Learn the Basics of Agile Development: Your Step-by-Step Guide

Agile Project Management -
Detailed Notes
When to Use Agile:
Agile is ideal when:
Business needs and priorities change often.
Delivering value early is critical to success.
Teams must stay flexible and responsive to feedback.
Agile thrives in dynamic environments where rapid adjustments and early user
involvement make a big difference.
Key Concepts of Agile:
Work is completed in iterations or sprints (typically 2 to 12 weeks long).
Each sprint delivers a small but complete piece of working product or
functionality.
Focus is on individuals and interactions over strict processes and rigid
tools.
Minimal necessary documentation — only what's actually needed to
support the work.
Agile Project Management - Detailed Notes 1

Customer collaboration happens throughout the project, not just at the
beginning or end.
Welcomes change at any time if it adds value to the final product.
Emphasizes constant feedback, learning, and improvement.
Agile vs. Waterfall:
Aspect Waterfall Agile
Scope Fixed (decided upfront)
Flexible (can change during the
project)
Time, Cost, Quality
Estimated after scope is
fixed
Fixed upfront; features adjust as
needed
Planning Style
Full detailed plan before
execution
Planning in short cycles
(iterations)
Customer
Involvement
Low (mostly at start and end) High (continuous feedback)
Stages in Agile Projects:
1. Envision: Define project goals, scope, and key players.
2. Speculate: Plan for a short iteration — choose features, estimate effort, and
assess risks.
3. Explore: Build, review, and test features in short cycles.
4. Adapt: Gather feedback, and adjust the product and plans.
5. Close: Complete the final wrap-up and lessons learned.
Other Key Practices:
Risk Management: Handle risks through frequent deliveries.
Change Control: Manage changes through ongoing feature backlog
updates and reprioritization.
Agile Works Best For:
IT and software development projects.

Non-IT projects, too — as long as work can be broken into small
deliverables.
Any project needing flexibility, fast feedback, and customer involvement.
Agile Project Management Lifecycle
Agile projects follow a structured but flexible cycle built around collaboration
and iteration.
Main activities include:
Sprint Planning (plan the next set of work) ,
Daily Standups (short, daily check-ins),
Sprint Review (show completed work to stakeholders) ,
Sprint Retrospective (analyze what went well and what can improve).
For larger hybrid projects, Agile often uses Jim Highsmith’s five stages:
Envision → Speculate → Explore → Adapt → Close
1. Envision Stage
Purpose: Set the overall vision and direction.
Key Activities:
Define goals, objectives, boundaries, stakeholders, and success criteria.
Assemble the team and agree on working norms (like hours,
communication rules, and conflict resolution).
Create a project definition document summarizing all of the above.
Difference from Waterfall:
Agile doesn’t plan everything upfront — it moves into iterations early.
2. Speculate Stage
Purpose: Plan the first and future iterations.
Key Activities:
Identify and define business functions and features needed for the next
sprint.

Estimate the effort required to complete these features.
Identify and update any known risks.
Speculate is short — focused planning only for upcoming work, not the
entire project.
3. Explore Stage
Purpose: Build and deliver the features.
Key Activities:
Build the features selected for this sprint.
Hold frequent peer reviews to catch mistakes early and improve quality.
Test features to ensure they are production-ready by sprint end.
4. Adapt Stage
Purpose: Incorporate feedback and continuously improve.
Key Activities:
Gather feedback from the customer, product owner, or stakeholders.
Fix any identified issues and make changes to the plan as needed.
Hold a team retrospective meeting to discuss lessons learned and improve
for the next iteration.
5. Close Stage
Purpose: Finalize the project.
Key Activities:
Make sure all intended features are complete.
Collect and document lessons learned.
Formally close out the project with stakeholders and the team.
Iteration Cycle in Agile
After the envision stage, Agile teams go through a repeating cycle of

Speculate → Explore → Adapt
This loop continues until:
All necessary features are built.
The budget is exhausted, or
The project deadline arrives.
Agile Planning an Iteration (Sprint
Planning)
Even though Agile is flexible, strong planning still happens before each sprint.
Key Points:
In the Speculate Stage, the business and technical teams collaborate to
select features to build.
Planning focuses on what can realistically be achieved within the next
sprint.
What is a feature?
A feature is
A small, deliverable function that provides business value.
Something that can be named using Action + Result.
Examples:
Find next available appointment time
Change assigned procedure room
First Iteration: Special Notes
The first iteration may take extra time because you must:
Identify and record all features (creating the product backlog).
Estimate effort for all items on the backlog.

Building the Backlog:
Steps:
1. Write each feature on a sticky note, index card, or in an Agile tool (like
Jira, Trello, etc.).
2. Organize the list.
The business team prioritizes based on business importance.
The technical team organizes based on logical build order.
3. Welcome changes: Agile is designed to easily accommodate new features
or changes.
Estimation and Approval:
Business and technical teams estimate the size and effort of each feature
together.
The customer or sponsor approves the prioritized feature list before
starting development.
Creating Project Plans:
Agile projects use three lightweight plans:
1. Iteration Plan: Work planned for the upcoming sprint.
2. Milestone Plan: Key deliveries across multiple sprints.
3. Release Plan: Timeline for when features go live.
Ongoing Planning for Future Iterations:
In each new Speculate Stage:
Review features from previous sprints:
What’s completed,
What’s pending?
Any new or updated features.
Re-estimate and re-prioritize as needed.

Planning is quick — for a 3-week sprint, planning might take 1–2 days only.
Agile - Managing the Explore Stage
In Agile, Explore = Build.
Key Practices:
Hold a daily standup meeting (max 15 minutes) where everyone shares:
What they completed yesterday,
What they plan to do today,
Any obstacles they’re facing.
Issues are logged, not solved, during the standup — solving happens after the
meeting.
Project Manager Role During Explore:
Remove obstacles the team faces.
Track progress and maintain visibility of issues.
Keep meetings short and focused.
Update stakeholders regularly without burdening the team.
Crucial Agile Principle:
Fixed time, not fixed features.
This means
The sprint ends on schedule, no matter what.
Any incomplete work is simply put back into the backlog and replanned
later—no sprint extensions!
Quick Standup Checklist:
Track progress towards sprint goals.
Log any new issues or blockers.

Work on removing obstacles after the standup.
Keep stakeholders informed but protect the team from constant
interruptions.

Learn the Basics of Agile Development: Your Step-by-Step Guide

More Related Content

Similar to Learn the Basics of Agile Development: Your Step-by-Step Guide (20)

More from Marcel David (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Learn the Basics of Agile Development: Your Step-by-Step Guide