Agile Development

What is Agile?

Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver value to their customers faster and with fewer headaches. Instead of betting everything on a "big bang" launch, an agile team delivers work in small, but consumable, increments. Requirements, plans, and results are evaluated continuously so teams have a natural mechanism for responding to change quickly.

Whereas the traditional "waterfall" approach has one discipline contribute to the project, then "throw it over the wall" to the next contributor, agile calls for collaborative cross-functional teams. Open communication, collaboration, adaptation, and trust amongst team members are at the heart of agile. Although the project lead or product owner typically prioritizes the work to be delivered, the team takes the lead on deciding how the work will get done, self-organizing around granular tasks and assignments.

Agile isn't defined by a set of ceremonies or specific development techniques. Rather, agile is a group of methodologies that demonstrate a commitment to tight feedback cycles and continuous improvement.

Srum

Scrum is a framework for agile project management that uses fixed-length iterations of work, called sprints. There are four ceremonies that bring structure to each sprint.

KanBan

Kanban is a framework for agile project management that matches the work to the team's capacity. It's focused on getting things done as fast as possible, giving teams the ability to react to change even faster than scrum.

Agile delivery vehicles

Agile can be implemented using various frameworks (like scrum and kanban) to deliver software. Scrum teams use sprints to guide development, and kanban teams often work without fixed work intervals. Both frameworks, however, use large delivery vehicles like epics and versions to structure development for a synchronized release cadence out to production.

Agile metrics

Agile teams thrive on metrics. Work in progress (WIP) limits keep the team, and the business, focused on delivering the highest priority work. Graphs like burndown and control charts help the team predict their delivery cadence, and continuous flow diagrams help identify bottlenecks. These metrics and artifacts keep everyone focused on the big goals and boost confidence in the team's ability to deliver future work.

Agile runs on trust

An agile program cannot function without a high level of trust amongst team members. It requires candor to have difficult conversations regarding what's right for the program and the product. Because conversations happen at regular intervals, ideas and concerns are regularly expressed. That means team members also have to be confident in each other's ability (and willingness) to execute on the decisions made during those conversations.