Agile is a project management methodology emphasizing short periods, adaptability, and iteration.

FREMONT, CA: Agile is a project management methodology emphasizing incremental and iterative project completion phases. The strategy promotes rapid delivery, adaptability to change, cooperation over top-down administration, and sticking to a predetermined schedule. It takes a short time to develop all project components in short-term development cycles.

There is frequent feedback in Agile procedures, allowing team members to adapt to difficulties as they arise and stakeholders to communicate regularly. Agile methodology initially developed for software development, is now extensively utilized for executing various projects and managing organizations.

Compared with traditional project management, this is a very different approach. Traditional project management follows a linear progression through planning, designing, implementing, and closing phases. It is necessary to complete the previous phase before proceeding to the next.

Technically, Agile is not a technique in and of itself but rather a mentality for approaching the completion of projects. Agile is not considered a technique because it does not identify the required tools and processes.

However, Agile is the umbrella word for numerous management techniques. Agile techniques include Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming (XP).

When should Agile project management be used?

Agile’s tenets—adaptability, iteration, continuous delivery, and short time frames, among others—make it more suitable for ongoing projects where specific details are unknown at the outset. Therefore, a project without explicit constraints, timelines, or available resources is an excellent candidate for an Agile methodology.

For instance, designing and releasing a new product may present a team with several unforeseen obstacles. A project with an Agile methodology may already have the method to test products as frequently as necessary, iterate rapidly, and communicate changes to stakeholders.

Traditional project management methodologies, such as Waterfall, can be easier to plan and measure progress. This can make traditional approaches more suitable for projects with clearly defined limits (such as a strict budget or timetable) or where teams are expected to work independently of stakeholders.

Industry using Agile techniques

Agile originated in the thoughts of a group of project managers for software development. Since then, it has remained prevalent in software development and spread to numerous other industries. These include banking, information technology, business, fashion, biotechnology, and building.