The traditional project management approach is inflexible and does not fit with the changing environment. With the introduction of Agile, you can dynamically manage your projects, collaborate with the team, reduce the risks of the project, and deliver the product quickly. Agile focuses on rapid feedback from the consumers, which helps the developers to upgrade their sprints. It offers some powerful tools to uplift your project development.

What is Agile?

Agile Practices or methodology is a project development approach that divides projects into several phases that are known as sprints. There are various Agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming(XP). Agile practices are a set of principles for managing software development projects.

1. They focus on continuous improvement, iterative development, and close collaboration between teams and customers.
2. It is used when the customer needs the deployment of a project in a short period.

What are Agile Practices?

Agile Practices are techniques and methods that are used by the development teams to implement the principles of Agile. Below are some Agile practices:

1. Scrum

It is an agile framework for developing complex projects and high-quality products. In the scrum process, each member of the team comes forward to accomplish the task. The decisions are based on observation and experimentation. They work on a small part of the project and then learn from it as needed. The Scrum team consists of the Scrum Master, the Product Owner, and the developing team.

1. The Scrum Master ensures that there is effective collaboration and communication within the team, it also motivates and encourages the team to work effectively.
2. The work is divided into small phases known as sprints.
3. The Scrum Master ensures that the project is completed within the given time duration. Regular feedbacks are provided by the customer that helps the team to make changes in the sprint.

2. Kanban

Kanban is a framework used for the implementation of agile software development. It emerges from lean development, lean development involves maximizing profit while minimizing waste. The process of development starts with collecting the raw materials, then each step is identified and then it is determined whether it adds value or not.

1. If it does not add value it is then eliminated. Only those components are added to the system that are required by the customer, this results in minimal usage of the resources.
2. Kanban methodology focuses on reducing the time required to complete a project.

3. Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD)

In Continuous Integration, team members integrate the code changes into a repository that is shared among all the members. Testing of code is done regularly to identify the issues as early as possible. Codes are merged from multiple developers that they share on the common repository.

1. In Continuous Delivery, the task is to ease the delivery of the software and make it more efficient and shippable at any point in time to the customer frequently.
2. It is associated with DevOps, focusing on the collaboration of development and other teams to achieve effective software delivery.

4. Iterative Development

It is an approach in which a project is split into small parts called iterations. In each iteration there is a development of a subpart and the product is then incremented. Then by continuous cycles or iterations, the development is accomplished. This is an incremental approach to software development. Feedback is provided at regular intervals. This model is suitable for projects that have dynamic requirements.

1. The project is modified in each iteration, by this the developer identifies the risks that may occur during the development phase.
2. Scrum and XP are based on an iterative development model.

5. User Stories and Backlog

User Stories are descriptions based on the needs of the user. It involves what the user needs and why it is needed by them. It involves users, actions, and benefits. For Example: “As a shopkeeper, I want to view product reviews and ratings so that I can sell my products accordingly.” This story depicts that the user is the shopkeeper, what they want is reviews and ratings of the product, and why they want it because they need to increase their productivity.

The backlog is like a to-do list. A list of all the tasks, features, and improvements that need to be considered while delivering a product. It changes dynamically according to the needs of the user to make the product much better. This is also known as Product Backlog which is owned by the Product owner.

1. Individual user stories make up the entire backlog.
2. The backlog is regularly updated as new information arrives or feedback is received.

6. Cross-Functional Teams

It is a group of individuals with various skills and roles that work together to accomplish a common goal. Each member has some unique skill that contributes to the productivity of the project. Along with this, each member can play multiple roles. Working in a cross-functional team the product can be made more innovative and development time can be reduced.

7. Adaptive Planning

It is an approach that provides flexibility, responsiveness, and adaptability to the changing environment while developing a project. It is also based on iterative development.

1. Adaptive plans are made so that they can evolve according to the conditions.
2. The most important features are developed and deployed first.
3. All these functionalities improve the agility of the product, regular feedback helps meet the user requirements, risks are identified regularly, and incremental approach results in faster delivery of the product.

Conclusion

Agile practices provide you with a dynamic approach to project management, this helps the team to deliver the products in a short period. The developers are exposed to a friendly environment and adaptable situations so that they can work easily. By this, you can get efficiency, collaboration, and customer satisfaction that will take the project to new heights. These are not just practices but a mindset toward collaborative and continuous learning. Agile learning is a must nowadays because of the ever-changing requirements of the customers.