What is Agile?

In 350 worlds or less!!

Here’s a summary definition straight from google (Wrike.com/project management) that is as good as any.

Agile is a process by which a team can manage a project by breaking it up into several stages and involving constant collaboration with stakeholders and continuous improvement and iteration at every stage.

·       The Agile methodology begins with clients describing how the end product will be used and what problem it will solve. This clarifies the customer's expectations to the project team.

·       Once the work begins, teams cycle through a process of planning, executing, and evaluating — which might just change the final deliverable to fit the customer's needs better.

·       Continuous collaboration is key, both among team members and with project stakeholders, to make fully-informed decisions.

And a few other key points of orientation:

  1. The agile philosophy and approach grew out of the software development world. (“The Agile Manifesto” was published in 2001.) Agile is well-documented in terms of mindset, principles, values, and tools and practices.

  2. The approach was meant to be a radical alternative to the traditional “waterfall” approach, characterized by a linear (and often tedious and ineffective) process of: defining requirements; developing a system; testing and acceptance; and finally deployment.

  3. Per the starting definition, agile is all about iteration and quick delivery of output. With this approach, customers can provide fast feedback, adjustments can be made and projects cannot get too far off track. Checks and balances at every step of the way.

  4. Various technical approaches exist that formalize “agile practices.” Scrum, Lean, Kanban, Extreme Programming are just a few. These are all primarily geared to the world of software development, but not exclusively.

  5. Over time, agile has “jumped species.” In the last 10 years or so, leaders are increasingly using agile principles and methods for projects beyond software development. Agile is appropriate in areas where “problems are complex, solutions are at first unclear, project requirements are likely to change, (and) close collaboration with end users is feasible.” (“Agile at Scale,” HBR, May-June 2018).

With this as background, please see two companion articles: “Agile -Making it work for your agenda;” and “Agile Practices – A short list.”

And if you are looking to go deeper into “agile 101” – the following website is highly recommended:  https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/