Agile Project Management: Why?

May 1, 2023

There are many different methodologies that are used by successful project managers. What separates highly-successful project managers from everybody else is the ability to use the correct methodology for respective projects. This is to say that every methodology will not apply and be successful for every type of project. This blog will delve into why an agile approach to a project may be successful and why it should be used in specific scenarios. 

The agile project management methodology refers to the process of not following a strict, waterfall type of project management methodology. This is to say that a project that is being done with agility means that it will not follow a linear approach where the first things are done and then the project moves onto the next tier of tasks. Things are broken down into incremental slices that can be done over the course of a smaller lifetime that will then be combined with the other slices to form the overall completion of the project. The main difference between traditional and agile methods is that an agile method can be used to go back to previous steps when they need to be changed. A traditional, waterfall style means that steps are done in a strict and linear fashion and are typically not revisited when they have been completed. 

Agile project management is important for tasks that may experience quite a bit of change over the course of the lifetime of said project. Agile projects are also especially suited for the start of projects that have not been done before or explored by an organization in the past. This is to say that a product that is being built on an assembly line will not do well in an agile environment. This would be done in the traditional sense of project management because this product should follow a step-by-step methodology. However, the invention and implementation of a new software system would probably be best suited to be done in an agile manner. 

Agile does better for projects that could be described as complex and novel. When there is complexity, a project stands to change quite a bit from the inception to the completion of all stages of the project. This means that there may be the need to revisit old steps and do things in a non-linear fashion. When a team is breaking new ground on a new frontier that is yet to be explored, things are unforeseen and can be surprising. To mitigate the risk of being caught off guard by things that will pop up over the course of managing the project, an approach that has a certain amount of agility will assist in keeping things on track even if the scope, schedule, cost, or execution of the project changes.