Improving management practices and creating an environment of efficiency is important to all business owners and managers and more and more people are looking to Agile process management methodologies to achieve these goals. Here we will take a look at how those in online industries can benefit from this approach.
Defining Agile Process Management
Born out of the software development industry, Agile processes are based on four core tenets.
1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
2. Working products over comprehensive documentation.
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
4. Responding to change over following a plan.
These tenets lay the philosophical framework upon which Agile process management methodologies are built.
The 6 Steps of Agile Methodologies
There are a number of different Agile process management methodologies, with Scrum and Kanban being the two dominant formats. While each methodology has its unique characteristics, they all follow a similar pattern that allows for faster, more frequent product development than traditional waterfall management practices.
1. The first step in all of these Agile process management methodologies is project planning. In this phase, a general understanding of the scope and end goals of a project are laid out, but since one of the key tenets of the framework is responding to change it is important to realize that the plan developed here is not set in stone.
2. Next is the development of a project roadmap. This is the point where all of the features required of a final project are identified as well where a product backlog is created. The product backlog is a list of requirements and product features that will be used when planning subsequent sprints.
3. Release planning is where a detailed schedule of feature releases is created that will also be utilized when planning individual sprints.
4. During sprint planning, the features from the product backlog for each specific spring will be assigned and sprint goals discussed. This is also where individual roles and responsibilities of team members will be identified and assigned by Adapt Solution as well as laying out the initial plan detailing the strategy for completing these tasks.
5. Daily meetings are held to discuss the previous day’s successes and shortcomings and identify if there is a need to alter goals or reassess sprint plans. These focused meetings should be limited to about 10-15 minutes: many Agile process management methodologies dictate that these meetings be held standing up to maintain momentum and reduce wandering conversations.
6. At the end of each sprint, two meetings are held. The first is the sprint review, where stakeholders are provided with a finished product and discuss areas for improvement, changing expectations and areas with room for improvement.
The second meeting is the sprint retrospective where team members and team leaders discuss the previous scrum, what went right, what went wrong, and what could be improved.
While many that are new to this process may be tempted to skip this step, sprint retrospectives are the time when team members can voice their concerns and suggestions and it is a key part of all Agile process management methodologies.
Adapt Solution are experts in all areas of agile process management methodologies. To find out more about our company, and how we can help your business, please click here. Alternatively, to know more about the services we offer, please visit our Services page by clicking here.
