Concepts & Fundamentals

A wide variety of methodologies sit under the agile umbrella.

There are over 50 agile methodologies under the umbrella of the agile mindset. This implies that even though we can talk about an “agile methodology,” the reality is that the concept means different things to different people.

By the term methodology, we refer to the system or strategy used by a development team or project team that follows the agile approach. Here are some of the most popular agile methods:

1. Scrum:

   Scrum is an agile methodology that uses a fairly rigid schedule of events including sprints and daily meetings (also known as Scrum ceremonies) at intervals to address distinct portions or a set amount of work within a project during its life cycle.

   There are three leading roles in Scrum: the Scrum master (the facilitator), the product owner (who could be the client), and the Scrum team members (the individuals developing the product).

   Scrum is a great choice for teams who value predictability in delivery, transparency with stakeholders and have team members with distinct roles. Scrum can help promote better collaboration and communication among team members, provide a simple process for delegating tasks and prioritizing them appropriately, as well as improve transparency throughout the project.

2. Kanban:

   The Kanban method is based on the visual display of current tasks, future tasks, and completed tasks on a Kanban board while limiting work in progress. The visual display's main advantage is that it assists agile team members not only in seeing where their tasks are, but also other tasks related to their project. In Kanban, work in progress is limited to encourage the team to collectively swarm to solve and finish what they started before taking on new work.

3. Scrumban:

   Scrumban is not technically a formal agile methodology, but people are talking about it. Scrumban combines the collaboration cadence of Scrum with the flexibility of Kanban and almost always leverages a Kanban board. In fact, many purely Scrum teams leverage a Kanban board because it is not the board itself that makes the methodology, a Kanban board is just a tool to visualize work. Scrumban teams often engage in daily scrum meetings, sprint planning, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives, but might skip story point estimation, as an example.

4. Lean:

   As the name implies, the lean development method aims to keep a project or ongoing operations trimmed by discouraging waste. This helps to keep the system clutter-free while improving the flow of value. Other popular agile methodologies with agile practices are eXtreme Programming, Crystal, and the Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM). There are even some advocates of agnostic agile, an agile framework that prioritizes what’s best for the software development project, rather than a specific agile methodology.

Concepts & Fundamentals

This section covers the foundational concepts and principles of Agile Project Management. It's important to understand these concepts before diving into the specifics of Agile methodologies.

It's important to understand these concepts before diving into the specifics of Agile methodologies.

1. Agile Manifesto: The Agile Manifesto is the guiding document for Agile development. It outlines the values and principles that guide Agile development, including individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration, and responding to change.
2. Agile Principles: The Agile Principles are the guiding principles for Agile development. They include principles such as delivering value frequently, welcoming changing requirements, and collaboration between developers, customers, and stakeholders.
3. User Stories: User stories are a way of defining requirements in Agile development. They describe the desired functionality from the user's perspective, and are often used in Scrum and other Agile methodologies.
4. Acceptance Criteria: Acceptance criteria are the conditions that must be met in order for a user story to be considered complete. They provide a clear understanding of what "done" looks like, and help ensure that the product meets the customer's needs.
5. Definition of Done: The definition of done is a collaborative agreement between the development team and the product owner that defines when a user story is considered complete. It helps ensure that the team is working towards a common understanding of what "done" means, and can help prevent misunderstandings or miscommunications.

Understanding these concepts and fundamentals is essential for successful Agile project management. By mastering these concepts, you'll be well-equipped to handle the challenges of Agile development and deliver high-quality products that meet customer needs.

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Things To Consider When Delivering Projects In Agile

Agile is great for all the reasons listed above. However, when considering agile for your approach, there are a couple of things to be mindful of:

1. Estimation: As agile is based on the premise that teams won’t always know what the end product will look like, it can be difficult to accurately predict the cost, time, or resources needed at the beginning of a project.
2. Keeping track of long-term goals: Whereas on one hand agile provides refreshing flexibility, on the other hand, it can be hard to keep track of progress on long-term goals or projects that require significant architectural or infrastructural builds.
3. Maintaining collaboration: While agile fosters greater collaboration between teams both internally and externally, this approach does require considerable and continued commitment from all stakeholders.

Of course, the above can be mitigated by having an experienced, committed team well as by using the right tools.

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