile is the waterfall method. The waterfall model is a linear design approach in which progress flows in one direction, such as a waterfall. In 1970, Winston W. Royce introduced this method in an article by stressing that you can only go to the next phase when the current phase is completed.
Waterfall project management is one of the oldest ways before Agile, but many development teams still use it. While this model is much slower than its counterparts, it can be useful for those looking for a high-prophetic structure. Unfortunately, this system has a lot of problems, especially if you identify bugs in later stages of the process, you should re-examine the previous steps too. The steps are in the following order:
- System and Software Requirements
- Analysis
- Design
- Development
- Testing and Evaluating
- Maintenance
Differences between traditional and agile methods
Previous models and the Agile model differ in the following:
- Agile offers a repetitive and incremental approach to software design.
- Designers divide the process into single models and work on them.
- The customer has frequent opportunities to view the product, decide, and make changes to the requirements.
- The Agile model looks unstructured compared to the waterfall model.
- You can execute small projects very quickly. For large projects, it is difficult to estimate development time.
- You can fix errors during the iterations.
- The process is repetitive and you can implement the project in short iterations of 2 to 4 weeks with much less planning.
- In Agile, documentation has less priority than software development.
- Each iteration has its test stage. This allows you to do regression tests whenever new functions or logic are added.
- This model requires close contact with developers and needs analysis and planning.
Agile values
Agile is a set of important values and specific principles so that every set and organisation that follows these principles can be a part of it. Agile 4 essential values are:
- In this method, individuals and communication between them are more important than the tools and processes in the organisation.
- The software you work with and use is higher than the documentation in Agile.
- The importance of participation and customer activity in different tasks is higher than contracts.
- The importance of changes is more than having a fixed design.
Agile Principles
This management method is a set of ideas that are organised to make a logical set of principles. The most important principles of Agile are:
- The priority in this method is customer satisfaction, which you can achieve through complete and continuous product delivery.
- Software projects are always along with changes. In the Agile method, even the changes that the customer requests at the end of work can be useful.
- Trying to deliver products and services in the best quality and best conditions.
- The cooperation and participation of shareholders and developers must be present during the project cycles.
- Make the project using motivated and powerful people. Try to trust the team members to feel more responsible for doing things better.
- Holding online meetings is the most effective and efficient way to transfer information to the project team.
- In Agile, efficient and effective product delivery to customers is a factor in measuring the progress of the project.
- This process must move towards sustainable development. In such a way that stakeholders and users can maintain the speed of progress throughout the project’s life cycle.
- Regular monitoring and attention will lead to an increased Agile method and will lead to technical superiority and proper product design.
- Simplicity is a very important principle. Try to keep everything simple and avoid unnecessary and trivial things.
- The Agile teams themselves are organised and guided. Therefore, they do not need special planning from you.
- The project team needs to examine its work at regular intervals and behaves accordingly to make the project more effective and progress faster.
Things You Didn’t Know About Agile Change Management
Suppose your organisation has received a project that you have no experience in doing in the past. In this case, even the most specialised people may have problems and errors that have been completely unpredictable. Using the Agile method due to a strong connection between the project and the customer will resolve such problems.
Another is that you have a project that requires change. Along the way, you need to be in touch with the customer regularly so that you can make changes to the project based on their needs. This way you can use the Agile method and do the best project in your professional life. This methodology is good for software projects. It is very suitable for the production of web office automation software, archiving software, or also generating mobile apps.
If you are looking to do very high-quality projects and have little time to do them, you can use the Agile method. This way you can find out about customers’ needs and be on the right track for the project as soon as possible.
The main slogan of Agile project management is continuous improvement and growth. The main philosophy of the project manager is change. The project manager must be an educator of the idea that change is one of the most important principles.
Therefore, organisations must accept this principle with open arms. Implementation of a regular and planned approach requires the courage of managers. Expanding and benefiting from project management requires large-scale organisational changes to ensure that Agile methods lead to good results. These major structural changes in companies and businesses need a bold hero, where the project manager comes in.
An Agile project manager supports the management and leadership of the changes that the organisation needs and offers solutions to increase the success rate of changes. A good project manager must first identify the need to change and then adapt to the conditions to start and accept the role that plays as a change factor.
A successful project manager looks at the current situation and the other to the future and the conditions that may happen to the organisation. However, falling into the trap of lane and not using existing capabilities can have serious consequences and leads the organisation to failure.
What are the benefits of Agile?
- Helping customers
The customer realises that the seller is very responsive to development requests. High-quality facilities are developed and delivered in shorter cycles, while the old waterfall method takes more time to process.
- Helping vendors
Sellers reduce time and cost by focusing development efforts on quality facilities and are more profitable as a result. Customer satisfaction leads to customers retaining and receiving positive opinions.
- Helping Development Teams
Team members enjoy the development work and like to see that their efforts are useful and valuable. This method helps team members and gives them more time to do what they like by reducing ineffective work, such as writing the profile of products that are not used.
In addition, team members know that their work is valuable because prerequisites are selected so that the customer understands the high value and quality of the product in the Agile process.
- Helping Managers
Managing Directors, who usually play the role of the owner, are responsible for adapting the development work to the customer needs to keep the customer satisfied. Agile allows managers to prioritise the work, make it easier to match, and the higher quality of the product is guaranteed.
- Helping Project Managers
The project manager realises that processes will be much easier and more objective than the waterfall’s planning and follow-up. The project manager can be aware of the project mode at any moment by focusing on tracking the job level and using diagrams to illustrate the daily advances and daily sessions of Agile. This awareness is essential to the control of the project and to finding and quickly fixing the flaws.
- Helping PMOs and Excellent Executives
Agile shows the development project is daily and clear. Non-principal stakeholders such as senior executives and project management staff can use this transparency for more optimal planning and adjust their solutions more according to sturdy the information, not on speculation.
Concluding remark
It is very important to consider the managing situation. When the framework of the company’s performance changes, we must accompany them in this direction instead of bringing problems with us. One of the first steps to success is to understand that changing work is not easy and requires a lot of effort. Using the Agile method can be a great part of this effort.
We must accept and adhere to the values of the reward with an open mind, and respect, and have enough courage and focus. We should promote these values to encompass the whole company and to create organisational success.
If you are looking for a volunteer for this dynamic and variable approach, employees make more positive changes and prevent everything that opposes this change. This strategy removes organisational barriers to change so that they are no longer part of this path.
Over time, positive results of Agile are observed; Employees are happy, more creative, and have higher values. It is not long before this short movement, employees, teams, and business sectors are leaning toward this new operational model.
The fundamental issue is integrity. Therefore, it’s good to start with a team or a few small teams. Look thoroughly into your team experience and try to increase the success rate of using the Agile method.
