Agile project management - definition, advantages & values

Table of contents - What you can expect:

What does agility mean?
The Agile Manifesto
Project management with ZEP
Agile project management: advantages and disadvantages
Classic vs. agile project management

What is agile project management?

Do you think that agile project management and Scrum are identical? That's not true! Rather, agile project management is a generic term for more than 50 different agile methods, frameworks or approaches that are used in an agile project environment. The term does not describe an independent method, but rather a philosophy or an approach to product or service development based on defined values and principles.

Agile project management is characterised by self-organised teams, the pursuit of continuous improvement, a focus on high-quality services and intensive communication.

The desire for clear processes and rules has given rise to various frameworks and methodologies based on the agile guidelines. The basic idea is to develop rules and descriptions of processes and roles that can be used to implement agile ideas in practice. In this article, we present the agile manifesto in detail so that you can drive your project management processes forward.

What does agility mean?

How often do you use the term "agile" in everyday language? Probably not very often. That's why it's worth taking a closer look at this word. Derived from the Latin term "agilis" (agile), it describes the Gabler Business Dictionary Agility in the economic environment as

To summarise: Someone who is agile is not a sluggish block, but reacts flexibly and proactively to change. But how did this term find its way into our current project management? Surprisingly, agile approaches have not only existed since the upswing in the software industry.

The Agile Manifesto - 4 values & 12 principles

Today, we experience agility everywhere: in the company, in teamwork and in projects. Even though the agile manifesto was developed by 17 representatives from the software industry, it can be applied to all sectors in today's business world - including project management. The agile manifesto defines four important values:

1. Individuals & interactions before processes & tools
2. Functioning software before comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration before contract negotiation
4. Reacting to changes before following a plan

The 4 basic values of agile project management

Agile values provide a basis for making projects successful and efficient by focussing on the essential aspects of collaboration and development. These values emphasise the importance of people and interactions, functioning products, close collaboration with customers and the ability to respond to change:

1. Prioritising individuals and interactions over processes and toolsToo much dependence on processes and tools could impair the ability to react quickly to changes. Instead, the role of people as decision-makers is valued more highly.
2. Functional products take precedence over extensive documentationDoes this mean that documentation is superfluous? Absolutely not. However, the agile value emphasises that a functional product is more valuable than its documentation. This should not be abolished, but reduced to the essentials. The approach is: as much as necessary, not as much as possible.
3. Cooperation with the customer takes precedence over contract negotiationsThis agile value emphasises the importance of involving the client and generally internal and external stakeholders during the entire development process. Through Regular feedback This ensures that the final product meets the expectations. The approach is: communication takes place not only at the start and acceptance of the project, but throughout the entire project duration.
4. Reacting to changes takes precedence over strict adherence to a planIn traditional, strictly planned projects, adherence to the plan is desirable. Changes often cause costs and should therefore be avoided. Agile projects, on the other hand, welcome new requirements and change requests at any time. The approach is: We want to be able to react flexibly to changing requirements.

The 12 principles that define agile project management

What can you do with these values? The following 12 principles of the agile manifesto bring these values to life and provide you with concrete ways to approach agile project management:

1. The top priority is the Customer satisfactionby providing valuable services at an early stage and on an ongoing basis.
2. Changes in the requirements are welcomed, even if they occur late in the development process. Use agile processes to give your customers a competitive advantage.
3. Set at regular intervals We provide high-performance services for your customers for periods of between a few weeks and a few months - the shorter the better.
4. Managers and developers must be involved throughout the project work together on a daily basis.
5. Projects are organised around motivated people built around it. Create the environment for this and offer the necessary support. Important: Trust your team!
6. Personal discussions are the most efficient and effective method of communicating information within a project team.
7. The most important indicators of progress are High-performance services.
8. Agile processes promote a Sustainable development. All project participants should be able to maintain a constant pace for an indefinite period of time.
9. Optimise your Agile project management through a constant focus on technical excellence and good planning.
10. Simplicity is essential and is the art of maximising the amount of unfinished work.
11. The best architectures, requirements and designs are created in self-organised teams.
12. At regular intervals, you rethink your Independent teamhow it can become more effective and adapts its behaviour accordingly.

These 12 principles contain fundamental guidelines for an agile Project management in your company. Process models and frameworks such as Scrum are based on the values and principles of the agile manifesto. They provide a clear framework within which you can carry out your project. To work successfully in an agile environment, you should view the manifesto as a kind of code of conduct for everyone involved - from the top manager to every single member of your project team.

Transparency & flexibility: Discover ZEP for your project management!

Agile project management has proven itself in various industries such as Software development, Engineering, Construction and Management consultancy as an important way of working. The principles of the agile manifesto form the foundation of this methodology, and methods such as Scrum, which are based on these values, support its practical implementation. Tools for Project time tracking such as ZEP facilitate the practical implementation and documentation of agile project management. The Ticket system in ZEP enables detailed planning and management of tasks and helps to integrate the agile principles of the manifesto into everyday project work. This method promotes structured planning and monitoring of tasks, creates transparency and improves collaboration within the team.

The ZEP add-on module Tickets, Tasks & To-dos is central to efficient agile project management. It enables clear assignment of tasks to projects and transparent communication within the team. Flexibility is a key aspect of agile project management and ZEP supports this by making it easy to adjust tasks and priorities. The integration of customer feedback also plays an important role; the module makes it possible to create tickets directly from emails and involve customers in the project process. This not only promotes customer centricity, but also enables a rapid response to customer needs and agile working in the team. By documenting tasks in a structured way, teams can carry out retrospective analyses in order to learn from successes and failures.

Agile methods in the business environment: a review

Project management is sluggish and strongly focussed on planning - this is the widespread perception of project management. The emergence of agile approaches and the replacement of the outdated waterfall model was made possible by digitalisation and the increased emphasis on software projects. But agile methods already existed before that:

• 1950s: NASA and IBM implement Iterative and incremental development (IDD).
• 1960s: NASA project "Mercury is processed with iterations.
• 1987: Department of Defence (DoD) adopts iterative approaches in its guidelines.

These are just a few examples, but the breakthrough of agile methods ultimately came in the software industry. Here, agile approaches have become widely accepted since the late 1980s. The importance of self-responsible and self-organised teams increasingly became the focus of work here. Then, in 2001 the agile manifesto developed by leading minds in the software industry. The agile manifesto provides basic guidelines for the efficient development of software. The underlying approach is to avoid inefficient and superfluous elements.

Agile project management: advantages and disadvantages at a glance

Agile project management offers numerous advantages when used correctly and tailored to the right industry. Nevertheless, this way of working is not suitable for every project and can also have disadvantages if used incorrectly:

The diversity of agile methods: These are the different representatives

Are you always on the lookout for effective methods to optimise your work processes and organise your team? The following agile methods have proven to be extremely effective in this context:

Scrum 

Scrum is a proven and popular agile framework that enables teams to achieve iterative progress and short timeframes - known as sprints. It is based on the principles of transparency, inspection and customisation, which promotes effective collaboration and continuous improvement of products or services. Scrum defines clear roles and events that structure and optimise the development process. Artefacts are also used to track the progress of the project.

• Roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team
• Events: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective
• Artefacts: Product backlog, sprint backlog, increment

Kanban 

Kanban is an agile method that originated in lean production and was later adapted for software development. It focuses on optimising the flow of work to identify bottlenecks and increase efficiency. Kanban is based on a flexible approach that allows teams to work continuously and adapt to changes.

• Principles: Visualisation of work, limitation of work in progress (WIP), tracking work flow
• Practices: Kanban board for visualising the work flow, limiting WIP to avoid bottlenecks, regular review and adjustment of processes to increase efficiency
• Metrics: Lead time to visualise the tasks from project start to end, cycle time to show when a task was completed after it was started, WIP to reveal how many tasks are being processed in parallel.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

OKRs is an agile method for goal setting and performance measurement that helps organisations to focus on the most important goals and track progress transparently for all team members.

• Objectives: Clear, ambitious goals that support the company's vision and mission, but are achievable and motivating for the team.
• Key Results: Measurable results that quantify progress towards goals. Specific, time-bound key events help to support the focus and direction of the team.

Classic vs. agile project management: a comparison of the two approaches

Conclusion

Agile project management offers a flexible and effective solution for dynamic projects with changing requirements. By applying agile principles and tools correctly, teams can improve their collaboration and increase project success. However, it is important to understand the challenges and manage them appropriately to minimise potential risks and reap the full benefits.

FAQ

When is agile project management suitable?

Agile project management is particularly suitable for projects that are characterised by high dynamics, changing requirements and close collaboration with customers. It is ideal for situations in which flexibility, rapid response to change and continuous improvement are essential. For example, agile project management is particularly effective in software development, product development or innovative projects.

What are good agile project management tools?

Good agile project management tools help teams to optimise their processes, promote collaboration and keep track of tasks and progress. Popular tools include Jira, Trello, Asana, Monday.com and Zoho Projects.

Why do agile projects fail?

Agile projects can fail if they are not properly planned, implemented or managed. Reasons can include inadequate planning, poor communication, resistance from the team or management, complex requirements and lack of experience.