Agil(e Method)

1. Characteristics of Agile Methods
2. Overview of Important Agile Methods in Project Management
3. Reasons Why Companies Should Use Agile Methods
4. Advantages 
5. Overview Agile Techniques
6. Agile Methods in the Corporate Context: How to Find the Right Approaches and Techniques
7. Conclusion

1. Flexibility and adaptability: Agile methods enable teams to manage rapidly changing requirements effectively.

2. Customer orientation: The feedback loops typical of agile methods ensure that the desires and needs of stakeholders and customers are continuously integrated into the project.

3. Continuous and incremental development: Products are developed using agile methods within short and repetitive cycles. The result is tested each time, allowing potential errors to be quickly identified and addressed.

4. Collaboration: A key characteristic is the collaboration within teams. Regular meetings are held to share progress, discuss problems and work together on solutions. The teams work independently and are self-organized.

5. Transparency: Agile methods promote open communication, supported by specific tools (e.g. Kanban boards). Everyone can track the project’s progress, allowing problems to be identified and resolved more quickly.

There are many and sometimes very different agile methods in project management. The most important methods are presented below:

1. Scrum

Elements of Scrum:

• Sprint Planning: At the beginning of a sprint, each team member determines which items from the backlog they will work on (Sprint Poker).

• Sprints: These are predefined work units (often two to four weeks long) -> at the end the results are presented.

• Daily Standup Meetings: These meetings occur once per day and last about 15 minutes. They serve as a time for updates and discussions about what tasks are planned for the day.

• Sprint Review: A presentation of the results takes place at the end of each sprint.

• Sprint- Retroperspective: These meetings are held at the end of each sprint to discuss what went well and what could be improved.

Roles in Scrum:

A Scrum team typically consists of a maximum of 10 people and includes three defined roles:

• Product Owner: The primary responsibility of the Product Owner is to maximize the product’s value. Additionally, they are responsible for analyzing business, customer and market requirements and managing the Product Backlog. This role serves as the sole link between the development team and the stakeholders. In traditional organizations, this role is often called Product Manager.

• Scrum Master: The Scrum Master creates optimal working conditions and supports the self-organization of the teams. Their responsibility lies in improving the team’s environment and work processes. Additionally, the Scrum Master facilitates the daily standup meetings, as well as sprint planning, review, and retrospective.

• Scrum Team: The development team is responsible for implementation and quality, ensuring that the product is delivered in alignment with the requirements of the Product Backlog.

2. Kanban

The agile method Kanban has its origins in the Japanese automotive industry. Kanban is a simpler agile framework that is based on visual boards, where tasks are represented as cards. Kanban boards have various columns, such as “In Progress” and “Completed.” The cards can be moved within the board. The cards are drawn by the subsequent units in the process (pull principle) and not pushed to them. Each work stage has a predefined limit on the number of tasks that can be placed there (Work-in-Progress limits). This flexible approach helps to manage tasks efficiently. The project’s progress is always visible and clearly presented to all team members.

Compared to other agile methods, Kanban emphasizes a continuous workflow rather than iterations. This agile method helps to improve the visualization of the workflow. The boards promote transparency, which helps in identifying bottlenecks early and preventing overloads. As a result, productivity can be improved, and the process is accelerated.

Elements of a Kanban Board:

• Kanban cards: These cards document specific tasks and activities and are placed on the board accordingly. Different colors can be used to clarify the priority or status of the task.

• Kanban columns: The various stages of the workflow (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Review) are visualized through different columns. Each stage of the process has its own column and the cards move through these phases sequentially.

• Kanban Swimlanes: These horizontal lanes help structure different tasks and can visually distinguish between teams if necessary.

• Work-in-Progress-Limits (WIP-Limits): 
  The number of tasks is limited in order to avoid overload. This allows teams to focus on the tasks that are currently important.

• Pull system: Work is not assigned (as in a push system); instead, teams pull tasks as they have the capacity to do so. The workflow is thus managed in a self-organized manner.

3. Lean

The principle of “Lean Management” describes approaches that aim to streamline processes and organizations. These processes are minimized to be more adaptable and to avoid unnecessary obstacles and slow workflows for employees or companies. With the lean method, the focus is placed on the essential work processes. The main goal of this method is to achieve value creation without wasting resources. Accordingly, the maximum benefit for the customer should be achieved using as few resources as possible (personnel, costs, time). The customer plays an important role in this approach and is consistently involved.

The lean method is based on two key aspects: Cost reduction and customer orientation. The five fundamental principles of Lean Management are as follows:

• Customer focus: As previously mentioned, the customer’s perspective plays a crucial role in this method. The specific values must be identified and analyzed to understand what is valuable to the customer.

• Identification of the value stream: The entire process should be analyzed and all waste eliminated to ensure an efficient value stream.

• Improvement of workflow: The workflow should be continuously optimized to avoid waste.

• Pull system: The pull principle is also applied here, as tasks are coordinated and completed based on demand. Customer needs play a significant role in this process as well.

• Continuous improvement: The Lean Management approach is an iterative process. Continuous efforts should be made to improve and adapt processes.

4. Design Thinking

The Design Thinking method promotes creative problem solving and innovative ideas and therefore also serves as a solution for more complex problems. It is mainly used during the idea generation process or to find solutions to specific challenges. Even if the design sprints tend to be held in a workshop format, Design Thinking is one of the most important agile methods.

Process and Elements of Design Thinking:

A typical design sprint usually lasts five days and is completed in one iteration. An interdisciplinary team goes through the following six steps during the design sprint:

1. Building up understanding: The first step is to understand and define the challenges.

2. User observation: The users are observed and become acquainted with them in initial interviews. Customer priorities should be analyzed and understood.

3. Definition of the point of view: Based in the observations, a point of view and conceptual framework can now be defined.

4. Brainstorming: During this step, ideas are generated and sketched that could lead to a solution to the problem.

5. Modeling (Prototype): Prototypes are created for the best ideas.

6. Testing: The prototypes are tested with customers and feedback is gathered.

This process is repeated until a suitable solution is found. Design Thinking is therefore based on iteration, cross-team collaboration and quick adaptability.

In today’s work environment, flexibility and adaptability are crucial factors for long-term success and staying competitive. Agile methods enable companies to collaboratively work towards well-defined goals. In addition, the focus is on customer needs and unforeseeable changes can be responded to more quickly. This means that potential issues can be identified and addressed early on. With the help of feedback loops, customer feedback is implemented more quickly, leading to higher quality products and services. Additionally, key success factors such as open communication, self-organization, and transparency are particularly fostered by agile methods.

Agile methods are not always applicable in their pure form. It is therefore important to first look at the project and answer the question of whether the application of agile approaches makes sense and which method offers the greatest added value. The following steps should be taken to find the appropriate method:

1. Review the company culture:

First, the company’s own corporate culture should be evaluated and checked to determine whether and to what extent agile working can be implemented at all. Visions, corporate values and missions play an important role here. For example, it is necessary to deal openly with feedback and ensure that the team has the freedom to work independently. This and much more are important prerequisites for the implementation and application of agile methods to work in the first place.

2. Problem identification:

In order to find the right agile method, the problems to be solved and the benefits to be generated from agile working should be analyzed in advance. By identifying the problems, it becomes easier to determine which method will be most effective in achieving the business objectives.

3. Understanding the requirements:

Before integrating agile methods into everyday work, it is necessary to understand the concept of the respective methods well and to deal with the requirements of the company. This will ensure that the way of working fits the company and its goals, thus enabling successful and effective integration into everyday working life.

4.Continuous improvement:

The selected method must be well integrated into the daily workflow and consistently applied to achieve the desired results. It is also important to adhere to specific guidelines associated with the method. For example, in Scrum, there are clearly defined roles and recurring events. Agile methods are based on the concept of continuous improvement, meaning that processes often take time to function smoothly and must be constantly optimized and monitored.