What Is Agile Methodology in Project Management?

Agile methodologies overview

The Agile Manifesto for Software Development put forth a groundbreaking mindset on delivering value and collaborating with customers when it was created in 2001.

Agile’s four main values are:

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

You can read more about the four pillars of Agile in our Agile guide.

Understanding the 12 Agile principles

The 12 Agile principles guide teams on how to work more flexibly and respond quickly to changes, which is key in project management. Here’s a quick overview of the 12 Agile principles:

1. Make customers happy through early and continuous delivery of useful software.
2. Embrace changing requirements, even in later stages.
3. Deliver work frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference for the shorter timescale.
4. Stakeholders and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals, giving them the environment and support they need, and trusting them to get the job done.
6. Face-to-face conversations are the most effective method of communication.
7. The main measure of progress is working software.
8. The working pace should be constant yet sustainable.
9. Pay continuous attention to technical excellence and good design.
10. Keep things as simple as possible.
11. The best results come from self-organizing teams.
12. The team reflects on how to become more effective at regular intervals, adjusting behavior accordingly.

To learn more about each principle and tips on applying them, check out our full guide on the 12 Agile principles. This guide will help you understand how to use these principles to run projects more smoothly and effectively.

What is Agile project management?

Agile project management is a process for managing a project that involves constant collaboration and working in iterations. It works off the basis that a project can be continuously improved upon throughout its lifecycle and adapt to changes quickly.

What are the benefits of using Agile methodology?

Agile is one of the most popular approaches to project management because it is flexible, it is adaptable to changes, and it encourages customer feedback.

Many teams embrace this approach to achieve the following benefits of Agile:

• Rapid progress: By effectively reducing the time it takes to complete various stages of a project, teams can elicit feedback in real time and produce working prototypes or demos throughout the process
• Customer and stakeholder alignment: Through focusing on customer concerns and stakeholder feedback, the Agile team is well positioned to produce results that satisfy the right people
• Continuous improvement: As an iterative approach, the Agile project management methodology allows teams to chip away at tasks until they reach the best end result

You can read more about the six stages of the Agile lifecycle in our Agile guide.

See below an example from Wrike’s Agile project management dashboard from our Agile teamwork template. 

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Types of Agile methodologies

Agile project management is not a singular framework but an umbrella term that includes a wide range of methodologies, including Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), and the Adaptive Project Framework (APF).

Scrum
It is ideal for projects with rapidly changing requirements, using short sprints.

Kanban
It visualizes project progress and is great for tasks requiring steady output.

Lean
It streamlines processes, eliminating waste for customer value.

Extreme Programming (XP) 
It enhances software quality and responsiveness to customer satisfaction.

Adaptive Project Framework (APF)
It works well for projects with unclear details, as it adapts to constantly evolving client needs.

You can learn more about the different types of Agile methodologies in our guide.

Agile methodologies vs. traditional approaches

So, how do these Agile methodologies compare to traditional approaches to project management? Let’s highlight the Waterfall approach as an example.

When working with this traditional methodology, teams would follow a strictly linear sequence: requirements gathering, design, build, test, deliver. They are required to complete one phase before moving on to the next one. Changes are difficult to incorporate once a stage is completed and customer interactions are limited. As a result, Waterfall suits projects with fixed guidelines and minimal changes. 

By comparison, Agile methodologies are far more fluid in nature. Every Agile framework emphasizes a degree of adaptability, breaking projects into phases and embracing changing requirements. Through iterations and incremental efforts, they incorporate collaboration and customer feedback, leading to continuous improvement.

Agile in software development

Agile enables software development teams to stay adaptable.

With an iterative and adaptive approach, the aim is to produce the highest-quality software product that puts the customer at the heart of the process. By prioritizing flexibility, Agile teams can quickly react to changes, deliver products faster, and thrive in a collaborative environment.

By building Agile teams with the right qualities — such as self-organization and effective collaboration — you can accelerate the software development process while leaving space for vital customer feedback.

One of the most compelling reasons to adopt the Agile approach in software development is the dynamic workflows and work systems that contribute to a better end product. By listening to customer feedback and carrying out several iterations and rounds of software testing, you can iron out any kinks along the way and build the best possible software.

The Agile software development lifecycle helps you break down each project you take on into six simple stages:

1. Concept: Define the project scope and priorities
2. Inception: Build the Agile team according to project requirements 
3. Iteration: Create code factoring in customer feedback 
4. Release: Test the code and troubleshoot any issues
5. Maintenance: Provide ongoing tech support to ensure the product remains serviceable
6. Retirement: The end of the product lifespan, which often coincides with the beginning of a new one

Read more about the Agile software development lifecycle in our Agile guide.

Agile methodology in non-software projects

While many think of the Agile methodology as a solution mostly for the software industry, its applications extend far beyond.

Here are some examples of Agile practices in action in various project types:

Marketing campaigns

By bringing together designers, marketers, writers, and colleagues from other departments, you can build a cross-functional team ready to tackle marketing campaigns. Using sprints and a task backlog, you can identify the highest-priority tasks and streamline the execution.

To explore this approach, download this eBook: 7 Steps to Developing an Agile Marketing Team. 

Event planning

Agile methodologies lend themselves well to event planning, as each part of the event can be broken down into a sprint, and daily standups or Kanban boards can help you maintain a clear strategic direction at all times.

Product development

As you might imagine, since Agile methodology works for virtual products, it can work just as well for physical products. This time, though, instead of troubleshooting code, you’ll be diagnosing and fixing prototypes.

Generally, to get the best out of any of the Agile methodologies for non-software projects, you should always aim to keep the customer in mind. Just as Agile development must factor in the end user, non-software use cases benefit from a customer-focused approach.

By integrating the customer and their feedback in everything you do, you can better organize your priorities and plan your phases. It’s also a good idea to evaluate whether you need a systematic approach to tackling major projects or an easy-to-follow visual workflow for a series of smaller projects, as this can influence which framework is best for your team.

With Wrike’s Agile template, you can kick-start your product development in no time.

How to implement Agile methodology into projects

If you’re wondering how to apply these theoretical frameworks to your team’s workflows, here’s a step-by-step guide for Agile methodology process implementation: 

1. Choose the right Agile framework

Your first priority is to select the right Agile framework for your team. 

Here’s a reminder of some of the most popular options:

• Scrum: Principle-based project management
• Kanban: Visual workflows and processes
• Scrumban: Hybrid of Scrum and Kanban
• XP: Customer-focused product development
• APF: Versatile teamwork
• Dynamic systems development method (DSDM): Focused on the software development lifecycle

When selecting an Agile framework, consider the size of your team, the specific project requirements, and the level of experience your team has with the various methodologies. 

The more you know about your team and the projects you handle on a regular basis, the easier it will be for you to pick the right framework every time. 

2. Assemble your Agile team

An Agile team isn’t like any ordinary team.

If you want to find success with any of the Agile methodologies, you need to build a team with clear roles and responsibilities and a culture of collaboration.

What are some of the responsibilities of an Agile team?

• Self-organization: One of the cornerstones of an Agile team is the ability to self-organize. In Agile project management, the onus is on individual team members and teams to take initiative and organize themselves in a way that will lead to the highest output.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Going hand in hand with the need for self-organization is the Agile demand for cross-functional collaboration. Agile teams have to relay information across departments and be able to work closely with a range of colleagues.
• Iteration planning: Specific to Agile project management, iteration planning requires team members to outline the scope of individual sprints according to the product backlog.

3. Plan the project

Now that you’ve selected one of the Agile methods and assembled your A-team, it’s time to plan out your project.

Meticulous planning is one of the secret ingredients of successful Agile project management.

From the outset, you need to spend time clearly defining your project goals and scope. This will prevent unexpected setbacks and allow you to break down each portion of the project into manageable sprints (if you’re using Scrum).

You might also draw up a product backlog during the planning phase, which is most common in software development projects. The product backlog allows you to assign a priority level to your tasks so everyone on the team knows what they should focus on.

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4. Manage stakeholder expectations 

Before you get your project underway, it’s important to check in with any key stakeholders to make sure you factor in their feedback.

Depending on the level of their involvement, your project stakeholders may then want to be kept in the loop throughout the process or at least receive regular updates. Creating feedback loops eases any uncertainty on the stakeholder end and allows you to stay open to change should it be necessary at any stage of the process.

5. Measure success 

Measuring project success is key to making meaningful progress with your Agile methodology of choice.

By paying attention to what worked and what didn’t during the project management process, you can extract key lessons to apply to future Agile projects. 

There are various ways to effectively track progress and measure success with Agile projects:

• Daily standups: Brief meetings to discuss obstacles and find solutions
• Sprint reviews: Informal sit-down meetings to present work and solicit team feedback
• Retrospectives: Reflections on past work to inspire and influence future progress

You should also introduce key performance indicators (KPIs) before embarking on any new major project, as getting specific will help you establish milestones and measure progress.

Implement Agile processes with Wrike

Now, you’re probably ready to start using Agile in project management following the steps we’ve shared. Wrike’s work management platform can support your team with resources to manage sprints, backlogs, and more. 

Our Agile teamwork template will help you set up your processes and launch your first project with Agile. Once you’re underway, you can use Agile Kanban boards to manage your team’s workflows, visualizing progress and simplifying the process of assigning and completing tasks.

You can also use Wrike to oversee progress across your different departments with cross-tagging and project dashboards that update to reflect changes in real time.

So, get started with Agile today and empower your projects in one platform.

Further reading:

• Agile Methodology Basics
• Agile Guide
• Scrum Guide
• Kanban Guide
• Should Your Business Go Agile? (Infographic)
• 8 Attitudes Guaranteed to Sink Your Agile Projects
• Is Agile Viable for Marketing Teams?