Overview
The term "agile" when used in the context of project management has come to mean a set of practices and values popularized by the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. The word "agile" was chosen because of the overlap between the ideas expressed in the manifesto and the plain meaning of the term which is synonamous with nimble, lithe, spry, active, limber , light-footed.
Key Ideas
- Customer Focus - Product Market Fit Agile emphasizes that the purpose of any project is to meet the needs of the actual market. This requires that the project and its goals be tethered to customer feedback.
- Flexibility with Project Plan Product teams are encouraged to: "Welcome changing requirements, even in late development." Agile emphasizes the need to be able to change in the middle of and implementation.
- Break the Project into Smaller Releasable Pieces - typically this is realized by breaking the project into sprints usually a week or two in length. Each sprint produces a functioning item that is viewed as complete and fully tested. The item should be reviewed by the client, creating a feedback loop where the client has constant interaction with the deliverables of the project.
Agile Frameworks
- Lean: initially developed by Toyota and later applied to software.
- Scrum: named after the huddle known as scrum in rugby.
- Extreme Programming: