What Is Agile Project Management?

In this article, you want will learn about agile project management, we provide an in-depth overview of the approach below. We also discuss APM with Scrum and some useful tools for this management method.

Managing a project can be very tricky. Especially if there are many moving parts to keep track of and requirements that keep changing along the way.

Your clients may change their minds about something or want certain requirements tweaked in the middle of the project. This could cause some significant delays in development or have an impact on the work that your team has already completed.

Agile project management (APM) is an effective and flexible management approach that allows you to accurately reach your targets even when there are ongoing changes in requirements.

What Is Agile Project Management?

Agile project management is an iterative methodology used to guide a project through its life cycle. This means that it divides the project into multiple smaller parts or iterations.

Once completed, the project team and stakeholders review each part and provide feedback. Iterations are often known as sprints, especially in Scrum (a popular APM method). The critique of the work session, or sprint, then determines the next step to take in the project life cycle.

The benefit of this technique is that problems are easily spotted along the way so that the team can solve them more efficiently. Making tweaks and fixing small issues as they arise can save a lot of time and resources later on in the project. This is because, if not addressed, a small error could become bigger and affect more features as the project progresses.

So, APM is a very useful approach to help successfully complete a project on time. It is usually used in software development to allow for adaptability and flexibility as opposed to following a more linear project path.

How Does Agile Project Management Work?

Agile teams use quick feedback and continuous adaptation in the development of their software. They also need to continuously evaluate their time and costs to ensure that they are still on track.

APM uses velocity, burnup, and burndown charts instead of Gantt charts, which more traditional project management approaches used to track progress.

This type of approach also does not require the constant presence of the project manager. In APM, the role of the project manager gets distributed throughout the team. This requires thorough and consistent collaboration and communication so that each team member stays on track.

Principles Of Agile Project Management

There are 12 principles of Agile Project Management outlined by the Manifesto for Agile Software Development:

• The highest priority in APM is customer satisfaction. You can ensure this by delivering software early and continuously.
• Agile projects welcome any changes in requirements.
• Teams deliver software frequently.
• APM involves collaborations between the development teams and managers or stakeholders every day.
• Projects are built around motivated people.
• Face-to-face interaction is the best form of communication.
• The main measure of the project’s progress is functional software.
• The development of the software needs to be sustainable. Teams should be able to uphold a consistent pace throughout a project.
• There should be an emphasis on technical excellence and design.
• APM values simplicity.
• The best results come from self-organized teams.
• Reflection and adaptation are important.
• Agile Project Management With Scrum

Scrum is a type of agile project management that involves a small team and a Scrum Master. The Scrum Master helps to solve or clear away any obstacles that the team faces during the development of the project.

In Scrum methodology, teams complete work in cycles called sprints – as mentioned earlier. They also meet every day to discuss their progress, tasks, and any issues they are facing that need to be solved.

At the end of each sprint, teams review the completed work and have a discussion about how they can improve the next sprint. This is known as a Retrospective. Sprints can last anywhere from a couple of days to one to two weeks.

This approach to project management is very efficient and effective. Team members are in constant communication so that they are all on the same page and can help each other find the best solutions to problems that arise.

This is very beneficial in software development projects as it allows for fast development and testing.

Agile Project Management Tools

Below are some of the top agile project management tools that can help your team stay on track and make room for adjustments as you go.

monday.com

monday.com has several useful features that make APM easier. These include reporting, time-tracking, calendar, planning, and more. It is suitable for small and large businesses alike. This application can help you keep all your remote team members in the loop and track everyone’s progress.

Nifty

Nifty is a collaborative workspace application for agile teams. With this tool, you can plan out your project and make note of all milestones. Nifty is a great all-round tool for seeing an overview of your entire project as well as daily tasks and progress.

SpiraTeam

SpiraTeam by Inflectra is an agile software development management software that helps manage all aspects of your project. This includes iterations, requirements, tasks, releases, and bugs. This software is a more comprehensive tool for APM and is specifically designed for agile methodologies – including Scrum.

Wrike

Wrike is an online platform that allows agile teams to collaborate in real-time. It promotes communication between teams and is simple and easy to use. This tool can help to streamline the project workflow and connect remote team members.

ReQtest

Last but not least, ReQtest’s Agile Board feature can help you gain a more holistic view of your progress throughout the project life cycle. It also enables you to link to requirements, test tasks, and bug reports so that you can find everything easily. Our tool can help track sprints and identify any bottlenecks in your project.

The Digital Project Manager recommends ReQtest as “the most useful” tool to manage requirements.

Conclusion

Agile project management is an excellent methodology for software development. This is an effective and efficient approach to meeting client requirements in time and within budget.