Your Agile Questions Answered

Agile expert and long-time trainer Nick Kramer has compiled answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about what it means to be Agile and what the different frameworks are. As an Agile coach and instructor, Nick teaches his students how to implement Agile and Scrum methodologies into daily project management successfully. Nick brings his tried-and-true practical advice, guidance, and real-world experience into every course he teaches. In this FAQ, Nick discusses what Agile is and breaks down the most popular Agile frameworks.

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1. What is Agile?

Many organizations have adopted Agile, a popular methodology for developing products or projects. Agile is a flexible, iterative, customer-centric approach to delivering value.  It emphasizes collaboration, adaptability, short development cycles, and continuous improvement. Agile helps teams to deliver working software to the customer early and often and to respond to change quickly and effectively.

What Is the Role of an Agile Project Manager?

You might think that Agile teams do not require managerial positions. After all, teams are intended to be self-contained, and planning and tracking are internal team efforts. While this is true, that does not exclude managers from support roles.

A traditional manager is a top-down position where the manager delegates tasks and schedules. An Agile project manager is just as important a role, but with a different approach. An Agile manager needs to enable their team to solve problems, not direct them on how to do so.

They may form teams, support them, and remove any structural impediments that hinder the team's functioning. Yet they are outsiders that work closely with the team. In simplified terms, Agile managers are the champions of a team within an organization, not immediate members.

While Agile has evolved since its inception in the early 2000s, the four core tenants from the Agile Manifesto still apply:

  1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
  2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
  3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
  4. Responding to change over following a plan

The main change from when the Manifesto was written to now is that Agile is used not only in software development, but also to help deliver other working products.

What Agile Is Not

We have explained (although simplified) the basic tenants of Agile project management and what it is. Now, it is time to deal with some common misconceptions about Agile and what it is not.

  1. Agile is not a unified approach: Agile is an umbrella term for different frameworks of project management that follow the same principles, from Scrum and Kanban to Lean and Safe. It has evolved in the previous two decades and will likely continue to grow, with newly created classifications and frameworks.
  2. Agile is not only a project management methodology for software development: Another common misconception is that the Agile method is only utilized for software development. It's true that Agile was conceived by software developers and first implemented by them. It is now implemented by various sectors, from marketing agencies to tractor manufacturers.
  3. Agile cannot be improvised: Because Agile supports flexibility, it may look like there is no planning or structure in Agile organizations. On the contrary, the Agile approach can't function without careful planning and a well-thought-out structure. The difference from traditional techniques is that the plans are often short-term, and the goals are changeable as the situation demands. The Agile approach reflects a much more horizontal management hierarchy, but that does not mean it has no structure. 
  4. Agile is not undocumented: Another common misconception is that the Agile methodology has no need for documents and reporting. However, the point of Agile is to simplify processes and that entails doing away with unnecessary documentation. Record keeping is vital, but not in a way that hinders a team's functionality.
  5. Agile is not managerless: There are managerial positions in Agile organizations. They may be termed differently and operate in a different manner to "traditional" managers, but managerial positions still definitely exist.
  6. Agile is not something that can be implemented ad hoc: Finally, because people may perceive the Agile approach as too flexible and structureless, Agile is often believed to be implemented on the fly. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Ad hoc attempts to implement Agile without training or education are one of the most common reasons that Agile structures fail in practice. Implementing Agile correctly requires a lot of dedication and hard work.

2. What are the principles of Agile?

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Agile teams focus on the people involved in the project and the interactions between those people rather than on the operations or tools they use.
  • Working software over comprehensive documentation. Agile teams prefer to deliver functional software to the customer early and often rather than spending much time on documentation.
  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. Agile teams work closely with the client to deliver a product or service that meets their specifications. This is done through regular communication and collaboration rather than through formal contracts.
  • Responding to change over following a plan. Agile teams are flexible and adaptable and willing to change their plans as needed. This contrasts traditional project management, where goals are often set in stone and are difficult to change.

3. What are some popular Agile Frameworks?

Scrum

Scrum is an Agile framework that helps teams deliver working software quickly and efficiently. It uses iterative development, where teams work in short cycles called sprints to deliver working software to the customer. Scrum teams are typically made up of:

  • A Product Owner: manages the product backlog (a list of features that the customer wants to see in the product).
  • A Scrum Master: facilitates the Scrum process and sees that the team follows Scrum framework.
  • The Development Team: responsible for coding, testing, and deploying the features that are defined in the sprint backlog.

What are Scrum Activities?

  • Planning: Agile teams create a high-level plan outlining the work. This work is then broken down into smaller, more manageable tasks.
  • Estimating: Agile teams estimate the size of the tasks in the plan. This helps them track the project's progress and identify potential risks.
  • Sprints: Agile teams work in short cycles called sprints. Each sprint typically lasts two weeks.
  • Daily Scrum/Stand-up meetings: Agile teams hold daily stand-up meetings to discuss their progress toward the sprint goal, plan the day's work, and identify improvement areas:
  • Retrospectives: Agile teams hold retrospectives at the end of each sprint to reflect on their performance and identify improvement areas.
  • Delivery Value: Agile teams create the features defined in the sprint backlog.
  • Testing: Agile teams test the features that are created.
  • Deployment: Agile teams deploy the features that are tested to production.
  • Feedback: Agile teams get feedback from the customer on the deployed features.
  • Continuous improvement: Agile teams constantly look for ways to improve their processes and products.

Kanban

Kanban is a framework that helps teams visualize their work and manage their workflow. Kanban is based on visualizing work, limiting work-in-progress, and managing flow. Kanban teams typically use a Kanban board to "see" their work. The Kanban board is a diagram of the work the team needs to complete, the ongoing work, and the work the team has finished. Kanban teams also use limits on work-in-progress to ensure they are not overloading themselves. Finally, Kanban teams use metrics to measure their workflow and to find areas for improvement.

Extreme Programming (XP)

XP is a comprehensive framework that improves software quality, flexibility, and maintainability. XP is based on the idea of continuous improvement and the practices of test-driven development, pair programming, refactoring, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. XP teams are typically made up of a small number of developers who work closely together. The XP team uses various practices to improve their software's quality, flexibility, and maintainability.

Scrum@Scale

Scrum@Scale is a scalable framework that extends the popular Scrum and Leans principles to the entire organization, enabling efficient collaboration and communication.  Scrum@Scale promotes a decentralized decision-making process, empowering teams the self-organize and adapt quickly. It has 2 interconnected cycles:

  1. The Scrum Master Cycle for continuous Improvement and delivery.
    This cycle emphasizes cross-team collaboration, transparency, and removal of impediments. Key roles include Scrum Master, the Scrum of Scrums, and the Executive Action Team.

  2. The Product Owner Cycle for product alignment.

This cycle ensures product alignment, and prioritization by emphasizing backlog refinement, stakeholder input, and value delivery. Key roles include the Product Owners, the MetaScrum, and the Executive MetaScrum.

Scrum@Scale enables large-scale Agile transformations by addressing scaling challenges such as dependencies, resource constraints, and communication barriers and fostering innovation, quality, and a customer-centric mindset. Scrum@Scale is the only scaled Scrum framework developed and endorsed by Dr. Jeff Sutherland, built on real-world experiences and proven empirical techniques used by teams and organizations around the globe to help teams accomplish "Twice the work in half the time."

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a comprehensive, adaptable approach to scaling Agile methodologies across large products or enterprises. It offers a structured system for implementing Lean-Agile practices at the enterprise level. SAFe's four configurations cater to different organizational needs:

  • Essential SAFe: Basic elements, focusing on Agile teams, program management, and portfolio alignment.
  • Large Solution SAFe: Addresses complex solutions that require multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs).
  • Portfolio SAFe: Expands to include strategic planning, investment, and governance.
  • Full SAFe: Combines all levels for the largest enterprises. Key components include:
  • Business Agility: Business Agility is the ability to compete and thrive in the digital age by quickly responding to market changes and emerging opportunities with innovative, digitally enabled business solutions.
  • DevOps and Continuous Delivery: Emphasizes automation, collaboration, and faster feedback.
  • Lean Portfolio Management: Aligns strategy, funding, and execution.
  • Innovation & Planning Iteration: Time reserved for innovation, learning, and continuous improvement.

SAFe promotes seven core principles derived from Lean, Agile, and Systems Thinking to guide organizations through the transformation process. By integrating these principles, SAFe encourages a culture of collaboration, adaptability, and customer-centricity, resulting in increased productivity, quality, and business outcomes.

Written by Nick Kramer, who brings more than 15 years of real-life Agile experience to every class he creates and teaches.  In his career, he has been an Agile Trainer, Agile Coach, Leadership Coach, Scrum Master, and Product Owner who has trained thousands of people to utilize an Agile mindset. He is a firm believer in driving innovation within an organization by harnessing the power of the team through a customer-centric, Design Thinking approach. Nick prides himself on making Agile 'Fun and Simple.' His philosophy is that team members should enjoy coming to work and find creative ways to connect with their organization's value stream.