Agile Team — What do you need to be a part of it?

Over 600 development and IT professionals, a vast majority of organizations reported that they primarily use agile methods. In fact, two-thirds described their company as either “pure agile” or “leaning towards agile.”

img src: denysys corp

Here are 5 major aspects of Agile Methodology that one should try to follow:

Communication
A team consists of many individuals working together on a single project. In any project/task, there are several inter-dependent sub-tasks that need to be completed in order to execute the main task.
These sub-tasks might block tasks that are supposed to be completed by other members of the team.

Consider a situation if they are not involved in proper communication and they are not aware of the progress of these sub-tasks. The entire team will face delays which will in turn decrease productivity.
Thus, proper and continuous communication is a necessity for smooth progress!

• Collaboration
  Consider the previous example where the individuals in a team have responsibilities for performing tasks that are blocked or dependent on tasks that are to be executed by other members working on the project.

How to make the situation better?
With effective communication, comes efficient collaboration! When all the members will maintain continuous communication, they will be aware of the current status of each sub-task as well. Also, if there is an issue that can be resolved in less time by another member of the team, they can come forward and help the person who is assigned that task.

Collaborating and helping in such a way will not only resolve blockages or issues but will also be helpful to achieve more control as well as better management in order to finish the project on time.

• Embrace Change
  Embracing Change is one of the most important parts of Agile Methodology.
  It is not possible to gather all the requirements for any project at the first step. With the dynamic technology and latest upgrades, every customer and stakeholder wants their product to be updated with the latest trends which is why it might be possible that the requirements can come during the development stage, testing stage, or even further later.

How do you accommodate such requirements?
Agile methodology helps to accommodate such requirements efficiently. During every stage, stakeholders and customers are involved to make sure they are satisfied as well as aware of the current progress.
This helps to identify any changes in an early stage that are required from the stakeholders' side and the teams can incorporate those changes in the projects.

Following this strategy, customers and other stakeholders are aware of all the changes and requirements before the release of any product. This not only helps to reduce changes or issues after product release but also helps to gain higher customer satisfaction.

• Metrics Driven
  Another important aspect of Agile Methodology comprises ensuring better quality.
  Better quality can be achieved by analyzing and evaluating KPIs(Key -Performance Indicators) such as:

img src: monday.com

• Project schedule.
• Estimate to project completion.
• Current development backlog.
• Labor costs spent per month.
• Current resource allocation.

By continuously evaluating the metrics, teams identify the gaps as well as issues in the current processes and try to eliminate them, thus, assuring better quality.

• Self-Organizing and Self-Sufficient
  Lastly, as much as Agile encourages effective collaboration, the methodology also promotes taking ownership. Every individual must know what they are responsible for, how they must achieve their goals, and what will be an appropriate timeline. By taking proper ownership in the early stages, teams ensure that all tasks are being tracked as well as an individual is responsible for their implementation.

This is advantageous for proper documentation along with tracking purposes. If there is any issue with a particular task, rather than disturbing the entire progress and other members working on the project, it will be easy to follow up with the responsible individual and resolve any concerns in a quick and easy manner.

What’s Next?

If you’re interested to learn more about these tools, you can always connect with me for a demo lesson or a quick chat here.