Agile Management: A new Methodology in Managing Projects

In the current era and with the fast-changing business and technological environment, traditional project management methods become unable to meet the needs of new projects that are categorized by constant change during their lifetime. As a respond to this situation, Agile methodology raised as an innovative and flexible solution for project management as it seeks to achieve a high level of effectiveness and adaptability towards changes and challenges that might face these projects. 

Agile means fixability and it indicates to dealing faster and being more responsive and smoother towards the changes that may occur in business environments. So, we can say that Agility is a way of thinking stands on ideas, values that help in providing valued products or services through collaborating with different actors and enhancing the culture of teamwork, multi-tasking and self-organized team.

How did the Agile originate?

With the spread of reliance on information technology in the early nineties of the last century, software development faced a crisis. At that time, it was widely referred to as “the application development crises” or “application delivery lag”. Industry experts estimated that time between a validated business need and an actual implementation in production was about three years.

Within three years, requirements, systems and even the entire companies are likely to change. This means that many of projects will be partially cancelled, and other completed projects do not meet all current business needs, even if the original project goals are achieved.

In February 2001, seventeen top software engineers gathered at a resort in Snowbird city, Utah. Those engineers sought ways to quickly create working software and deliver it to users.

Agile Manifesto

The participants came up with the so-called Agile Manifesto, which represents a paradigm shift in software management and production.

The values and principles of Agile have reinforced the reliance on the human ability to learn from their experiences and benefit from the collective intelligence of the team to achieve a high level of efficiency and effectiveness in production. They also came up with four main items that must be considered to achieve the Agile methodology.

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The 8 Principles of Successful Project Management

The main items of the Agile Manifesto are:

1. People and their interactions with each other over systems and tools.
2. Usable software over complete documentation.
3. Customer collaboration and engagement over contract negotiation.
4. Responding to changes over adhering to a specific plan of action.

All the previous points mean that while the items on the left side of each sentence are valuable, we should pay more attention and place more value on the items on the right side.

Agile Principles:

Here are the 12 principles of Agile methodology:

1. Our goal is to satisfy the customer/ client through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. We welcome changes in requirements, even at advanced stages of development. Agile approaches harness change to the customer’s competitive advantage.
3. Deliver usable software at regular intervals, from a week to a month, with a shorter time frame preferred.
4. Professionals and developers should work together daily throughout the project.
5. Face-to-face communication is the best and most effective way to convey information to and between development teams.
6. Build projects with motivated individuals by providing the right environment and supporting and trusting them to get the job done.
7. Agile approaches encourage sustainable development. Sponsors, developers, and users must be able to maintain a steady pace over time.
8. Usable software is the primary measure of progress.
9. Focusing on technical excellence and good design continuously enhances agility.
10. Simplicity – the art of cutting out unnecessary work – is essential.
11. The best structures, specifications, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
12. The team regularly reviews how to become more effective, then audits and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Conclusion:

Agile management is more than just a methodology, it is a mindset. By prioritizing adaptability, collaboration, and efficiency, it transforms how projects are managed, ensuring responsiveness to the new emerging business challenges.