What is the Agile methodology?
'Agile': divide and win
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The Agile methodology is a working system that is changing the face of project development in many companies, including Google, Amazon and Microsoft. This new concept is triumphing the world over and is here to stay. What is the key to its success? It organises and shares work out among multidisciplinary teams in a fast and flexible manner. Read all about it.
Agile methodology core values
The Agile methodology is changing the DNA of companies. Nearly 20 years old, this type of agile methodology is already applied in a number of global companies in different sectors. Linked to the origin of the software industry, it is versatile and results-based and stands out for the effects of speed and flexibility it has on project management, with partial deliveries to customers, every fifteen days approximately.
The Agile methodology maintains a direction without falling into the inflexibility of the well-known waterfall methods. These methods plan the work from scratch, without room for incidentals. Meaning that when they happen it is impossible to react in time. On the other hand, agility, maintains the capacity for choosing the best option at all times without compromising the project. The most popular Agile methods right now are Scrum and Kanban.
Agile began in February 2001 when 17 software development experts designed a document fostering new, agile methods of acting during a meeting in the United States (Utah).
This 12 point page, known as the Agile Manifesto, favoured a working method aimed at making product development more fluid. Since its beginnings, the Agile methodology has been based on four core values:
People are at the heart of the methodology
They are more important than processes and tools because of their capacity for innovation and creativity. Processes and organisation, then, must support people in achieving their goals. Although these guides are fundamental to guide the work, they must be adapted to the organisation, the teams and the people, and not the other way around.
Working software over comprehensive documentation
There is more value in delivering a functional product or seeing how functionalities behave in software than spending a lot of time creating detailed requirements and process reports. This does not mean doing away with any documentation; it means making it useful and sufficient. For example, instead of a lengthy manual, the team delivers a working prototype and holds frequent meetings to get feedback during the process.
Customer collaboration throughout the development process.
Working closely with the customer, understanding their needs and adapting to changes is more important than sticking rigidly to an initial contract. In other words, this value emphasises continuous feedback in product development.
The ability to respond to changes and unforeseen events.
The ability to adapt to changes and new circumstances is more valuable than following a detailed plan from start to finish. This is one of the keys to agile methodologies: they help anticipate and adapt, as opposed to the planning, control and rigidity of traditional management formulas.
These four core values derive from the 12 principles of the manifesto, which defend aspects such as customer satisfaction, team work, face-to-face dialogue, fast and continuous delivery of functional software, periodic reviews, simplicity, attention to technical excellence, sustainable development and reflection on self-correcting and improving.
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Principles and advantages of Agile
The Agile methodology provides project management with speed and flexibility, but how does it work? What is most significant is in the organisation of work. Instead of approaching everything as a whole, it is broken down into smaller pieces to reconstruct it again like a puzzle.
The performing of the different tasks and their later reassembly is carried out by multidisciplinary teams of individuals that have to possess a high degree of motivation and autonomy. The advantages of this agile methodology are:
- The dividing up of a job into smaller parts means that unforeseen events only affect one part of the whole, which can be rectified in a short time.
- Collaboration between teams achieves more speed, fluidity and dynamism. Individual contributions enrich the end result.
Agile requirements
The most important thing in order to implement an Agile methodology is leadership and change in the business culture. Knowing how to talk to and motivate teams to address their concerns, convince them of the benefits and involve them in the change. The commitment to the model is fundamental for its success.
The division of projects is carried out by creating milestones or tasks. These only permit three stages: pending, in progress or completed. The execution time should be from a few hours to no more than a few days, and they are resolved one by one. The tasks closest to being carried out will be more defined than those to be approached within weeks or months.
It is also important to hold daily meetings. At these brief meetings, held first thing in the morning, the team members can update each other on the status of their tasks. The project leader acquires a general view and can divert resources to those that most need them. Furthermore, these meetings help to unite the team and involve all the members.
Agile requires very visual techniques and its own project management tools in order to achieve optimum results. This is the case with Jira, Trello, Wrike and Asana, to name a few.
The digital transformation of the company has made Agile a valid method in almost all business areas, not just in technology. All that is needed is a project, someone capable of implementing it, and above all, compliance with the principles of interaction, revision, change and eagerness for constant improvement.
Agile methods
The most popular Agile methods at the moment are Scrum and Kanban. Discover the characteristics and peculiarities of each of them.
Agile methodology success stories
Agile methodologies have transformed the way organisations approach project management. This type of organisation gives them greater flexibility, efficiency and, above all, adaptability to change. Here are some outstanding success stories of companies from different industries that have adopted agile:
- Spotify. The company built its own model based on Scrum and Kanban to respond to specific situations in its industry. Its approach includes trial and error to experiment in low-risk environments with the idea that by failing fast, you can learn and get better faster. Spotify uses, as in any other agile model, roles and groups. Teams are divided into squads, i.e. small multidisciplinary groups of 6 to 12 people working together. These groups are organised into tribes, which usually don’t exceed 100 people and are led by a leader, which allows the culture to be aligned globally. This approach allows them to manage the platform’s exponential growth.
- Microsoft. The company adopted agile to improve team collaboration, release more frequent updates and minimise errors in production. The methodology involved an organisational restructuring from siloed teams to multidisciplinary teams that work independently but collaboratively. In addition, Microsoft has used Scrum and Kanban, allowing it to plan and execute tasks in short cycles to adapt quickly to change and continuously improve.
- Toyota. The company applies agile principles but adapts them to its situation, which gave rise in the 1950s to its Toyota Production System production and management philosophy. It works on continuous improvement, demand-driven manufacturing to adapt quickly to market needs and short cycle times to solve problems fast. In addition, teams work in Scrum or Kanban to iterate quickly on prototypes and functionalities.
- Zara. The Inditex group’s international fashion brand also uses agile methodology, although it doesn’t use Scrum or Kanban in a traditional sense. Zara has developed its own internal system for its design, production and distribution processes. It runs a fast and adaptive design in short cycles to manufacture new products in just a few weeks, has agile production in small batches to minimise the risk of being left with unsold inventory, has high-performance logistics to move products quickly between its distribution centres and responds to customers in real time by collecting data on sales and preferences.