VWB Blog Almost three-quarters of all US-based companies use Agile business practices in the modern world. Agile project management tends to help people complete and ship IT projects. But, can you answer the question, “What is Agile project management?”
Below, we lay out some basics of Agile management and how your teams can organize themselves to make use of that style of development. As you read through, you should be able to find ways to apply these principles to your own working life. Read on and improve your organization’s handling of its workload.
What Is Agile Project Management?
Agile project management is a method by which you manage software development. It focuses on continuous, iterative releases that get analyzed after every release. This allows you to always improve your processes and begin to develop a better project with better methods.
Agile working is becoming more popular over the years. So much so that Agile adoption and development trends show it outpacing most competitors. This means that it is important in the project management market to have high levels of Agile expertise.
The following are the primary principles of Agile project management. They are the core of what makes Agile what it is.
Early and Continuous Delivery
The intent is to please customers first of all. Agile project management methods push developers to always work towards short-term deliveries. This creates a sense of creation in both the team and the customer.
Welcome Changing Requirements
Customers demand changing requirements to stay competitive. The ability to incorporate and welcome changes will mean that you can remain competitive long into the future.
Deliver Frequently
If your project management is Agile, you should be putting out a new fully-functional version of your software every iteration. You decide how often that iteration must be, but it could be as little as every couple of weeks.
Collaboration
Both the business level of the company as well as the developers should be working together. This way, the developers will understand the business needs of the company and focus on them. The business people will also have realistic expectations of when a product will deliver.
Motivate Developers
Give the developers the support they need to make the best product that they can. If you do not, they will only have trouble. This includes trusting them to know what they need, and for them to communicate that to you.
Face-To-Face Communication
How often have you had a long email chain that could resolve much faster face-to-face? These days, this is even easier with software such as Zoom. Be honest and speak in person with people to improve the office’s demeanor.
Measure Progress in Working Software
It does not matter how long you take on a project, the only thing that matters is working software. You should be always attempting to improve your process so that this is a priority.
Sustainable Development
Do not overburden your developers. Instead, optimize your processes so you do not need to.
Technical Excellence and Good Design
You should focus on and encourage developers to work to a level of technical excellence. This creates pride in one’s work, increases agility, and prevents firefighting later on.
Simplicity Is Essential
This tenet encourages reducing “the amount of work not done” while still completing the task. Your customers will not care how much effort your team invests, so long as they complete the work. Thus, do not do anything for the sake of doing it, and instead, look at all your processes and see what you can excise.
Self-Organization
Trust your well-motivated teams to know what their specializations are. Allow them to plan their own working teams.
Retrospect Regularly
After every iteration, you should look at how you performed and see what you can improve. Agile management teams should then make an active effort to resolve the problem as it presents itself.
Where to Learn More
After reading the above, it should be possible for you to answer the question, “What is Agile project management?”. If you are still unsure of the details, there are always more articles for you to read. Our blog has a wide range of published content on how to improve your life in business, technology, or other areas.
So, jump on in and take a look at our latest work.