Agile revolutionized modern project management and software development. What are some of the Agile benefits?
What is Agile?
Agile is currently the most popular approach to project management. According to Project Management Institute research done quite a while back now in 2017, 71% of US organizations reported using Agile methodologies often or always. Agile approach has no limit when it comes to the industry, and has already been adopted outside IT.
In a nutshell, Agile is an iterative approach to modern project management and software development. Instead of focusing so much on the product’s launch, the teams deliver tangible product value in each iteration. The “smaller chunks” approach to product development (or in fact any kind of planning) has proved to be highly effective: teams are able to deliver results faster and with fewer obstacles.
The main reason behind it: the project’s risk and change management happens in real-time as opposed to traditional project management. Agile is much more based on the concepts of user and customer’s satisfaction, product (or project) quality, flexibility, transparency, and continuous improvement & delivery (known widely as CD & CI).
Benefits of using Agile methodologies in software development & project management
Faster time-to-market
This one may not be always applicable, but oftentimes products developed according to Agile methodologies do end up getting shipped faster. This happens mostly, because of the task prioritization in Agile. During a Product Design Workshop the team is able to divide the end-product into smaller chunks which very often reduces the amount of must-have functionalities you predicted for your launch for the sake of delivering a better-tested and a better-working product earlier, and building on top of it later.
Testing & superior quality product
Another Agile benefit stemming from dividing the project into manageable units is enhanced product quality. In Agile, testing is an indispensable part of the process after each sprint (so basically after developing a single feature or a set of features).
Agile Project Managers ensure the client and the team are on the same page throughout the whole project during frequent meetings. This means, the client is always in-the-know about what is being developed, how it looks, how far in the process the team is etc. The client can give feedback immediately after a certain feature has been developed and all issues can be addressed instantly.
An Agile environment is also deeply based on feedback and collaboration, and this also applies to developer-developer communication. This setting enables the team to find and fix bugs quicker, optimize the code throughout the development process, which improves the product’s overall quality in real-time.
Flexible priorities
One of the main Agile software development benefits is its superior flexibility. Agile teams are usually smaller, but thanks to the Agile feedback loop and constant communication between all parties involved, all changes to the backlog are not that costly and time-consuming as they are in a traditional project management setting. Functionalities’ priorities can change, the backlog can be changed and adapted to the industry surroundings and the current market situation.
Risk reduction
Agile is praised not only for its flexibility and change management. It is also a risk-reducing framework. Regular team meetings with the client and the Agile Project Manager involved ensure that everyone is on the same page about where the project is going, and can discuss any changes in the backlog. Because Agile is focused on value delivered after each sprint, Agile teams are able to respond to change quickly and more effectively compared to traditional teams. In a traditional setting, the client’s requirements are only collected just before the project’s start, without collecting regular feedback.
Project visibility & transparency
Compared to traditional project management approaches, Agile makes the project visible to all stakeholders the entire time, not only at the beginning and towards the end. Everyone can clearly observe the progress that is being made in the project and feedback it instead of waiting for the project to be finished. Also because Agile somewhat relies on the client’s involvement throughout the project: from features prioritization, through weekly meetings up to review sessions, it also provides a superior level of transparency for all parties involved.
Empowering the team
Agile teams are generally self-managing and self-organized (Read more on self-managing teams and their benefits). They have much bigger autonomy compared to traditionally managed teams, so they take ownership of their tasks and collaborate to remove roadblocks collectively. Self-management is proven to induce creativity and innovation among team members, so they are more likely to propose alternative solutions and care for their work (and their work outcomes).
Self-management and agile approach inspire both personal and team growth and enable them to exchange experiences and learn everyday just as a part of their work setting.
Incessant focus on end-users
Agile approaches put big emphasis on delivering continuous value to the product’s end-users. In an Agile software development setting, features are translated into user stories (software system requirements, but put in informal, natural language that is understandable for users), which are based on the so-called acceptance criteria, so conditions that the feature (or a product) has to satisfy to be accepted by the end-user.
While user stories might also be applied in Waterfall methodology, Agile delivers value after each iteration, which makes all features available for feedback in real-time. Collecting feedback earlier means that the feature can be changed and polished to the actual users expectations faster.
Higher client satisfaction
We’ve mentioned that Agile ensures transparency, better client-vendor communication, faster response to changes on the market and in the project itself - and it all bears a significant impact on the overall client satisfaction, and meeting their business goals.
Better task optimization & project’s predictability
Thanks to keeping all stakeholders on the same page, frequently organized meetings and statuses, Agile methodologies allow for better project predictability overall. Before starting the project, the team estimates the time and cost of each sprint, calculating how long it will take to develop all the project’s features.
The initial estimation is then being tracked throughout the project, and adjusted accordingly if anything is developed faster or takes longer than expected initially.
Continuous delivery and continuous improvement
Agile relies on Team Retrospectives (Retros). This is a regular meeting (exact timelines differ depending on the project’s scope and duration), where the team gathers together to retrospect on what they’re doing: what’s been good, and what is to be improved.
The goal behind it is to create a safe space to detect mistakes, so they will not be repeated in the future, and it stems from the spirit of continuous improvement, which is one of the 12 core principles of the Agile manifesto.
The key to sustainable Agile implementation
Agile is a powerful mindset that simplified not only the world of software development, but is working for many times outside the IT sector. The key to a satisfactory Agile implementation is everyone being on the same page, and not being afraid to make mistakes.
They are going to happen either way, but the change happens if you are able to spot them fast. It’s easier in a team than it is on your own.