Agile Methodology

Revision as of 14:03, 22 September 2017

Agile methodology in project management focuses on incremental and continuous improvements. Flexibility in scope, team dynamics and inputs, as well as, producing quality results is essential to agile. Agile methodology consists of a manifesto and as well as 12 principles. Agile methodology developed its popularity within the software development industry. Over the past 25 to 30 years agile methods helped the software and IT industry increase the productivity and success rate. Today, agile is spreading to other fields and industries. The execution of agile in projects is done by diving projects into smaller parts, known as sprints. A sprint-period typically lasts from 1 to 4 weeks. During each sprint, daily scrum meetings are held.

Introduction

Agile and scrum is a method for managing projects, programs, and portfolios in a flexible and collaborative way. It permits fast changes and pivots if need be. But why is agile gaining popularity amongst project managers especially?

Faster feedback cycle

Constant change

Problems are identified early

Flexible prioritization

High potential for customer satisfaction

Benefits of your labor is recognized sooner

Free commitment and accountability measurement

No Need to Waste Time Creating and Adjusting Detailed Project Plans

It Gives Your Team Purpose

Why is the agile methodology important?

Big Idea

Agile Vocabulary

The agile methodology based its terminology on rugby expressions, using words such as scrum. Agile consists of many different terms, however, some of the most import ones are mentioned and explained below.

Product Owner

The product owner is an extension of the customers. The product owner is responsible for the product backlog and have authority to change the product along the way.

Team

...

Product Backlog

The product backlog is an overview of all the tasks on the product that is left to be done. It is important that the backlog is up to date and prioritized at all times.

Sprint Backlog Meeting

...

Sprint Backlog

The sprint backlog is similar to the product backlog. However, the sprint backlog is only concerned with what the team is supposed to work on during the current sprint. It is also more detailed than the backlog.

Scrum Master

The scrum master is the voice of the team.

Sprints

Sprints are typically 1 to 4 weeks periods. During the sprint the team works on solving the problems in the sprint backlog.

Scrum

Scrums are 24-hour periods. The team has daily scrum meetings where all team members answer the following three questions.

• What did you accomplish since the last meeting?
• What are you working on until next meeting?
• What is getting in your way or keeping you from doing your job?

Sprint Retrospective

After every sprint period, a sprint retrospective is conducted. This allows the team to determine what was done right and what should be changed for future sprints.

Application

The Right Conditions for Agile

Agile presents some new opportunities for managing projects, programs, and portfolios. Agile is great for situations where the complexity is big, uncertainties are many, and the project is likely to change during the execution of the work. However, using agile may not be suitable in all situations.

Limitations

Annotated Bibliography

• Takeuchi, D. K., Darrell K. Rigby Jeff Sutherland Hirotaka Takeuchi, Bradley Staats and David M. Upton, & Steven Spear H. Kent Bowen. (2017, March 21). Embracing Agile. Retrieved September 22, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2016/05/embracing-agile

Provides an overview of the basics of what agile encompasses as well why agile should be utilized more in project management.

References

1. ↑ IWBI Standard. (2017).The WELL Building Standard. Retrieved from https://standard.wellcertified.com/

Annotated Bibliography

• Winch, G. M. (2010). Managing Construction Projects. Iowa: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Provides a focused perspective on the role of people involved in construction, especially on project management. One of its approaches is the quality of conformance to requirements, not only product related but also process related. To reach this conformance, quality management systems are used, thus Winch explains further and in detail the different systems that exist. It also provides some Case Studies where the theory is made clear by using real-life examples.

• Arthur, B. (2017). The Difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Retrieved from https://www.dialog.com.au/open-dialog/the-difference-between-quality-assurance-and-quality-control/

Describes the characteristics of Quality Assurance and Quality Control, and explains the connection and differences between both. They are considered to be strategies applied at different stages of the project, and Arthur describes this in a very clear way. It also discusses the benefits of applying these strategies at the right moment.

• LEED, U. G. (2017). Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Retrieved from http://leed.usgbc.org/leed.html

Shows a very detailed overview of the LEED Certification, including its meaning, the reasons to and benefits from choosing LEED, the people that should be involved in the project, categories, steps to follow and more. It serves as a good introduction to the certification and further information can be found in the different sections of type of certified buildings.

• IWBI. (2017). The WELL Certification Guidebook. New York

Guides the user through all the steps that are to be followed to get the WELL certification. It dives into the Project Team’s roles, the documentation requirements, performance verification and the final report. It allows the reader to have a clear picture of how to achieve the award and continue with the health engagement in the future.

References

Among the systems of Quality Assurance to identify the procedures of quality management, the third-party ones have now been proven to be the best practice as they follow international standards such as ISO. These systems consist of independent parties that certify the quality of a building. Thus, many independent third parties such as LEED and WELL have emerged in the last 15 years. These certifications are based on Sustainability in Construction and aim to increase the number of sustainable buildings in the world.

LEED certification provides independent verification of a building or neighborhood’s green features, allowing for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of resource-efficient, high-performing, healthy, cost-effective buildings ^[1].

On the other hand, WELL is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing, through air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind. ^[2].

Figure 1: Professional System Diagram ^[3]

Quality can be defined as “the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements” ^[3]. One of the objectives of the Quality Management Systems is to make clear that non-conformance in a product is somebody’s fault. Thus, workers are encouraged, reward-based, to take responsibility when achieving high quality. There are four main basic approaches to make sure that high quality has been reached and these act as a complement rather than as an alternative:

• Inspection: physical check.
• Quality Control (QC): management control techniques.
• Quality Assurance (QA): externally accredited procedures.
• Total Quality Management: continuous process improvement.