How Utilizing Agile can ensure a project's success

Agile has become the number one product management approach in software development teams in the last couple of decades. There’s a reason why this practice has become so popular – it works. According to Boldare research, only nine percent of Agile projects fail . This gives us a great illustration of how Agile can lead to a project’s success.

There are multiple reasons why you should implement Agile in your projects. Not only will it improve the quality of your product, but it’ll also make your team resilient and ready to face challenges. Today, we’ll show you why we think Agile is one of the best project management approaches for your software development team.

What Is Agile Project Management

Unlike what most people think, Agile is not a methodology or technique. It is a set of values that help teams make better decisions for improved quality and delivery time. These values are the foundations in which teams develop their own systems. That’s why we consider it a flexible project management approach.

Agile’s core values rely on creating change-tolerant systems where products can be enhanced as challenges arise. With Agile, developers don’t focus on following a strict plan. They develop software in short deliverables, so they can address issues as they arise, instead of wasting time and money on large-scale failures.

Some of the Agile values you should keep in mind are:

• The highest priority will be satisfying customers.

• Addressing changes and issues as they arise, even late in the development process.

• Short-term deliverables.

• Having a great alignment with the business and development team.

• Having a self-organizing and motivated team.

Improved Product Quality

Testing is crucial in an Agile mentality. The team will be constantly examining the product to identify issues as they work on it to avoid having to handle high-scale changes in the future. This results in higher product quality and deliverables. The product is in constant assessment, so no matter what stage of the development process the team is at, they’ll ensure that the product meets the client’s standards.

Accelerating Software Delivery

Agile has a task prioritization approach, meaning that the project is divided into multiple chunks to avoid multitasking and work more organized. This isn’t a general rule, but often it results in faster delivery time, so the product makes it to the marketplace on time or earlier than expected.

Risk Reduction

Since the development team is constantly testing the product and aligning with end-users preferences, there are fewer risks with this approach. Agile is also known for establishing clear and constant communication in the development team. There will be frequent meetings and standups. This also reduces risks because it ensures that everyone is on the same page.

Focus on End-Users and Improve Customer Satisfaction

Agile’s main focus is end-users, meaning that the development team always has users’ perspectives in mind when developing software. With Agile, it is crucial to have real-time feedback, so developers can quickly address changes and meet users’ expectations, resulting in improved customer satisfaction.

Team Trust

Agile conceives a successful team when it’s self-organized and motivated. This means that you will have to empower team members by trusting them. This kind of independence promotes creativity, logical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Since teams are more autonomous they are more proactive in offering solutions and innovative ideas.

Persistent Improvement

With Agile, the development process is always open for improvement. An Agile-driven team will have frequent meetings in which they’ll discuss their performance, flaws, and improvement opportunities. This makes the entire process more tolerant to change and increases the chances of enhancement.

Data-driven Decisions

Agile produces very interesting insights about team productivity, costs, user satisfaction, and cycle time. This helps the team use data to identify potential flaws and address them accordingly, resulting in better product quality and shorter delivery times.

More Transparency

With this approach, stakeholders get to see the entire development lifecycle and play an active role in the process. They are constantly checking the product’s progress, reviewing it, and providing feedback. You’ll be surprised how all of those meetings, product reviews, and metrics provide such a high level of transparency in your team.

Improved Alignment with the Business Team

Another core Agile value is to have a noticeable alignment between the business and the development team. This correlation with both teams enhances communication. Business people can represent the stakeholders’ goals while also understanding technical requirements. In an Agile approach, business reps and the development team would meet regularly.

Wrapping up

If you’re looking for a proven practice that will elevate the quality of your product, you should consider the Agile approach. Remember that this is a set of principles and not a methodology, meaning that you can implement this according to your business needs.

Agile won’t tell you how big your team should be or how long your delivery time should take. All it’ll do is set up a strong foundation to make better decisions. This results in a self-managed team and a change-tolerant system to develop successful products.