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Quick and efficient delivery shouldn’t negatively impact quality. It seems obvious, but still there’s an entire methodology developed to make sure it happens. But what is an agile workflow, and what are the benefits?
Agile workflows are in no means a new concept, and since agile ways of working were specified in the Agile Manifesto it’s proved itself to be a highly effective project methodology when it comes to improving productivity, delivering value faster, and adapting to changing requirements.
If you work in software development, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with agile principles, its components and how agile project management workflows are typically implemented.
The initial definition of an agile workflow isn’t all that different from the definition of a traditional workflow. An agile workflow is a number of steps that drive teams through iterative project cycles; often divided into planning, executing, and delivering.
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The important difference between an agile workflow and a traditional workflow is the iterative project cycles. Where traditional workflows are a rigid sequence of steps to move a project from start to finish, agile workflows emphasize flexibility and continuous improvement, which lets teams adapt to changes within the scope of their project.
In addition to planning, execution and delivery, agile workflows typically include stages like backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, review sessions and retrospectives.
Because of this, agile workflows are commonly used by software teams because it allows them to release new features in increments, gather feedback and refine their workflow with each iteration.
While the effect of implementing an agile workflow in your organization will differ depending on the challenges you have, the type of work you do and which type of workflow you are currently operating under.
But agile project management workflows offer a number of benefits such as:
Through reviews, stand-ups and review sessions, agile workflow processes promote collaboration, transparency and focus. This usually results in an increased productivity because everyone is aware of what other team members are working on and when they finish parts of a project, and it helps increase quality because two heads are better than one.
If done right, agile project management creates a culture of empowerment and ownership through collaboration. Essentially, you should be seeing a more autonomous and engaged workforce, as team members are moved closer to the decision making process.
As agile project management workflows allow organizations to react faster when it comes to customer feedback and changing requirements. As delivery speed increases, customer satisfaction and loyalty usually follows.
Implementing agile workflows requires planning, commitment and willingness to adapt. But most importantly it requires buy-in from the teams who need to follow the agile methodology.
So before you start following the steps below, you need to evaluate existing workflows, where the pain points in them are, and decide whether your teams are ready to adopt agile practices.
The first step of implementing agile workflows should always be to provide training and resources which helps familiarize the team with common principles and tools for agile work.
In keeping with the agile principle of self-organizing, clarifying roles, expectations and responsibilities needs to be done in collaboration with individual team members. This helps ease the transition and remove resistance towards adopting a new methodology.
Different agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, Lean etc.) are suited to different projects and team dynamics. So you need to choose methodologies based on your specific situation.
Any digital tools needed to support agile practices, like project management software, collaboration and approval tools need to be implemented ahead of starting the transition to agile work.
Your first foray into agile work practices should be handled as an agile project in itself. Don’t launch a total change in workflow policies at once. Launch early, get feedback, adapt, reiterate and refine before scaling across the entire organization.
In the interest of continuous improvement you should never expect reviews, feedback and changes to stop. Just because roles and responsibilities were established once, you should regularly revisit decisions and make sure they are still working.
Agile workflows are based on 12 principles that make up the agile methodologies, all of which are outlined in the Agile Manifesto, which has served as the foundation for agile development practices.
While the best choice of agile methodology (Scrum, Kanban, Lean etc.) will depend on project requirements, team dynamics and organizational culture, and each will impact the workflow structure in a different way, we’ve created an outline of an agile workflow to use for inspiration.
The first phase should outline objectives, deliverables, and any project constraints. It’s important to include team members, stakeholders, and sponsors in this step, in an effort to understand the expectations of the project and make sure that project goals and business goals are aligned.
In the second phase, the project is split into manageable tasks and tied to achievable milestones. It’s important to balance desires for quick delivery with the resources that are available for the project to avoid errors and needs to rework deliverables.
In this step tasks and responsibilities are assigned to team members. Use a project & task management system to ensure that the project timeline matches availability of team members within the project period.
Build out a timeline with clear deadlines and mapped dependencies. This allows you to highlight both known conflicts and anticipated delays, which helps avoid bottlenecks and delays.
Making sure you have created an efficient agile workflow requires you to monitor progress, identify issues and make adjustments while the project is running to make sure that any deliverables are on track.
Any steps that could support the efforts of your team members should be included here, and any improvements that are identified should be implemented before reiteration.
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