6 Agile Methodology Stages You Need to Be Aware Of

Agile methodology is becoming more and more important and popular in modern workspaces. The complexity of projects and the need for continuous modifications have shifted the project management methodology from traditional to agile.

However, to thrive agile methodology in your organization, you need to have an adaptive and flexible team to sudden changes and new requirements.

According to statistics, around 71% of the worldwide businesses adopt the agile approach, while agile has already helped 98% of companies. Moreover, 62% of companies have experienced high growth in profits since they adopted agile methodologies.

Hence proven that Agile is a great way to help teams boost success, increase inter-organizational transparency, and effectively meet stakeholders’ needs.

Therefore, in this blog, we’ve given a complete guide on an agile methodology, its 4 values, 12 principles, key components, and the 6 agile methodology stages.

So, scroll down to expand your knowledge of Agile further!

What Is an Agile Methodology?

An agile methodology is an iterative approach used by project managers to break the project into smaller tasks completed over a short period throughout the project’s lifecycle.

The implication of an agile methodology allows teams to execute projects faster, with greater adaptability and a streamlined workflow.

Mainly, agile methodology is used by companies where project requirements are constantly changing, for example, software and marketing agencies. Thus, the agile method allows teams to adapt to change better and re-evaluate their work on completing each iteration.

However, it may sound tricky initially, but you’d benefit your company in many ways once you get used to it. For example:

• It will ensure shorter development cycles
• Better achievement of the needs and requirements
• Increase in stakeholder’s satisfaction level
• Constant feedback and a chance to improve in future
• Greater adaptability to change
• Increased team collaboration

So, now that you know what an agile methodology is and some of its benefits, let’s see its core values.

4 Core Values of Agile Methodology

To teach the agile methodology in your business processes correctly, you must understand the four core values.

The four values and the 12 agile principles are the heart of agile methodology. Thus, let’s quickly skim through them to pump the efforts in the right direction.

1. Individual Interactions Over Processes and Tools

This value implies that human interactions and individual relationships are deemed more important than tools and techniques in agile methodology.

Thus, collaboration and coordination within the team and technical skills will ensure the project’s success.

2. Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation

Projects should not be all about lengthy documentation and paperwork. They should be more customer-centric and be used for future improvements.

3. Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation

It would help if you did not stick to the initial contract requirements throughout the project development Lifecycle. Agile methodology focuses on constant product development and continuous collaboration with the stakeholders to ensure success.

4. Responding to Change by Following a Plan

In the traditional project management methods, change was seen as an expense. However, agile methodology values change over a set schedule. With the development of each sprint, teams should try to improve and bring changes to their projects simultaneously.

12 Agile Principles

Now let’s take a sneak peek at the 12 agile principles!

1. To ensure customer satisfaction through timely and continuous delivery.
2. To adapt to change at any stage of the product development lifecycle.
3. Quick delivery of working software, most likely within a week or two.
4. To ensure that stakeholders and developers work hand in hand throughout its development.
5. Make sure to have motivated individuals are working in a supportive environment to build your projects.
6. Ensure face-face communication.
7. Progress should be measured on the success of your product.
8. Agile processes that are focused on sustainable development.
9. Attention to design improves agility and technical excellence.
10. Managing the workload effectively.
11. Self-organized teams to experience the best designs, requirements, and architects.
12. Retrospection to improve teams’ effectiveness.

5 Key Components of Agile Methodology

There are typically 5 key components you should be aware of to successfully adapt to your agile methodology.

• User stories: These can be defined as the project requirements per the stakeholder’s perspective. So, stories or requirements defined by the users are called user stories.
• Sprints: This is one of the most used terms in agile methodology. Sprint is the short iterations lasting for a week or two. You have to complete each sprint as planned to complete the whole project.
• Agile Board: Agile Board can be in the form of a Kanban board or Gantt chart to help you track the progress of your tasks and keep yourself updated.
• Backlog: According to the official Scrum Guide, “The product backlog is an ordered list of everything known to be needed in the product. It is the single source of requirements for any changes to be made to the product.”

6 Agile Methodology Stages You Must Know

So, now let’s see the 6 agile methodology stages you must be aware of!

1. Project Planning

This is the first agile methodology stage, where the project managers explain to it the goal of the project, its value to the stakeholders or organization, and how it will be achieved.

Project planning defines the project scope. However, it shouldn’t be the ultimate plan as agile requirements change and evolve.

2. Project Roadmap Creation

The next stage of agile methodology is the creation of the project roadmap. The project roadmap can be described as follows:

 “The breakdown of all the features to make up the final product.”

This is an important stage in the successful execution of the project as the whole team will view these features during each sprint. Once you have a breakdown, you’ll also prepare a product backlog at this stage. Product Backlog can be defined as:

“The list of all the features and requirements needed to build the product. However, the list keeps on changing as new requirements come in”. 

Thus, a project roadmap can be called the method where project managers clearly define what needs to be done per the stakeholders’ requirements.

3. Release Planning

Since the idea of agile methodology revolves around shorter development cycles called sprints, thus, each sprint is completed within a week or two. However, to complete your project promptly, you need to define the release date for each sprint.

Therefore, a high-level plan is required to set up a release date at the beginning of each sprint. Make realistic timelines without burdening your team and leaving some room for unexpected situations that might result in a delay.

4. Sprint Planning

Before the beginning of each sprint, it is essential to hold a sprint meeting. This meeting is pivotal for the project managers and the development team to be clear on the following:

• What are the goals and objectives?
• How to accomplish it?
• How would the tasks be managed?

Thus, it is crucial to ensure that the team stands on the same page and is evident in its objectives and goals. Moreover, make sure to share the tasks equally for timely execution.

Use task management software to create a visual workflow of all the tasks. This would increase transparency, collaboration, forecast of risks, and progress checks.

5. Daily Stand-ups

You all must have come across this term in one way or another. Daily stand-up meetings are like a booster dose for the team in agile methodology. These are short meetings usually lasting for 10-15 mins in which the team discusses what they’ve done so far.

They are a great way to keep the whole team on the same page and solve all the problems time that might be there. Some of the benefits of having a stand-up meeting are:

• It helps the teams to stay productive
• It increases morale and increases motivation
• It helps to generate new ideas
• It helps to increase cooperation by engaging the whole team
• Identification of bottlenecks is easier with a daily update

However, it shouldn’t sound boring and monotonous. Therefore, to make those 10 minutes count check out some tips on acing your daily stand-up meetings.

6. Sprint Review and Retrospectives

This is the last stage of agile methodology and is sometimes not given much time and energy. However, if done rightly and regularly, it can help teams achieve more by improving their processes.

Thus, to ensure that the project is completed successfully, you’ll hold two meetings at the end of each sprint: sprint review and retrospective meetings.

In Sprint review meetings, the whole team, the project manager, and the stakeholders gather, and the team demonstrates what they have accomplished. The goal of the sprint review meeting is to review the goals of the sprint, stakeholders’ feedback requests, the impediments faced, and the new features implemented.

However, retrospective meetings are more of a reflection stage. The whole team reflects on what they’ve done, what the hurdles were, how to improve them in the future, and the team’s take on it.

Thus, retrospective meetings are a great way to find room for improvement in the future and learn from past mistakes. Read our blog on 11 Agile Retro Ideas to Conduct Smart Meetings if you wish to learn how to hold successful retro meetings.

Project Management Software to Amplify Your Processes

Handling your team can be challenging, especially for agile methodology. The ever-changing environment in agile methodology needs some good organizing and planning. Therefore, project management software can help you manage all your agile methodology stages.

Conclusion

To wrap it up, agile methodology is excellent for your company dealing with complex-changing projects. However, it needs proper development stages and processes to execute successfully.

The 6 agile methodology stages are all about giving importance to the details of each stage. So, if you plan on using agile management in your organization, make sure to follow the book by its rules. Moreover, use project management software to boost your process.

We wish you good luck!