Agile - the common sense approach to project management
- Incremental delivery of value
- High quality, effective results
- Focused on business value
Agile is an umbrella term for a number of processes that share a common philosophy. In 2001, representatives of the major Agile methods met in Utah to agree upon common ground. The result was the term Agile, the creation of the Agile Manifesto, a statement on the key principles of Agile management, and the formation of the Agile Alliance, a non-profit making organisation dedicated to the development of Agile.
The aim of Agile management is to incrementally deliver business value throughout the project lifecycle rather than in one big-bang at the end.
In order to achieve this, Agile is about accepting that change is inevitable and preparing for it by enabling your team to be responsive. Scope is prioritised with the most critical features being delivered earliest and quality is assured via a set of innovative engineering techniques. There are four key areas in Agile management, which different methodologies approach in different ways and to different degrees:
- An iterative process
- Incremental analysis and feature prioritisation
- Inherent quality through engineering practices and testing
- High levels of direct communication and less reliance on detailed artefacts
Additionally, a successful Agile implementation requires an approach to planning and tracking that provides confidence and control to the stakeholders without constraining the implementation.
