Published in · 7 min read · Jun 3, 2019
For many businesses, the Agile approach to project management helps to improve the quality of finished projects. However, before you actually invest in an Agile project management course, it is important to understand what Agile project management actually is, how it is defined, and what it means for project development.
Put simply, Agile involves the use of short development cycles, multiple iterations, and continuous improvement, with the flexibility for changes to occur as the project progresses. These improvements are made based on end-user feedback and product testing, with fine-tuning helping to improve overall success and satisfaction.
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Agile project management is adaptive and evolutionary, but there are also a number of other characteristics to be aware of. In this article, we explore those characteristics in more detail, in order to build up a more comprehensive picture of what the Agile approach really means, and how it can help project teams.
As an article for CIO points out with Agile project management, customer satisfaction is always the number one priority. With this in mind, the end-users play an active role in the process, providing feedback which is then interpreted and acted upon by the project team, in order to improve the quality of the final product. Ultimately, the success or failure of an Agile project must be primarily measured through customers’ happiness with what is produced. This means listening and continuously refining software to meet and exceed their expectations.
A major benefit of the Agile approach is the ability to reduce the time between the planning process starting and product delivery occurring. In addition to being faster, the delivery time of an Agile project is usually more predictable too, because a project team does not have to get everything 100 percent perfect before release. With an Agile approach, it should be possible to have fully functional software in a much shorter amount of time. For the end-user, the key advantage here is that their problems can be solved much more quickly.
With Agile project management, it is important to understand that change is accepted. Throughout the project’s life cycle, it is possible that there will be a shift in the requirements, focus or even the scope of the project, and with Agile, teams are able to embrace this, rather than see it as detrimental or problematic. The changes that occur in the middle of the project could be relatively minor, but in some cases, they might be far-reaching and lead the project team in a completely different direction. With the Agile approach, the good news is that changing requirements, or re-evaluation of previous assumptions, is perfectly possible without requiring a re-start.
Another defining characteristic of Agile project management is the focus on collaboration and cooperation. This occurs when you collaborate with your team as well as clients and stay on track in your projects, which is something ProofHub helps — save your projects from falling. Furthermore, the end-users also form part of this collaborative approach. The Agile approach works best when business people and project developers are working under the same roof, at least some of the time. By involving users in the process too, Agile projects can react to feedback much earlier.
Due to the fact that end-users are directly involved in the process, and because those end-users are able to see the continuous development as it occurs, the Agile approach to project management offers a greater level of transparency. The trade-off, from the perspective of the business, is that end-users also potentially see mistakes. In the end, this is a trade-off that is worthwhile, because greater transparency increases trust, and a greater degree of trust leads to healthier, longer-lasting relationships. However, care should be taken to minimize the number of mistakes that are made, due to the increased visibility, and major blunders must be avoided at all costs.
When it comes to the product testing aspect of an Agile project, as an article written for Project-Management.com states, the core principle is to test early and test often. By actually integrating this regular testing throughout the product’s life cycle, problems can be identified quickly and acted upon more easily. A major benefit of this approach to testing is that errors, complex coding, bugs, and other problems get fixed sooner. This serves to eliminate the possibility that they are put off until later and then forgotten about.
While the Agile methodology is all about adaptability, any good Agile project management course will also highlight the importance of structure and taking a sequential approach to project management. In simple terms, this means finishing one feature of the project before moving on to the next, and this principle helps to keep projects on track. By completing each individual aspect before moving onto the next, each new stage of the project is built upon solid foundations. This approach also helps to ensure there is consistency throughout the entire project life cycle.
For project managers, Agile also offers an advantage in that it minimizes the amount of micro-management that needs to be done. This is because trust is placed in individuals and teams, and the methodology itself places an emphasis on the importance of being self-motivated, self-directed, and self-organised. Agile teams are defined by the presence of reliable, driven individuals, who all strive to work collaboratively, take initiative, accept responsibility for their part of the project, and do not need to be told what to do constantly.
Project management and DevOps training will always shine a light on the importance of effective communication, but the Agile approach also prioritizes efficient communication too. This means using the method that is fastest and most appropriate for the situation, and also means embracing the latest communication technology. With that being said, a common belief among Agile experts is that face-to-face communication is the most efficient method most of the time. This is because in-person conversations allow people to explain themselves more easily, clearing up any potential misunderstandings at the moment, rather than later on.
Finally, one of the most crucial characteristics of Agile projects is that the focus is on delivering the right final product, based on what users actually want and need. This means that rather than seeing success as the simple delivery of the agreed project, success is instead defined by the creation of a genuinely useful end product. There is no point in ‘successfully’ completing a project that does not actually solve the problems that are being faced by real customers. The end result of the project being right for intended users must be paramount.
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Within the field of project management, the Agile approach enjoys great popularity and investment in an Agile project management course can pay dividends. The approach itself is defined by its incremental approach to improvement, as well as its open embrace of adaptation and change over the course of the project’s life cycle.
However, while those are the core principles, some project management professionals still struggle to fully understand the methodology itself. The characteristics outlined in this article should go some way towards explaining what the Agile approach actually is, as well as the various ways it can be of benefit to project managers and teams.
Author Bio -Nadine is a marketing director at Strategy Execution, a leading Agile Project Management Training provider that also specializes in project management, business analysis, and adaptive leadership programs.An experienced marketing strategist and technologist, Nadine is also passionate about project management, business analysis, and agile PM, managing and contributing to the company PM blog servicing 40,000 monthly users.
Read the other articles:
- Agile Project Management — Best Agile Practices for Teams
- Agile Project Management Trends
- 8 Project Management Methodologies Made Simple
