Why Agile Is The Best In Project Management

by Ashley Wilson Software Developer

Agile today stands as one of the most popular approaches to project management because of its flexibility and evolutionary nature. It started in 2001 with the Agile manifesto and was originally made for software development. Over time, agile project management evolved and became a popular choice for many project managers, irrespective of the industry.

Agile, in a nutshell, is an iterative and incremental approach to project management that helps teams keep up with the demands of the modern workplace. It consists of different methodologies and all of them are based on the concepts of flexibility, transparency, quality, and continuous improvement.

Data from 2018 indicates that projects using Agile methodologies are 28% more successful and almost 71% of organizations use Agile with varying frequencies.

What makes Agile Software Development Company so successful and why are project managers solely relying on it or are using it in combination with other frameworks? The reason behind it is simple. The benefits of Agile make the managers’ job easier and allow them to have greater control over their projects. What makes Agile project management truly unique is the fact that it focuses on both, delivering quality and value to the customer, and completing the project within the given project constraints.

Here are some top reasons and benefits of Agile and why it is adopted by top companies for managing their projects:

1. Superior quality product

In Agile project management, testing is an integrated part of the project execution phase which means that the overall quality of the final product is greater. The client remains involved in the development process and can ask for changes depending on the market realities. Since Agile is an iterative process, self-organizing teams keep on learning and growing with time and continue improving.

2. Customer satisfaction

In the Agile, the customer is always involved in the decision-making process which leads to greater customer retention. In the traditional framework, the customer is only involved in the planning phase and does not influence execution which affects the flexibility and adaptability. By keeping the customer in the loop and making changes according to their feedback, you deliver value to the customer and ensure that the final product is truly according to their requirements.

Another benefit of Agile Project Management is that the go-to-market time gets significantly reduced. This allows the product owner to successfully capitalize on the opportunity and in some cases, enjoy the first-mover advantage. It’s only natural that when customers get to enjoy these benefits because of your performance, they’ll come back to you for other projects.

3. Better control

Agile allows managers to have better control over the project due to its transparency, feedback integration, and quality-control features. Quality is ensured throughout the implementation phase of the project and all stakeholders are involved in the process with daily progress reports through advanced reporting tools and techniques.

Also Read : Why Your Business Needs an Agile Software Development Team

4. Improved project predictability

With increased visibility, predicting risks and coming up with effective mitigation plans becomes easier. Within the Agile framework, there are greater ways to identify and predict risks and plan to ensure that the project runs smoothly.

Scrum methodology, for example, uses sprint backlogs and burn down charts to increase the visibility of the project which allows managers to predict performances and plan accordingly.

5. Reduced risks

In theory, any project using an Agile methodology will never fail. Agile works in small sprints that focus on continuous delivery. There is always a small part that can be salvaged and used in the future even if a particular approach doesn’t go as planned.