Articles about Agile Methodologies
Today you can download and print an A0 size poster on the Manifesto for Agile software development.
Put it on the wall in your workplace to help your team learn the four key values in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
A credit to Knowledge Train, the designer of this Agile manifesto infographic.
Find an Infographic on the 12 Agile Principles here.
Over the years a number of articles on Agile Project Management have been published. You will find:
Today I would like to share a good graphical representation of the 12 Agile Principles.
A credit to Knowledge Train, the designer of this 12 Agile principles infographic.
Find an Infographic of the Agile Manifesto here.
By Kevin Lonergan
Agile and Waterfall are two very different project management methods. They both have clear pros and cons. Some people argue that you can mix the two but others say: “you can’t be half Agile” and I have a lot of sympathy for this view.
Waterfall projects cascade through a series of phases with a requirements phase very near the start. Developers then take this ‘statement of requirements’ and go through design and development. Waterfall projects are usually delivered in a ‘big-bang’ way.
Agile is different. For more on Agile, read the Guide to Agile Project Management.
Agile does not attempt to define requirements in one go. Instead, Agile produces the deliverable on an incremental basis and confirms the detail of the requirements around each increment.
Agile encourages many practices that are really useful on projects, like:
Some of these things could potentially be used on virtually any project but not every project can produce the end-product incrementally.
To read the full article that expands on these statements and provides a detailed explanation of the most important pros and cons, read the Comparison of Agile versus Waterfall methods.
By Dovile Miseviciute
Within the fast paced world we live in today, staying on top of things is one of the most important and most difficult goals we give ourselves. Whether it is in our personal or our professional lives, we often find it challenging to keep up with the latest information, understand the whole picture and to make the right decisions fast. The good news is – we have tools like Eylean Board, to help us stay on track and see our projects to completion with ease.
Like many other great products, the story of Eylean Board starts with a small group of people struggling to find a tool that would fit their needs and like many others before them, deciding to create one of their own. Five years later, the small group of people is known as the team of Eylean, the tool is called Eylean Board and it is used by teams all over the globe.
You may wonder what is it that makes Eylean Board so great? Amongst multiple layers of projects, tasks and subtasks, time tracking, reports and integrations, there are three key benefits that put this software on top.
One of the most important things in project management is being able to see both the big picture and the important small details. However, analyzing the details takes time and thus we are left to rely on our team to give us the information. Needless to say, many things get lost in translation this way and we end up struggling to make the right decisions.
With Eylean Board however, the important small details are right there in the big picture. You can see who is working on which tasks, how much time they have taken, what problems they are facing and monitor the due dates represented in color-coded notifications on the board. And if you want to know more – simply expand the task details to see descriptions, commentary, attachments and more.
Being able to understand and use the software immediately is another big problem companies are facing today. Introducing a new tool to your team usually means hours of training, followed by weeks of confusion and the wait for actual results that may never come.
The beauty of Eylean Board is that the whole user interface is based on intuition. Tasks can be moved, assigned and tracked all with a simple drag and drop. The software is self-explanatory and the ability to modify the board gives you an opportunity to duplicate your previous solution in order to have a smooth transition period for all. Contrary to some other tools, Eylean Board can be used by developers, sales, marketing, finance and any other department in a company at the same time.
Lastly, you need an innovative tool to keep up with project management practices that are moving forward. Eylean Boards is just that – you will find templates for Scrum, Kanban and Scrumban boards or will be able to create your own templates modifying and improving the Agile methods to be just right for you. Furthermore, the Eylean team is fully emerged in following the latest Agile trends and can help guide your Agile journey.
Eylean Board is an intuitive and easy to use project management software that allows your team to realize their potential.
About the author: Dovile is the marketing manager at Eylean. She has been actively immersed in the Agile project management field for two years by working within the methodology and writing articles about the newest trends and shifts in the industry.
By Sakhile Malinga
As globalisation snowballs, organisations continue to enter the exciting age of complexity, a chaotic business landscape which is different from the two prior eras in strategy development.
#1 Era of grand design and systematic planning
The desire to over-elaborate the planning was made redundant by constant strategic drift. IBM and the mainframe was the king of the castle. Management approaches included detailed strategic plans with limited support from a changing internal and external environment. The analysis of SWOT (Strength Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) created historical context with a strong sense of hubris if the previous period was successful. Remediation if challenged.
#2 Era of Strategic Positioning
The era gave us value chain analysis, which created the technology giants such as Microsoft, IBM and Cisco. This era capitalised on large enterprise solutions that were meant to facilitate delivery in a Porter Value chain, looking at the 5 forces as a key driver of value (threat of substitute, new entrance, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customers, intensity of rivalry), with clear distinct variations of stratagem, which was focus, differentiate and cost leadership.
#3 Era of Complexity (Chaos)
The new era of a connected business world, with organic rather than hierarchic tendencies has led to the rise of social architectures that gave rise to the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype and cloud computing. This era is where agile incrementalism raises to the fore. A complex construct with too many unknowns, where change is welcomed and not feared and ownership is shared not assigned.
The main change is primarily from transactional to transformational leadership. 1
Transaction emphasises contingent rewards, and managing by exception. Transformation exhibits charisma, developing a vision, engendering pride, respect and trust, inspires and pays attention to the followers needs.
Agile incrementalism is transformational and it is incremental and not iterative, the fundamental difference is it does not predict what you want, just builds it better and quicker.
The key principle is the fact that individuals and interactions are preferred over process and tools. Chaos if not thought through. Customer collaboration is preferred over contract negotiations. Responding to change is preferred over following a plan. Working product is preferred over comprehensive documentation. Chaos if underestimated.
Software is a massive contributor to competitive advantage and any organisation that links it to an emerging strategy3 will dominate its market.
The age of chaos is exciting, it’s every day that you wake up and expect Apple, or Facebook, Snapchat, Google and Twitter to release a new feature. They use agile, one day we will all use it.
Using any method to achieve an outcome is a good reaction to environmental changes, however locating the reason why a particular method is the right method; helps clarify why the procedures and techniques are vital. Software Agile approaches are methods designed bring a logical approach to a chaotic world.
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Sakhile Malinga is a leader with a strong affinity to all things involving strategy, projects and digital. His purpose is to build stuff and people.
The traditional methods used in the practice of project management are hindered by a number of drawbacks, which become more pronounced when trying to satisfy the needs that more complex projects often demand.
This article looks at how Agile Project Management aims to address these shortcomings with a more flexible and interactive model which allows an adjustment to requirements and scenarios in a more bespoke way, allowing the user more creativity and a greater level of control.
If you are still investigating the use of Agile at your organisation, read “A closer look at what Agile project management is” for an overview of Agile principles, the stages, roles etc.
For an in-depth look of the Agile project management approaches, benefits and challenges, I recommend the Agile Project Management Guide from Simplilearn.
As you will read, one of the founding principles of the system and fundamental differences between Agile and traditional project management is the fact that it focuses on people, relationships and working software as opposed to processes and tools.
Please let us know in the comments what you think and feel free to share the Guide.
By Linky van der Merwe
If you are considering to adopt an Agile Project Management approach, to manage projects more efficiently, you would want to be clear on the trends, the benefits and the challenges that you can expect.
When starting out, I would recommend that you read my article:
“A Closer Look at What Agile Project Management is”
It will help you to understand what Agile Project Management is, to discover the 12 Agile Principles, the 7 Stages of an Agile project, the roles, the Organisations and Certifications available, as well as Products to use to become Agile certified.
You should think about developing your organisation’s capability to use an Agile approach as a long term strategy. It is not a quick fix. Plan for your migration to a more Agile approach.
Also have a look at the Agile Report from Software Advice with research on agile project management software features that most drive efficiency, identifying features that are most beneficial for companies, their employees, and overall project success. It provides the trends found among software users implementing Agile project management solutions in 2015.
Some key findings from the Agile Report include:
Find below the summary of the Agile Report based on a survey of project managers on what functionality and features of agile project management software have the greatest impact on a team’s efficiency. Before you make an investment in this software, learn more about how your peers are using these tools so that you can make a more informed purchase decision.
This article is about identifying your eligibility to take your PMI-ACP exam.
Do you work in an environment where you use one or more Agile methodologies regularly? Do you have both general project experience as well as Agile project specific experience? If either of these scenarios apply to you and you are interested in earning your Project Management Institute Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® certification, then use these steps to discover if you are eligible to take the PMI-ACP® Exam.
Many people/companies see holding the PMI-ACP® certification as a demonstration of professionalism in one or more Agile methodologies. To determine whether you are eligible to take the PMI-ACP® Exam, just follow the simple 4-step approach outlined below.
Step 1: Read the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Handbook
Click here to download the PMI-ACP® Handbook produced by Project Management Institute (PMI)®.
Pay close attention to sections that cover eligibility requirements and the application process. It is in the eligibility requirements section that you will find information regarding the exam requirements as they pertain to educational background, general project experience, Agile project experience, and Agile specific training requirements in order to take the PMI-ACP® Exam.
In the section covering the application process you will find out how your experience is counted when applying to take the PMI-ACP® Exam. The thing to remember about experience is you must account for Agile project experience and general project experience separately. You cannot record the same project under both Agile and general project experience, and you cannot count hours associated with general project experience towards your Agile project experience hours.
Step 2: Read the PMI-ACP® Examination Content Outline
Click here to download the PMI-ACP® Examination Content Outline produced by the Project Management Institute (PMI)®.
As you review the Tools & Techniques, Knowledge & Skills, and Domains & Tasks sections you should recognize many of them as those you use or have relied upon as part of your own activities when working on Agile projects. Half of the PMI-ACP® Exam covers Agile Tools & Techniques and the other half covers Agile Knowledge & Skills. Domains & Tasks are not specifically covered as part of the PMI-ACP® Exam; however, this section can provide you with insight as to how Agile project management is understood across different industries.
You may not have utilized all of the tools and techniques, or even have all of the knowledge and skills discussed within the outline; but you should have experience with or utilized the majority of the tools, techniques, knowledge, and skills listed in order to meet the eligibility requirements to sit for the PMI-ACP® Exam.
Step 3: Compare Your Agile Education and Experience with Your Resume
After working through steps 1 and 2 to gain a clear understanding of the education, experience, and Agile specific training requirements required to sit for the PMI-ACP® Exam, grab a copy of your resume and look for areas of overlap. If you are like many people who don’t typically update their resume at the completion of each project, take some time to create an experience list to document all of your project experience since your last resume update. Remember, you cannot overlap your general project and Agile project experience; so you may want to make to separate lists.
If you have copies of project charters or similar documents from the projects you have worked on and they have a clearly defined responsibilities section they can be very helpful when trying to recall and accurately document your experience. Plus you will need all of this information to complete the application for the PMI-ACP® Exam. Next, based on your resume and/or experience lists you need to ask yourself a few questions:
If your answer to all three is “Yes”, then you are most likely eligible.
Step 4: Contact PMI Customer Care
If you have any doubts concerning your eligibility, contact the Customer Care department at PMI. They have knowledgeable and helpful staff who will be happy to answer your questions.
Following the simple 4-step approach outlined here will allow you to determine for yourself if you are eligible to sit for the PMI-ACP® Exam. In addition, all of the information you have gathered such as education, general project experience hours, Agile project experience hours, and Agile specific training hours will all be very valuable when you start the application process.
By Bryan Burrow
Often when there is a discussion about project management life cycles, it quickly and inevitably comes down to talk about “Waterfall versus Agile”. That’s a real concern, because the selection of project life cycle is a crucial one. Let me explain why I believe that the over-promotion of “Agile” by comparing it with Waterfall is not just wrong, it can positively be dangerous.
When people talk about “Agile versus Waterfall” they mostly mean “Iterative versus step-by-step”, which is not quite the same thing.
When they talk about Waterfall and its disadvantages when compared to Agile, the concern is about the “one-step-at-a-time”, linear nature of the Waterfall approach. What they often don’t know, is that there are other life cycle models besides these two. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach.
There are circumstances where a Waterfall approach may be the right approach for you.
The main drawback with Waterfall is that a change in requirements midway through the project means going back to square one. However, there are times when you may want, or even need, to impose such a level of control over all or part of your project.
The most common Agile method is Scrum, but it’s not the only one. There are other Agile methods, including Crystal Clear, Extreme Programming, Feature Driven Development and Test Driven Development. Your choice of Agile approach should depend on your circumstances.
Any Agile approach is pretty much dependent on giving users autonomy and the freedom to design what they believe is right. If your organisation can’t provide that freedom, under the direction of a product champion or key user, then none of these approaches are likely to deliver the results you want.
Agile does not eliminate the need for Analysts or Designers. With the advent of Agile methods some people have questioned the need for Business Analysts, Systems Analysts and Designers. The switch away from more formal methods doesn’t replace the need for Analysts or Designers; it just changes how they do their job.
Agile is a software development method, not a project management method.
If think you can use Agile safely for your entire project you’re in for a very rude awakening, especially if you’re running a project that:
If you’re new to Agile and think you’ll master it in one go, you’re wrong.
You should think about developing your organisation’s capability to use an Agile approach as a long term strategy. It is not a quick fix. Plan for your migration to a more Agile approach.
So, if you are intent on using Agile, what should you do? If you are planning to use Agile, here are five tips that will help you to do so safely:
#1: Decide whether you’re ready to use Agile at all.
#2: Develop your Agile adoption strategy.
#3: Decide which parts of your project could best benefit from an Agile approach.
#4: Start small.
#5: Review and improve.
So the next time the subject of Project Management Lifecycle comes up in conversation, you’ll know that there is more to life, and to the success of your project, than Agile versus Waterfall.
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About the Author: Bryan Barrow works with Project Management Office (PMO) Managers, Project Directors and organisations that need to deliver more of their projects on time and within budget, so that they achieve their strategic objectives. Bryan’s new Guide to organising and planning project kick off workshops is now available. Visit bryanbarrow.com for more information.
Many project managers prefer to use Agile project management for software development projects or on projects that are too complex for the customer to understand and specify before testing prototypes. This article will explore Agile Project Management to understand what it is, how to receive training and how to become certified.
Agile focuses on continuous improvement, scope flexibility, team input, and delivering essential quality products. Agile project management methodologies include scrum, extreme programming (XP), and lean.
According to Wikipedia:
Agile is an iterative method of determining requirements for engineering and information technology development projects in a highly flexible and interactive manner. During Agile development deliverables are submitted in stages. One difference between agile and iterative development is that the delivery time in agile is in weeks rather than months.
The 12 Agile Principles are a set of guiding concepts that support project teams in implementing agile projects. Please have a look at the Agile Project Management Cheat Sheet for the details of the 12 Agile principles.
A typical Agile project will consist of 7 stages:
An Agile project also consists of specific roles, namely:
There are several representative organisations for Agile practitioners. Agile Alliance, the original global agile community, with a mission to help advance agile principles and practices.
Scrum Alliance is a nonprofit professional membership organization that promotes understanding and usage of scrum. The following professional certifications are offered by them:
The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the largest nonprofit project management membership association in the world. The agile section of PMI’s website provides access to papers, books, and seminars about agile project management. PMI supports an agile community of practice and a certification, the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
For project managers who want to become PMI-ACP certified, there is a good product from Cornelius Fichtner, the President of OSP International. It is called the Agile PrepCast.
The Agile PrepCast™ is a Video Workshop that you download to your smart phone, table or laptop and watch whenever and wherever you want. It’s a podcast/videocast with in-depth video lessons for your PMI-ACP exam prep.
After completing The Agile PrepCast™ and passing the Final Exam you will be able to print a 21 Contact Hours Certificate and use it to apply for your PMI-ACP® exam. OSP International is a PMI® Registered Education Provider.
Agile is a topic of growing importance within the project management industry, and more project managers are embracing Agile as a technique for managing their successful projects including PMI who is launching an Agile Certification.
A recent statistic which emerged from PMI’s latest Pulse survey is that standardized project management practices result in better project performance. Many project managers who use Agile techniques for managing projects have seen the value of quicker delivery of projects to clients.
PMI research has revealed that 68% of organizations using Agile practices would find value in an Agile certification for project management practitioners. In addition, 63% of hiring managers would encourage their project managers to pursue an Agile certification.
Organisations have reported that the use of the Agile techniques have resulted in the following:
All PM Practitioners currently applying Agile practices in their projects or organizations who are adopting the Agile approach to project management are all excellent candidates for the PMI Agile Certification. Earning the Agile Certification could:
PMI serves the project management profession by providing practitioners with a toolbox of selected tools and techniques—and Agile is one of those tools. For example, those who have the PMP® and are working in an organization that is using Agile techniques, the Agile Certification provides an applicable knowledge base of Agile principles and concepts.
Important Dates For Agile Certification Launch
If you have questions that cannot be answered by the information on PMI.org/Agile, please contact PMI Customer Care based in your region:
North America/Latin America at customercare@pmi.org
EMEA +31-320-239-539 or customercare.emea@pmi.org
AP+65 6496 5501 or customercare.asiapac@pmi.org