Agile Practice Guide

1. Agile: A Mindset for High-Uncertainty Work.

This embodiment of mindset, values, and principles defines what constitutes an agile approach.

Embrace uncertainty. Agile approaches are designed for projects with high rates of change, complexity, and risk, where requirements and solutions are not fully known upfront. Unlike predictable work with clear procedures, high-uncertainty work requires exploration and adaptation. Agile provides a framework to navigate this ambiguity effectively.

Values and principles. The Agile Manifesto, originating in software but applicable broadly, outlines core values like individuals and interactions, working products, customer collaboration, and responding to change. These values are supported by twelve principles emphasizing frequent delivery, welcoming change, collaboration, motivated individuals, and continuous improvement.

Lean and Kanban roots. Agile shares heritage with Lean thinking, focusing on delivering value, minimizing waste, transparency, and continuous improvement. The Kanban Method, a less prescriptive approach, visualizes workflow, limits work in progress, and manages flow, offering a flexible way to start applying lean/agile concepts.

2. Selecting the Right Project Life Cycle.

Each project finds a spot on the continuum that provides an optimum balance of characteristics for its context.

Continuum of approaches. Project life cycles exist on a spectrum from predictive (plan-driven, sequential) to agile (iterative and incremental). Iterative cycles allow feedback for improvement, while incremental cycles deliver usable finished portions. Agile combines both, refining work and delivering frequently to adapt to change and provide value.

Hybrid is common. Many projects don't fit neatly into one category and benefit from hybrid approaches, combining elements of predictive, iterative, incremental, or agile methods. This could be agile development followed by a predictive rollout, or a predominantly predictive project incorporating agile techniques for specific uncertain components.

Suitability matters. Choosing the right life cycle depends on project characteristics like requirement stability, technological uncertainty, risk, and the need for early value delivery. Tools like agile suitability filters can help assess project and organizational factors to determine the best fit, guiding conversations about potential risks and necessary adaptations.

3. Servant Leadership Empowers Agile Teams.

Servant leadership is the practice of leading through service to the team, by focusing on understanding and addressing the needs and development of team members in order to enable the highest possible team performance.

Lead by serving. In agile, the project manager or team facilitator acts as a servant leader, shifting focus from command and control to supporting and enabling the team. This involves facilitating collaboration, removing impediments, coaching team members, and managing relationships within and outside the team.

Focus on purpose, people, process. Servant leaders help the team define the project's "why" (purpose), create an environment where people can succeed, and facilitate the team's discovery and refinement of its work process. They prioritize team effectiveness and value delivery over rigid adherence to a specific method.

Remove obstacles. A key responsibility is identifying and removing organizational impediments that hinder the team's agility, such as bureaucratic processes, siloed departments, or slow approval cycles. Servant leaders advocate for the team and influence the organization to support agile ways of working.

4. Building Effective Agile Teams.

Agile optimizes the flow of value, emphasizing rapid feature delivery to the customer, rather than on how people are “utilized.”

Cross-functional and dedicated. Effective agile teams are typically small (3-9 members), cross-functional (possessing all skills needed to deliver value), and ideally, members are 100% dedicated to the team. This structure minimizes dependencies, enhances collaboration, and speeds up value delivery.

Generalizing specialists. Teams benefit from "T-shaped" people – individuals with deep expertise in one area but broad skills and a willingness to help in others. This versatility reduces bottlenecks and encourages collective ownership of work, promoting flow efficiency over individual resource efficiency.

Team roles and environment. Common roles include cross-functional team members, a Product Owner (responsible for product direction and backlog prioritization), and a Team Facilitator/Servant Leader. A collaborative workspace, whether colocated or virtual with effective tools, is crucial for communication and team dynamics.

5. Delivering Value Through Agile Practices.

The single most important practice is the retrospective because it allows the team to learn about, improve, and adapt its process.

Frequent delivery and feedback. Agile teams deliver working product increments frequently (e.g., every few weeks) to get rapid feedback from customers and stakeholders. This allows for course correction and ensures the product meets evolving needs, increasing customer satisfaction and reducing rework.

Core practices. Common practices include:

• Backlog refinement: Preparing and detailing upcoming work items (stories).
• Daily standups: Short team meetings to synchronize and identify impediments.
• Demonstrations/Reviews: Showing completed work to stakeholders for feedback.
• Planning: Iteration-based teams plan work for the next timebox; flow-based teams pull work as capacity allows.
• Retrospectives: Regularly reflecting on the process to identify improvements.

Technical excellence. Practices like continuous integration, automated testing, and test-driven development are crucial for maintaining product quality and enabling rapid, sustainable delivery. Spikes (timeboxed research) help teams learn about technical or functional unknowns.

6. Measuring Progress Empirically.

Agile favors empirical and value-based measurements instead of predictive measurements.

Focus on delivered value. Instead of relying on subjective "percent done" or static baselines, agile measures progress based on completed, working features or increments of value. This provides empirical data reflecting the true state of the project.

Useful metrics. Agile teams use various metrics to understand their performance and forecast future delivery:

• Velocity: The amount of work (e.g., story points) completed per iteration (for iteration-based teams).
• Lead/Cycle Time: The time it takes for a work item to move through the system (for flow-based teams).
• Burnup/Burndown Charts: Visualizing completed work versus total work over time.
• Cumulative Flow Diagrams: Showing work in progress and bottlenecks across the workflow.

Transparency and learning. These metrics provide transparency, helping teams and stakeholders see progress, identify issues early, and make informed decisions. They support continuous learning and adaptation, allowing teams to improve their predictability over time.

7. Organizational Factors Influence Agility.

Project agility is more effective and sustained as the organization adjusts to support it.

Culture is key. Organizational culture significantly impacts agile adoption. A culture of safety, trust, transparency, and continuous learning is essential. Assessing the current culture helps identify areas that may support or hinder agile practices.

Systemic changes needed. Implementing agile often requires changes beyond project teams, affecting areas like procurement, finance, HR, and management structures. Siloed departments, fixed-price contracts, or individual performance metrics can impede agility if not adapted.

PMO evolution. Project Management Offices (PMOs) can support agility by becoming value-driven, invitation-oriented (offering services rather than mandating), and multidisciplinary centers of excellence. They can provide training, coaching, standards, and facilitate coordination across multiple agile teams or programs.

8. Tailoring Agile Approaches Requires Experience.

Tailoring is an advanced topic that should be undertaken by experienced practitioners who have been successful using agile approaches as originally described in multiple environments before they consider tailoring them.

Start with the basics. Before modifying an agile framework, teams should first gain experience by successfully implementing it as designed. This "Shu" phase builds foundational understanding before attempting to adapt ("Ha") or invent ("Ri") new approaches.

Tailor collaboratively. Any changes to practices should be discussed and agreed upon by the people they will impact. This fosters buy-in and reduces resistance. Experimenting with changes for a short period and reflecting on their effectiveness is a good approach.

Consider context. Tailoring should be influenced by specific project and organizational factors, such as team size, geographic distribution, criticality, regulatory constraints, and stakeholder buy-in. Removing a practice without understanding its purpose or counterbalancing practices can create new problems.

Last updated: July 5, 2025