Agile methodology

Agile is much more than a methodology for the development of projects that require speed and
flexibility, it is a philosophy that involves a different way of working and organizing. In such a way
that each project is 'chopped' into small parts that have to be completed and delivered in a few
weeks. The objective is to develop quality products and services that respond to the needs of
customers whose priorities change at a growing rate.

These methodologies were born in the software development industry, when companies in this
sector understood that the traditional way of working delayed the delivery of the final product a
lot. Processes normally based on a closed contract, with little communication from the workers,
which led to poor quality deliverables.

In 2001, the CEOs of the main software companies met. There they shared the best practices of
each company and created the 'Agile Manifesto'. A model of continuous improvement in which
it is planned, created, the result is checked and improved. Something that is constant and fast,
with reduced delivery times that seek to avoid dispersion and focus all attention on a task
entrusted.

The main advantages of 'agile' are:

1. Improve quality: Minimize errors in deliverables and improve the experience and
functionality for the client.
2. Greater commitment: Improves employee satisfaction and generates team awareness.
3. Speed: Shortens production cycles and minimizes reaction times and decision making.
 4. Increased productivity: By allocating resources better, and more dynamically, improves
production according to the priorities of the company.

Its operation in the work environment

The principles and values on which the agile methodologies are based have as main characteristic
to make fast and continuous deliveries of functioning software. To give an example, in the scrum
framework, the project is divided into small parts that have to be completed and delivered in
short terms, called 'sprints'. In this way, if any changes have to be made, only changes are made
to the party involved and in a very short time.

Before 'agile', when a company wanted to develop a new project, a linear process was launched
(cascade or 'waterfall') that could take one or two years to deliver a product, with a high risk of
not adapting to the final demand of the client. When this happened, we opted for emergency
solutions, or even start the project from scratch.

Another of the most characteristic features of agile methodologies is the use of multidisciplinary
teams that work together, side by side, throughout the process. Thus, for example, the head of
marketing can give feedback on how the final product is turning out to the technician who is
performing a specific task. In this way, and together with the faster, earlier and more frequent
deliveries, the resulting product is exactly what the market is demanding.

Agile teams hold daily sessions in which each member has to explain three things: what tasks he
has completed, what he is going to do and, if there are any, to point out the impediments that
have not allowed him to advance. These meetings, called 'dailys', help all the members of the
team to know where each one is working and they are aware of how they can collaborate so that
the project can keep moving forward.
Much is heard of Agile, Agile project management or the "Agile methodology" as something of
the 21st century, but in reality, the origin and Agile values began to take shape a little earlier.

After several previous meetings, in February 2001 a group of professionals had a new and now
famous meeting whose biggest contribution was the Agile Manifesto (The Agile Manifesto). This
manifesto was written and signed by seventeen software development leaders (now known as
the Agile Community). Your document gave a name to how this group was developing software
and provided a list of Agile value statements:

 Individuals and interactions about processes and tools

 Software working on complete documentation
 Collaboration of the client on the negotiation of the contract
 Respond to the change about following a plan

And the group added:

That is, while there is value in the elements on the right, we value the elements on the left
more.

In particular, these opinion leaders looked for ways to quickly build a functioning software and
put it in the hands of end users. This quick delivery approach provided a couple of important
benefits. First, it allowed users to get some of the business benefits of the new software faster.
Second, it allowed the software team to obtain quick feedback on the scope and direction of
software projects on a regular basis. In other words, the Agile approach was born.

Behind the Agile Value Statements.

Value people and interactions about processes and tools.
Those of us who have a path in the development world know that a team with great people works
well even using mediocre tools and that these teams always overcome other dysfunctional teams
with mediocre people who have excellent tools and processes. If people are treated as disposable
pieces there will be no process, tool or methodology that will save their projects from failing.
Good development processes recognize the strengths (and weaknesses) of individuals and take
advantage of it instead of trying to make everyone homogeneous.

Value the collaboration with the client on the negotiation of contracts.

Because to create agile teams we must seek that all parties involved in the project work to
achieve the same set of goals. Contract negotiation sometimes conflicts with the development
team and the customer from the beginning.

Value responding to changes on following a plan.

Because the main objective is to provide as much value as possible to the client of the project
and users. In large and / or complex projects, you will find that it is very difficult even for users
and / or clients, to know every detail of each feature they want. It is inevitable that users come
with new ideas, or that they decide that some critical features initially are no longer so. For an
agile team, a plan is a vision of the future, but many points of view are possible and
environmental factors can change over time. As a team gains knowledge and experience about a
project, the plan should be updated accordingly.

Agile planning levels

When we are preparing the objectives of a plan it is important to recognize that we cannot see
beyond a certain horizon and that the accuracy of our horizon will be less and less the farther we
want to see. We must review the status of our project and adjust our plan accordingly. From this
point we are already talking about the preparation of strategic planning with the Agile approach.
The risk of a plan increases according to how far in the future we want to plan, so every so often
we must raise our eyes to see the new horizon and adjust the plan. Agile teams do this by
planning in at least 3 different horizons. The 3 horizons are the Release (Liberation), Iteration and
Diary (actual).

Levels of Planning

Release Planning (Release).

Here we determine answers to questions that relate to the scope, timing and resources of the
project. This plan must be updated throughout the project, usually at the beginning of each
iteration to reflect the current expectations that will be included in the Release.

Iteration planning.
This is carried out at the beginning of each iteration and based on the work that was done in the
previous iteration (if it is not the first one of course). The client or its representatives (the Product
Owner) must identify the highest priority elements in which the team will concentrate its efforts
on the new iteration. This is because we are on a horizon closer to that of the Release. In this
horizon, the tasks required to obtain a functional and proven part of our product are established.

Daily Planning.
It may sound very excessive (and maybe it is) to call planning to this horizon, this is no more than
daily and informal meetings (which are usually done standing up since they only need to last a
few minutes) where the daily efforts are synchronized individually. This is that each member of
the team shares what they did the day before, what they plan to do today and communicate the
obstacles they face.
With these three horizons (Release, Iteration and Daily) the agile teams concentrate only on what
is visible and important in the plan they have created. In this way they have adopted the Agile
planning approach.

Satisfaction conditions.
Every project must start with a goal, perhaps this will derive several objectives related to dates,
budget, human resources, etc., but typically there will only be one goal. Do not assume that you
should create the best car in the world, the best door in the world, the best ERP in the world; the
objectives should only be aligned with the satisfaction conditions of the Product Owner (the
customer's voice); that is, the criteria that will be used to evaluate and determine the success of
the project.