Module 5 - Agile Project Management

Agile Project management:
Agile and introduce you to the Agile values and principles. And you'll learn that Agile can be and is used
in lots of different industries. Ready? Let's get started. To quickly review, Waterfall is a popular project
management methodology that refers to the sequential or linear ordering of phases. You complete one
phase at a time, not proceeding to the next until it is done. Then you move down the line like a
waterfall, starting at the top of the mountain and traveling to the bottom. The term "agile" refers to
being able to move quickly and easily. It also refers to flexibility and the willingness and ability to change
and adapt. Projects that adopt an Agile project management take an iterative approach, which means
the project processes are repeated often many times during the life cycle of the project. In this case, the
team operates within many shorter blocks of time, called iterations. Individual iterations might get
repeated depending on the feedback received. During each iteration, the team takes a subset of all the
project's activities and does all the work required to complete that subset of activities. You can think of
it as a lot of mini waterfalls for each activity. This iterative approach enables the project to move quickly,
as well as making it much more adaptive to change. So the term "agile" means flexibility, repetition, and
openness to change, but what do we mean by Agile project management? Agile project management is
an approach to project and team management based on the Agile Manifesto. The manifesto is a
collection of four values and 12 principles that define the mindset that all Agile teams should strive for.
So in very basic terms, Waterfall is linear and sequential and does not encourage changing up the
process once it is started. Agile, on the other hand, is iterative, flexible, and incorporates necessary
changes throughout the process. Now, a bit of a history lesson so you can have a better sense of how
and why Agile has become such a popular approach to project management.
Play video starting at :2:23 and follow transcript2:23
Agile methodologies emerged organically during the 1990s as the software industry was booming.
Software startups like Google were blazing a trail to get more software products built in less time.
Meanwhile, the tech giants of the time were experimenting with faster ways to build better software
and stay competitive.
And, by the way, software isn't just the apps and websites that we all use every day. Software also
includes the code behind innovations in agriculture, medical devices, manufacturing, and more. So in
this competitive growing environment, companies couldn't just create new, innovative products. They
also needed to innovate the very processes they were using to develop these new products. In 2001, the
thought leaders and creators of some of these new processes, also called methodologies, came together
to find common ground between their methods and solve a problem. The problem, they agreed, was
that companies were so focused on planning and documenting their project that they lost sight of what
really mattered: pleasing their customers. So these leaders came up with the Agile Manifesto to guide
others on what they believe really matters when developing software, which is keeping the process
flexible and focusing on people—both the team and the users—over the end products or deliverables.
Now, here's where Agile gets even more interesting. You can still use Agile, even if you're not planning
to work on software projects. Agile has been so successful in the software industry that its values,
principles, and frameworks have been applied to nearly every industry. In fact, the Agile methods that
you're going to learn also draw heavily on Lean manufacturing principles that originated in Toyota's car
factories in the 1930s. You'll also find Agile methods being adopted in the aeronautical, healthcare,
education, finance industries, and even more. Cool, right? Agile is everywhere. Now you know a little bit
about the history of Agile, the origin of the Agile Manifesto, and some of the industries that use Agile for
project management. Coming up next, we'll compare more of the differences between Waterfall and
Agile to really familiarize yourself with these project management styles.
When the Manifesto discusses contracts, it refers to the official documents that
require sign off and formal agreement with the customer,
such as those huge requirement documents or formal change requests.
Agile values having the freedom to collaborate with customers early and
often. In doing so, teams can quickly react and adapt to what customers need,
rather than waiting out the process of negotiating contract terms
just to make a few changes or request resources.
There will still be contracts with Agile project management, but
the focus is on identifying what's really needed and leaving space for
collaborative, customer-focused work.
Agile teams are encouraged to seek out every opportunity to include the customer
or stakeholder during project execution.
This could be presenting early prototypes, asking questions, or
bringing them in to do some initial product testing. And finally,
we have the fourth value: responding to change over following a plan.
This last value is crucial to an Agile project, as I explained in the history
overview, Agile grew out of a world that was changing so
fast that organizations couldn't adapt and struggled to survive.
As a result, this value stresses that every Agile team needs to acknowledge that
change is inevitable. The larger or longer and more complex your project is,
the more uncertainty there is. For many projects,
finalizing a well-established plan at the beginning of the project will
likely lead to an on-time delivery within budget but
may run the risk of not meeting customer needs or adding maximum value.
time during the project.

Play video starting at :6: and follow transcript6:00
So there you have it: the four Agile values. Individuals and interactions
over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation,
customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and
responding to change over following a plan.
What's great about Agile is that it gives us these values and
also let's us find the right balance between the two sides.
You may have to fine-tune your project style to meet industry needs,
team dynamics, and organizational goals to find the healthy balance that works for
you and your team.
And that's why you're here. By familiarizing yourself with different
project management approaches, values, and principles,
you will be more equipped to manage all types of projects in all types of
industries.
12 principles of Agile: Value delivery, or how do

Agile teams deliver
highly valuable products to their customers?
Business collaboration,
or how do Agile teams collaborate with
their business partners and stakeholders to create
business value to the organization and their users?
Team culture, or how does a team create and maintain
the right interpersonal and team dynamics to
deliver value for the customers and the business?
And retrospectives, or how does the project learn to
continuously increase performance of
an organization and business?
As I said, I've grouped each of the 12 principles
under these themes so they're
easier to learn and remember.
Let's dive in. The first theme is
value delivery and includes five principals.
Take a few seconds to review them.
1.
2. Simplicity
3.

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Agile Project management:

Play video starting at :2:23 and follow transcript2:23

Play video starting at :2:43 and follow transcript2:43

time during the project.

12 principles of Agile: Value delivery, or how do

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