What is Agile Project Management
Project management is the temporary process of leading the work of a team to achieve objectives within a project’s scope, timeline, and budget constraints.
This effort includes managing the allocation of resources involved and optimizing the communication between such resources and project clients to achieve desired results.
Project management methodologies are the frameworks, the set of principles and practices, which guide project managers and their teams in organizing and executing projects to ensure their optimum output.
Agile Project Management is a methodology that seeks to apply agility – including adaptability and resourcefulness, to project management.
Initially used for software development, Agile principles involve a collaborative, iterative, and incremental approach to achieving desired project outcomes.
As in Agile Software Development, the idea is to easily modify and adapt the scope of work to ensure stronger alignment on the project outcome.
Instead of waiting for project completion to seek feedback from customers, Agile project managers will seek such feedback multiple times throughout the project.
That feedback will then be used to confirm deployment direction, refine the project deliverables where applicable, and adapt.
The process repeats while the project proceeds and until the desired outcome is achieved.
Agile project management differs from traditional project management methodologies, including Waterfall Project Management, which relies on completing project steps in planned, sequential order (initiation, planning, execution, etc.).
For example, Waterfall emphasizes the planning phase, and Waterfall project teams mainly focus on plan execution after the project is mapped out, rather than on iterative and collaborative feedback.
With Waterfall, when conditions change during the project, the planning phase must restart, which typically results in delays.
There are other project management methodologies, including Lean, Kanban, Six Sigma, and more, but not every methodology, including Agile, is suitable for all projects.
Relying on a trusted, experienced project management professional will help you select the best method for your project and organization.
Four benefits of Agile Project Management
Consider the following differences when evaluating Agile Project Management methodology for your next project.
1. An iterative process for success
- Traditional project management methodologies focus on executing agreed-upon plans.
- Agile Project Management provides an iterative feedback process between project managers and their customers. As desired outcomes change or as new information becomes available about projects, project teams can iteratively adjust and refine their initial design without disruption to the project. These just-in-time adjustments significantly improve the likelihood of achieving a desired and successful project outcome.
2. Nimble cost management and improved quality control
- Traditional project management methodologies often execute the entire project plan before conducting extensive testing and quality control. By then, a minor issue might have become more significant, and funds might have been spent in unneeded directions.
- With Agile, as changes to the initial scope are requested, or issues identified, such developments are caught earlier. Project managers can adapt and make needed changes before they become challenges.
3. High customer satisfaction
- With the traditional project management method, clients are heavily involved in the planning process but sometimes less involved during the project execution, which might lead to unwanted surprises on both sides.
- By allowing full and continuous interaction of the customers, Agile allows for earlier feedback and higher satisfaction from their more engaged users.
4. Flexible Key Performance Indicators
- Traditional project management metrics focus primarily on performance against the budget and schedule.
- While budget and schedule are core metrics of all project management methods, Agile teams generally define their own success KPIs early in the project, which allows companies to cater to their priorities and measure success by their metrics.
Project management services to speed up success
Proton Consulting Group is dedicated to partnering with our clients to create innovative and customized solutions to transform their business. Our project management services team brings years of experience successfully managing large-scale, complex projects. When your company needs a trusted project management partner, count on ProtonCG .