The Evolution of Agile Coaching: What Lies Ahead for Agile Coaches?

by Krishna Chodipilli | Jun 23, 2023 | Agile Coaching

Which Technique is Used for Agile Estimating & Planning

by Krishna Chodipilli | Jun 16, 2023 | Agile Methodology

Agile Methodology Project Management

by Krishna Chodipilli | Jun 10, 2023 | Leadership Tribe

What is Agile Project Management?

Agile methodology responds to the output of project teams and client needs in short development cycles and more frequent product releases, called iterations. This differs from traditional project management, such as the “waterfall approach,” which aims for a single implementation at project completion. In the Agile process, customer collaboration takes priority over contract negotiation and aims to streamline the amount of work required.

Agile methodology

There are several Agile frameworks and Agile methods, including Scrum and Kanban, that have emerged since the 2001 meeting that hammered out the Agile Manifesto. Each follows the 6-part Agile methodology that has been adopted by many project management approaches.

1. Project planning to determine the goal and its value to the stakeholder. Then, how to achieve it, allowing for changes along the way
2. Set out a roadmap of features to be included in the final product. Include a product backlog listing all features and deliverables
3. Embrace the sprint, the short development cycle that produces new project features
4. Sprint planning meetings, when stakeholders determine what will be accomplished by each person during that sprint and how it will be achieved
5. Daily stand-ups, when the sprint team meet briefly to assess progress and make necessary changes
6. The sprint review and sprint retrospective are held at the end of each sprint. At the sprint review, project stakeholders see a functional iteration of the working finished product.

At the sprint retrospective meeting, stakeholders discuss with the team what was best accomplished in this iteration, what could have been improved, and assess the amount of work for each team member. Embedded in Agile principles, this is an essential meeting for every  stakeholder and product owner.

Agile project management

Because Agile methodology is simple to use, its techniques are adaptable to most industries. Originally created for Agile software development and by software engineers, the Agile approach to project planning and management is adaptable to any business, because every business has a system in place to track progress and accomplish tasks. Proofed by iterations of working software, application or software development and functionality remain the backbone of most Agile projects.

What are the 5 phases of Agile project management?

1. Concept – defining the project scope, documenting the key requirements and estimating timelines and budget.
2. Inception – putting together the development team and equipping them with the necessary tools to design and build the product.
3. Iteration – the construction or build phase where the team work through development cycles to achieve their goals.
4. Release – the final phase of testing and quality assurance to ensure the final product is ready to launch, using testers, the project team and automation.
5. Maintenance – once deployed, the product requires ongoing support to fix or upgrade it over time.

Some cite a sixth phase in the product lifecycle – retirement. That’s when the app, software or product is being replaced or has become obsolete and is no longer required by the organisation.

How does Agile project management work in a team?

Each Agile team is unique and uses the Agile project management methodology that works best for them. These self organizing teams have the autonomy to produce the best results possible in a fast-paced environment. The Agile process begins by accepting that there will be uncertainty and a lack of predictability, so the entire development team is ready to respond to change, focused always upon functionality and continuous improvement. Commonly used in software development projects because of its speed and adaptability, this iterative approach makes quick evaluation and change possible. It replaces the need to produce constant comprehensive documentation.

Once planning meetings are concluded and a product development project is ready to begin, the scope and stages of the project should be clear to the Agile project team and all stakeholders. A roadmap will break down the features to be implemented in the high-quality deliverables that will shape the project lifecycle, and secure real-time stakeholder engagement and satisfaction. This sustainable development model makes it possible for business stakeholders, the development team, and customers to maintain a constant and unconstrained pace throughout the development process.

To ensure stakeholder and end-user satisfaction, the Agile project planning and project management workflow embraces

1. User stories, usually a short outline written from a client’s perspective to estimate how much work needs to be done and what the final product should look like
2. Sprints: short development cycles, usually lasting one to three weeks. With customer collaboration, teams plan the work to be carried out within each sprint and present and review at the end of each sprint, each complete iteration
3. The Agile board, which can be a white board or a project management software function is used to keep track of the team’s work in progress
4. The product backlog, a list of deliverables still outstanding in the project. In the sprint planning process items from this list are moved into the sprint, as needed.

Other Agile project management tools include Kanban boards, Lean and Extreme Programming (XP).

The scrum and the scrum master

The Development Team has a short daily standup — called a Daily Scrum — to report and evaluate the previous day’s work and progress, the new day’s focus, and all identified risks. Clear core scrum values are self-organization, dedication, respect, and, most importantly, empirical research to find the best approach for product development and customer satisfaction.

The Scrum Master is the person in charge who supports the progress of the project among team members according to the product owner’s instructions. The Scrum Master’s responsibilities are clear: to facilitate sprint activities, daily meetings, and the sprint review; to communicate with team members about changing needs and coach team members to achieve outcomes; to manage meetings, collaboration, and impediments to project progress; to implement the scrum framework; and to coordinate with the product owner. They may also implement changes, coordinate with stakeholders to obtain necessary resources, and help product owners to optimize backlog planning for best performance, always fostering transparency and collaboration among the Scrum Team.

What is the difference between Waterfall and Agile Project Management Methodologies?

Agile methodology: one of the fundamentals of agile project management methodology is ongoing amends and iterations led by team, user or customer feedback. It often refers to the ability to build and act on changes in increments as the project and its outcomes develop. This technique of making continuous improvements is useful in, what can be, an unpredictable environment where change needs quick adaptation.

Waterfall project management is the more traditional method of software development. The organizing principles are linear and sequential, geared to produce a single successful project delivery. It is also referred to as Linear Sequential Life Cycle Model.

View our comparison of Agile Methodology vs. Waterfall Methodology

How Do Both Differ From Scrum Agile Project Management?

Scrum is a type of agile methodology that is used to guide teams overall. It is often used for the agile project management framework overall, but like agile, allows various teams to respond efficiently, and effectively to change.

How Does Agile Project Management Work?

The key part about agile project management, is that not only does it add flexibility to the team, but it lets the customers have early and frequent opportunities to assess the project and/or work being delivered. They are free to make decisions and ask for changes throughout the project and can change the original set up as they go.

How to Use Agile Project Management in Your Business

Whether Agile or Waterfall, there are pros and cons to each of the software development methodologies. We can help train your team to identify which is the suitable answer for your situation overall.

Learn more about Agile Methodology and training with online courses from Leadership Tribe today, including recognised PMI certifications.

Change Management and Agile Transition within an Organization

by Krishna Chodipilli | May 16, 2023 | Agile Coaching

Agile Change Management

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If a business wants to succeed, it can’t afford to stand still. New challenges need to be met, and improvements can always be made. Recent turbulent times caused by local and global challenges such as the Covid pandemic, economic recession and Brexit, for example, have been catalysts for change. The ways in which organisations implement change can have a massive impact on their team members, culture and business processes.

Why implement organizational change?

Organizational change comes down to three things – crisis, opportunity or threat.

Crisis – Covid was a good example of this. It forced many organisations to do things differently, try new approaches and pivot their business. External factors can force organizational change in order for that business to adapt and survive.

Opportunity – new products/ services, diversification or digital transformation can open up additional or alternative revenue streams for a business for example.

Threat – competitors could be encroaching on your market; there could be supply chain issues; legislative changes could impact your business model – there are myriad potential threats to your business that can be addressed by organizational change.

Organizations implement initiatives to boost performance, grab opportunities or address concerns. Often, change is a result of this – process changes, new or different job roles, structural or digital transformation.

Effective change management will prepare, equip and guide your team members to accept and embrace organizational change.

What is the difference between agile change management and change management?

Whilst initially developed for software development teams, agile methodology applies well across an organisation. In particular, organisations undertaking change management activities.

Agile change management is a logical progression from Agile development processes. It facilitates an agile team’s need to adapt and address potential or upcoming change. Agile projects and teams evolve, question and improve continuously. These agile project management techniques work well for change management. Put simply, it’s a marriage of change management techniques with Agile processes like sprints, daily stand-ups and iterative approaches to delivery and a product lifecycle.

Traditional change management processes can seem cumbersome and slow in today’s fast-past and evolving times. That’s where more flexible, adaptive and newer change initiatives hold appeal. Step forward with agile change management processes.

What are the benefits of Agile change management?

Agile approaches are particularly suited to times of change. Being open to real-time adaptability and continuous improvement. Being aware of the end user or customer’s changing requirements and feedback. Being collaborative with your project team members. All of these provide the agility and flexibility that are beneficial for effective change implementation.

Agile change management approaches

It’s said that change is a constant. Businesses need to evolve to stay relevant and successful. But organisational change is often not the most difficult aspect. The people side of change can be the hardest to implement and to ensure employee engagement and buy-in to the new approaches and the future state of the organisation. Cultural change needs thought and diligent planning.

The change models are used to help to develop a tailored approach in order to engage your organization system in a change. Here are 2 popular change management approaches.

ADKAR Model outlines the 5 outcomes an individual or team needs to achieve for changes to be successful. This model was initially devised by Prosci.

Awareness – establish an awareness of the need for change. Ensure your team members are on board with the change roadmap and reasons why it’s needed and the expected positive impact.

Desire – ensure you have employee engagement with the changes and a desire to make the change project effective

Knowledge – provide training and information to empower teams with the required knowledge to facilitate change

Reinforcement – determine ways to reinforce the change, such as change practitioners or champions to keep reiterating the benefits and pushing the change forward.

Kubler-Ross is used to understand the journeys that humans go through as they experience some change. These are the phases identified:

1. Denial – if I avoid it, it won’t happen to me. This is the human nature response to it.
2. Anger – this high energy phase may include blaming people or factors, and non-acceptance of the situation.
3. Bargaining – people may try to negotiate and make pleas to see if they can alter the situation.
4. Depression – unable to change what’s happening, people can feel dejected and sad.
5. Acceptance – this enables the person to move forward.

Agile Manifesto & Values

When we talk about Agile Values, what are we talking about?

• individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• working software over a comprehensive documentation
• customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• responding to change over following a plan.

Essentially, this emphasises the need to value human beings. This is especially important at times of change. Human beings in this case include team members, stakeholders and customers. Encouraging collaboration amongst teams. Aligning stakeholders with the workflow priorities for the sprint and plans to address the backlog. Plus, considering user stories and feedback.

Agile Methods and Cross-Functional Teams

Within the Agile Mindset, we have 4 pillars. Self-awareness, Global listening, Non-violent communication, and Servant leadership.

Self-awareness is about understanding ourselves, understanding how we behave, understanding the way we react to certain things, and understanding our strengths, weaknesses, our values, principles and all these kind of things.

Listening is probably the most important tool, for any team member, product owner, managers, leaders. That is listening intently, not just hearing with a distracted mind. This is essential in Agile self-organizing teams.

Nonviolent communication is about stating facts without apportioning blame or guilt or using aggression.

Servant leadership is about being there, supporting people, uplifting them, and helping them to be at their best in an Agile environment. Agile coaching, mentoring, and teaching are fundamental aspects of this.

Find out more about our Agile training courses

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