What the Heck Agile Means in Plain English

Plenty of newcomers ask what the heck Agile actually means. It is an iterative approach to project management and software development. In practice it thus helps teams deliver value faster and with fewer headaches. Teams that adopt it therefore break projects into small, consumable increments. Methodologies under this umbrella include for example Scrum, Extreme Programming and the Dynamic Systems Development Method.

This approach differs from traditional software development because it deliberately favours four things over their heavier counterparts:

- Individuals and interactions over process and tools - Working software over comprehensive documentation - Customer collaboration over contract negotiation - Responding to change over following a plan

What the Heck Agile Stands For: The Agile Manifesto

A group of visionaries first formulated Agile. They then founded it on 12 principles. Each one thus shapes how teams plan, build and improve their work:

1. Prioritise customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of valuable software 2. Allow for change even during the later stages of development, since this caters for the customer's competitive advantage 3. Deliver working software frequently, on a shorter timescale 4. Business people and developers collaborate on a daily basis 5. Build projects around motivated individuals, and also give them the environment and support they need 6. Use face-to-face conversation, the most efficient and effective method a development team has for conveying information

7. Measure progress primarily by working software 8. Developers, sponsors and users maintain a sustainable level of development and progress 9. Enhance agility through continuous attention to technical excellence 10. Embrace simplicity, the art of maximising the amount of work not done 11. Let self-organising teams produce the best architectures, requirements and designs 12. Reflect regularly on ways to become more effective, and then adjust behaviour accordingly

> Agile Breaks Project into Iterations

Agile Terminology

The absence of standardised terminology lets teams use terms interchangeably, depending on what is preferred. This can happen because no central rule forbids it. It also happens without disrupting the ability to coordinate effectively with other groups inside the organisation.

Agile Breaks a Project into Iterations

Agile consists of four steps. They thus help teams get organised and work effectively through a complex project.

Step 1: Make a List

Create a to-do list for the project by writing user stories the customer would like to see. Shift the team's focus also from writing about requirements to talking about needs instead. Then place those user stories in the backlogs:

**Product Backlog**

- Collects all the work flowing to the team - The product owner prioritises the tasks, signalling to the team which is most important

**Iteration Backlog**

- From the product backlog, the team pulls the work it plans to do and forwards it to the iteration backlog

The team itself arranges this, since the team manager and stakeholders do not.

> Agile works best when the team is self-organising

Step 2: Size Things Up

Assign an approximate effort to each work item. Once someone has written a user story, the team then estimates the effort to implement it. That estimate thus helps with planning an iteration.

Estimations are:

- Best guesses - Based on current information - Refined as we go and gain more information

Estimation challenges for example include:

- Too much detail or precision - Designing while estimating - A reluctance to commit

To reach a team estimation, follow these steps:

1. Start with one user story and place it on a scale from easy to difficult 2. Place the other user stories to the left or right of the first. Sort them since some are more or less difficult to implement 3. Take the time to rearrange the user stories as necessary 4. Arrange the user stories into columns, and then assign each column points for its relative level of difficulty

Step 3: Set Some Priorities

Work from the customer's list of prioritised tasks, and start with the most important first.

Step 4: Start Working

Move down the list and begin delivering value. Keep building, iterating and gathering feedback from the customer along the way. Progress thus becomes visible. To track it, place user stories on a Kanban board. Then shift them along each column as the work advances.

Agile thus gives teams a practical rhythm rather than a rigid plan. You can also go deeper in several ways. Beginners for example often learn more about PMI Agile certification courses or explore the PMI-CP certification. Wider context still sits with PMI, the professional body behind these credentials.