5 agile management methods

In business, agility is a powerful asset that brings benefits in many ways: boosting performance, accelerating processes and decision-making, reinforcing productivity and reactivity, etc. Here are five examples of agile management methods to introduce in your company today.  

The Scrum agile method

Scrum is without a doubt the most popular agile method. In fact, 58% of organisations worldwide have already adopted it, according to the 14th State of Agile report on the application of agility in business, published in 2020. The Scrum framework (in reference to the “scrum” in rugby) works on the basis of iterations of short cycles (ranging from a few hours to four weeks), called sprints. At the end of each sprint, the team and the Scrum Master (the project manager) analyse what has been completed and, if necessary, redirect the approach to be taken as the project progresses. With the Scrum method, the customer is regularly asked to validate prototypes and provide feedback: it is the role of the Product Owner to manage exchanges with the customer. The main objectives of this highly dynamic agile method are to improve productivity, respect deadlines and optimise the product as its development progresses, in order to ensure that the company is in line with customer expectations. Initially intended for the management of IT projects, the Scrum method but can also be applied to other types of projects, too.  

Lean Software Development

The Lean Software Development method was historically developed by Toyota. Very popular with companies today, this agile approach consists of improving company performance and profitability by eliminating sources of waste. This includes better inventory management, better control of deadlines, cost reduction, as well as the elimination of overproduction, superfluous operations and unnecessary actions to avoid wasting time and resources. Lean Management also focuses on product quality, via the optimisation of all processes, from the development of employee skills to product design and production. This agile approach is one of the key tools in a continuous improvement process.  

Extreme Programming (XP)

Extreme Programming (XP) is an agile management method that was initially developed for IT project management and, more specifically, application development. As with Scrum, the project is organised around very short iterative development cycles of a few weeks. In addition, exchanges are conducted on a very regular basis with the customer to allow prototypes to be validated progressively and to guarantee the smooth running of the project. With XP, employees are also encouraged to work in pairs for greater efficiency and productivity. Action planning is thus carried out in the very short term, making it possible to better estimate the workload linked to a product’s development. Indeed, one of the fundamental objectives of XP is to reduce the costs associated with change during the development of an IT product.  

Feature Driven Development (FDD)

Feature Driven Development (FDD) is another type of agile project management. Less known, it is especially adapted to complex, large-scale projects where the Scrum method would not be suitable. With the FDD methodology, the development of an IT project is organised around functionalities that are divided into very short iterative development cycles of one to two weeks. These functionalities are then tested rapidly by the user, and corrections and adjustments are immediately made to meet customer expectations. This agile method thus places the customer at the heart of the project. To manage a project in an agile way using Feature Driven Development, five main steps must be followed:

• Create an overall model to define the product scope.
• List all the functionalities to be developed.
• Plan the course of the project and the order in which the functionalities are to be created.
• Initiate the first iterative cycle to build the first function.
• Build all the elements that accompany the functionality (e.g. user interface) and test the completed prototype.

 

Kanban

Kanban is a Japanese automotive sector method, part of a continuous improvement approach and consisting of a visual organisation of project management. This method works with a system of cards, or labels (Kanban means "labels" in Japanese), and boards. A Kanban board is generally organised around three components: To Do - In Progress - Finished. The tasks to be accomplished under each of these categories are listed in the form of cards that change place as the project progresses. A Kanban board is advantageous in that it provides an overview of the project's progress and facilitates the organisation of tasks, informing all parties at any time what must be done as a priority. Kanban can be easily implemented today using applications such as Trello or Jira. It can be supported by daily meetings or short meetings of less than 15 minutes, during which parties outline completed tasks, upcoming tasks and potential obstacles. This agile tool is very useful for reducing delays, costs and risks related to a project. It can also be applied to all types of projects and sectors.