Let's look under the hood of Agile methodology to see what its foundations are, where it works best, and why it's so enduringly popular in project management.
Rapid. Sharp. Energetic. Prompt. Quick. Deft. All synonyms for ‘Agile’ which sum up this popular project management framework’s characteristics.
Though Agile has long been considered the Juliet to software development’s Romeo, more and more business areas have adopted this framework in recent years, from HR to sales.
If your team is considering implementing Agile practices, or you’re curious about its benefits, you’re in the right place:
One of the most popular project management frameworks available, Agile prioritizes flexibility by allowing teams to adapt to changing customer or stakeholder requirements.
While linear project management frameworks such as waterfall make change challenging to accommodate, Agile teams work in phases, working towards planned goals.
These phases are often referred to as ‘sprints’ in Scrum, the most popular Agile methodology. However, other methods take different approaches to structuring their phases.
As an iterative methodology, Agile prioritizes continuous development and learning. At the end of each phase — or sprint — teams review their strategies and take any learnings forward.
Software development teams first started using Agile principles all the way back in the 90s. However, the framework’s practices were first formalized in 2001 when 17 software developers came together to publish the Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
Over the following two decades, several methodologies have been developed under the Agile umbrella. Each takes a slightly different approach to project management yet adheres to Agile principles.
The Agile Manifesto outlines the four values that define Agile project management. These are:
From these four pillars, Agile’s founders developed 12 principles that guide Agile methods:
Dig deeper ➡️ the values and principles advanced by the Agile manifesto
Agile is an adaptable, versatile framework that includes numerous variations. Let’s explore eight of the most popular Agile methodologies.
Scrum is the most popular Agile methodology, with 87% of Agile teams leveraging Scrum. It’s relatively simple to implement and provides small to medium-sized teams with the structure needed to execute high-quality work at a fast pace. Agile prioritizes simplicity, and Scrum mirrors this value through its well-defined roles with the team led by a Scrum Master and the product development overseen by a Product Owner.
Scrum projects are organized around sprints, which typically last two weeks. During this time, specific tasks are completed. What sets Scrum apart from other methodologies is its four ceremonies (a fancy way of saying ‘meetings’):
Kanban is a great choice for teams that like to work visually. One of the few Agile methodologies that uses a continuous flow approach, Kanban uses a board and cards representing tasks to visualize the project’s progress.
Kanban boards are typically digital, with each project stage represented by a column. The exact stage names will differ from project to project but typically follow a structure similar to the below:
As team members work through the tasks, they move them across the board. Kanban attempts to limit the number of tasks in progress to improve workflow and helps make roadblocks and progress easily identifiable.
Scrumban is, as its name suggests, a hybrid methodology combining elements of Scrum and Kanban. From Scrum, it takes its structured approach to planning and team roles, including sprints and the presence of a Scrum Master. From Kanban, it borrows its visual project management tool and supports a continuous workflow.
This hybrid Agile methodology best suits teams that want to introduce an element of flexibility to their structured approach to project management. Scrumban is often used to manage maintenance projects and to support teams making the transition from Scrum to Kanban.
Designed to scale Agile for larger organizations, SAFe is best suited to complex projects that require multiple teams to work together.
When collaborating on a large scale, alignment can be challenging to achieve. SAFe supports healthy collaboration by providing a structured approach for aligning development practices with business goals and integrating Agile methods into the wider organizational structure.
Extreme Programming is often favored by Agile software development teams because it prioritizes technical excellence. By taking a technical approach to development, XP helps teams quickly adapt to changing customer requirements while consistently delivering quality products.
Plus, this Agile methodology encourages teams to work together more effectively by outlining five core values: communication, simplicity, feedback, courage, and respect. Sound familiar?
A feature-centric methodology, FDD focuses on delivering working products consistently through short-cycle processes made up of five key activities:
FDD takes a methodical approach to product development, with teams focusing on one feature at a time. This continuous cycle allows for constant improvement and adaptability, which is ideal for teams working on projects with numerous complex features.
DSDM is more rigid compared to other Agile methods, closely adhering to timelines and budgets. This Agile methodology is highly user-focused and stresses the importance of delivering benefits to the business as early as possible in the project lifecycle. DSDM integrates project management and product development best practices, making it well-suited to projects with tight restraints.
Agile is one of the most popular project management frameworks for many reasons, including the tremendous benefits it offers. Here are four reasons why teams love Agile:
It’s no surprise that teams use Agile methodologies for their adaptability. In traditional project management frameworks, such as Waterfall, stages flow one after another, which makes incorporating changes a challenge. In fact, any variance from the plan has the potential to derail the project entirely.
Agile teams are just that: Agile. Agile teams can quickly adapt to feedback and shift strategies from one sprint to the next without significantly impacting progress.
There’s a reason daily stand-ups and regular review meetings are a crucial part of Scrum. Agile prioritizes communication — preferably face-to-face communication — meaning collaborative work is baked into the framework.
As Agile can be scaled across teams with the support of SAFe, businesses have a lot to gain from adopting this framework. By breaking down silos between business areas, Agile aids inter-team collaboration.
The end-user or customer should always be your priority, but it can be easy to lose sight of their needs when a complex project pulls you in a million different directions. Agile places customer needs at the top of Agile teams’ priority lists, ensuring they’re not overlooked.
This is especially true in Agile software development; customer support is integral to software projects, and Agile project management makes it easy for teams to put the end user front and center when developing a product. With technology helping connect teams to customers, real-time feedback can be gathered quickly, helping inform projects as they progress.
While Agile teams need to work quickly, there’s no pressure to get everything right the first time around. While a misstep in a Waterfall project might mean moving back a step and losing valuable time, Agile projects are planned with the view that progress happens in phases, not overnight.
Agile teams are expected to improve upon their results with every iteration, using customer feedback and internal learning to facilitate their development. This minimizes the risk associated with mistakes, as each phase or sprint represents a new beginning.
Agile project management isn’t suitable for all projects. But where does this flexible, customer-centric, iterative approach to development work best? Here are some of the types of projects that can benefit from an Agile management approach.
At the end of each iteration or sprint, Agile teams test their product with customers and host internal reviews. This makes Agile an ideal methodology for projects where continuous improvement is crucial, such as Agile software development.
One of Agile’s core principles states that teams must be self-organizing. Agile methods will be easiest to implement within teams that already display these characteristics:
Projects that go from A to Z following a set of cookie-cutter steps don’t need sophisticated methodologies. But what if your project has countless moving parts to prioritize, navigate, and deliver?
If there’s a degree of uncertainty around requirements and expectations, Agile helps teams accommodate changing priorities at any point in the project life cycle.
Need to get your product to market as soon as possible? Agile is the best-suited methodology to deliver projects with a short turnaround time. As Agile supports incremental delivery, teams can release segments of the project as they’re completed.
Highly engaged stakeholders can benefit project outcomes — when handled appropriately. By providing regular opportunities for stakeholders to review work and share feedback, Agile teams facilitate healthy customer collaboration. This makes Agile perfect for projects where stakeholders are expected to be highly engaged.
While Agile was first popularized by Agile software development teams, it’s now evolved beyond its origins. Here are three sectors that use Agile project management techniques today.
Software development and Agile are a match made in heaven. As the original 12 Agile Principles were written with software teams in mind, it’s no surprise that much focus is placed on producing the highest quality software possible by putting customers' needs first.
Agile development is a fast-moving industry with high customer expectations to manage and many moving parts to navigate. Agile is tailored to software development best practices, keeping teams flexible in the face of change. It also helps teams deliver products faster and engage more effectively with other business areas, including marketing functions.
Many agencies continue to use Waterfall methodologies to manage projects. Yet, as the complexity of client requirements increases, more and more look to adopt Agile practices.
For example, Kanban is a great fit for marketing agencies that manage a number of ongoing campaigns. As Kanban doesn’t use Scrum’s fixed iteration structure, marketing agencies can track their campaigns from ideation to execution, adjusting their priorities as required.
As markets shift quickly in today’s business world, consultancies need to be agile. Agile practices can benefit consultancies by helping improve their internal processes and client engagement. By providing services that align with clients’ needs, improving service delivery, and deepening client relationships, consultancies can become more dynamic, increase customer satisfaction, and remain competitive.
Deciding to implement Agile in your organization is one thing. Doing it successfully is a whole different matter altogether. If you’re readying your team or business to adopt an Agile methodology, here are our five tips for successfully implementing Agile practices.
There are around a dozen Agile methodologies to choose from, some of which we explored in this guide. Not every Agile methodology will be appropriate for your team or organization, so it’s important to consider your options before making a choice. Here are some helpful tips to point you in the right direction when selecting your framework:
One Agile principle states that teams should be built around motivated individuals. A great Agile team should be aligned with a clear goal and have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Certain frameworks, such as Scrum, utilize specific roles with clearly defined responsibilities. If you decide to use Scrum, you will need to fill the below roles:
There are many other roles involved in Agile, depending on the method selected. You may see adverts for Agile project managers or delivery managers, two roles that sound similar but differ greatly:
Successfully implementing Agile practices is as much about cultivating a culture of collaboration as it is about defining processes. When building your team, you want to select individuals who will embody an Agile mindset of flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement. This will go a long way to help you deliver successful Agile projects.
Continuous improvement is a key Agile value and can be applied at a project and a team level. At a project level, you can introduce key performance indicators (KPIs) to help measure progress and success against set milestones. Agile ceremonies and review meetings can also help measure progress. These include:
Agile is all about iteration, but you can’t make informed project decisions without data. These three tools will help enhance your team’s efficacy and efficiency:
Learn more ➡️ unlocking success with Agile project management
Though two decades have passed since the Agile Manifesto was first written, Agile methodologies continue to make waves in the project management world today. In fact, according to Agile statistics, Agile transformation only continues to pick up steam, with Agile adoption within software development teams increasing from 37% to 86% between 2020 and 2021 alone.
But why has Agile remained so popular? By now, we understand that Agile offers an incredible range of benefits to project teams and businesses. But it’s Agile’s founding principle of flexibility that has allowed it to endure over time. As businesses, customer needs, and project management best practices have evolved, Agile has evolved alongside them, helping project teams remain responsive while delivering high-quality products.
As Agile practices continue to shift and mature, we can only expect more businesses to adopt this customer-centric approach to project management.
