Why Agile Methodology Makes Sense For Small Teams

Agile Methodology for Small Teams

Why Agile Makes Sense for Small Teams

Most people think of agile project management as a methodology for managing large software projects, but agile methodologies can also be applied to small teams. Agile makes sense for small teams because it allows them to manage their work in a more efficient and effective way. By using an agile approach, team members can always be working on the most important tasks and they can rapidly respond to changes in requirements. This makes agile well-suited for quickly developing and releasing software products. In addition, the team can easily adapt to changing circumstances, which is essential when working with limited resources. So if you're part of a small team, consider using agile to help you get your work done more efficiently.

What is Agile Methodology(Agile method)?

Agile methodologies are a set of principles and practices for developing, planning, and implementing software. It was designed to allow individuals and teams to work more effectively in conditions where they have limited time or resources. Agile is most often used in cases where there is not enough time or money to do everything at the same time so it relies on a prioritization framework.

Agile software development embraces change as one would naturally find in an organic model of control. This means that the demands of today may be very different than what might happen tomorrow, requiring one to pivot (i.e., adjust) priorities dynamically without engineering other contingencies—a disciplined approach involving self-organizing teams relying on adaptive leadership to meet market needs with customer collaboration rather than a plan.

Brief History of Agile Method

The term "agile" comes from the Agile Manifesto, a statement on software development principles that was created in 2001 by a group of software practitioners who wanted to improve the state of the practice. The manifesto was updated five years later to account for changes in thinking and new practices. Today, there are more than 100 signatories to the Manifesto, including thought leaders in software development. 

Bringing Success using Agile Methods

Why are Agile Methodologies Beneficial For Small Teams?

Agile methodology is beneficial for small teams because it allows them to manage their work in a more efficient and effective way. By using an agile approach, team members can always be working on the most important tasks and they can rapidly respond to changes in requirements. This makes agile well-suited for quickly developing and releasing software products. In addition, the team can easily adapt to changing circumstances, which is essential when working with limited resources. So if you're part of a small team, consider using agile to help you get your work done more efficiently.

The Benefits of Using Agile for Small Teams

The benefits of using agile for small teams include:

1. Increased efficiency

Agile allows teams to manage their work in a more efficient way so they can always be working on the most important tasks.

2. Improved productivity

There is always someone working on the highest priority task so work gets done more quickly and efficiently.

3. Easily adapt to changes in requirements/situation

Agile's prioritization framework allows teams to rapidly respond to changing requirements or other unforeseen circumstances.

4. More motivated team members

Team members are given the freedom to define what they want to accomplish, which boosts their motivation levels since they can take ownership of their work right from the start; this leads them to feel that they are actually contributing towards something meaningful, rather than just following orders that do not seem relevant or connected with anything else.

5. Reduced stress & improved morale

Agile helps teams reduce their workload by removing unnecessary tasks, so they can focus on the important and necessary ones. This reduces stress and leads to improved morale.

6. Reduced development time

Agile helps teams reduce their workload by removing unnecessary tasks, so they can focus on the important and necessary ones. This leads to faster software development times since there is no backtracking or redoing already completed work which speeds up the process considerably

7. Improved quality of work

Agile includes a number of processes that lead to better code output such as continuous integration, frequent testing, pair programming, and test-driven development (TDD). All these practices improve code quality.

8. Players adapt more naturally to changes in leadership

When using agile methods, leaders depend on team members for setting goals and this provides a better level of buy-in for the goals; this leads to more cooperation since players feel like they are part of the decision-making process.

9. Better team morale

When everyone is working towards the same common goal, team members will always be in sync with one other and this increases their overall performance, which improves team morale drastically

10. Easier project management

Agile's inherent flexibility makes its application suitable for all types of projects, regardless of size or complexity, so managing it becomes easy.

11. Improved productivity & less overhead

Using an agile approach allows teams to avoid unnecessary overhead costs while allowing them to meet deadlines more easily than traditional methods. This results in improved productivity levels without compromising on quality

12. Closer collaboration between product owners/managers and team members.

As agile is less prescriptive in nature, it allows for better collaboration between team members and product owners/managers. This leads to improved software development while keeping the customer happy with the end results.

The Use of Agile in Software Development

Agile Approaches to Software Development Process/ Agile Software Development/ Agile Development

There are many different ways to apply agile principles and practices on a small team. One of these is pair programming, which David Hussman described as follows: "In its most rigorous form, every member of the team is paired with another member of the team at all times. The two individuals switch pairs and jobs throughout the day such that everyone gets experience working on all parts of the software under development." Other approaches include scrum, kanban, or any other approach you can adopt and adapt according to your specific situation. Agile methods also work well for distributed teams who need to collaborate remotely using online tools like GoToMeeting or Slack.

How To Start Using Agile Methodology?

Starting an agile project is not hard. In fact, you can start using agile principles and practices on your existing projects even if they are waterfall by applying a hybrid approach. This involves taking the most useful aspects of both methodologies and experimenting with these ideas until you find what works best for your team.

Principles of Agile Methodology

The principles of agile methodology are as follows:

1.) Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

2.) Working software over comprehensive documentation

3.) Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

4.) Responding to change over following a plan

Application of Agile Principles for Your Team

Agile Principles in Small Teams:

The principles of agile are derived from the experience of many people involved in software development over the years. Although they were initially meant to help with big multi-team projects that required high levels of collaboration among multiple scrums, they can actually be applied successfully to small teams as well. Below is a brief discussion about how each principle can be implemented by small teams.

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Agile processes are designed to facilitate self-organizing teams where every member is able to contribute on an equal level. Team members work together closely so that personal interaction can happen on a regular basis, which helps them understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. Instead of relying on comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration with the team to understand the problem at hand and communicate ideas, concerns, and solutions.

2. Working software over comprehensive documentation

Agile teams produce working software as quickly as possible so that they can validate their assumptions, improve design direction based on feedback from customers, and build iteratively. They use the documentation for reference purposes only since it's not necessary for delivery.

Rather than writing extensive requirements documents upfront that requires formal sign-offs, agile teams develop user stories that are written in plain English to express the functionality needed by users. These stories are then reviewed with the team members who represent customers' roles, which helps them gain an understanding of what customers will need. The stories are refined until they map to a small number of features, which help define milestones throughout development.

3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Agile teams understand the need to prioritize customer requests and they do so through regular interactions with customers, who can change their minds on a whim about what is needed. Agile team members treat customers as collaborators rather than adversaries by gathering feedback early and often and balancing customers' concerns against business objectives and constraints.

Customers are included in sprint planning meetings where backlog items are prioritized based on value, effort, risk, dependencies, or other criteria which helps them make informed decisions about what gets worked on first.

Team members frequently engage with stakeholders to help verify that features are working as expected, elicit new ideas, get input for design decisions, etc., which allows them to respond to sudden changes more easily across all product lifecycle – not just the development phase.

4. Responding to change over following a plan

Distributed teams can't afford to be stuck in the planning stage because, unlike their co-located counterparts, they cannot handle changes easily without disrupting others. Instead of waiting for requirements to be agreed upon upfront and then trying to predict how much time it will take to complete them, agile teams prioritize features based on business value and feasibility.

They use short iterations where a feedback loop is embedded so that they can course-correct as soon as possible if things aren't working out as planned. This allows distributed teams to work faster, collaborate better across time zones, and respond quickly when required by customers or.

Example of Agile Implementation for Distributed Teams from Scrum Alliance

In spite of its benefits, many people hesitate to adopt agile practices. Some of the most common reasons include:

• "It's too risky and not proven."

Agile has been around for more than a decade and is now backed by plenty of evidence and success stories from companies like LinkedIn, Apple, Intuit, Google, Adobe Systems, Amazon.com, and IBM. While no methodology can be guaranteed to work in all cases, agile approaches have been tried and tested by enough companies that it's now possible to say with confidence that these principles work.

• "We're already doing waterfall; we don't want to change what seems to be working fine."

It's true that many companies have had success with waterfall. However, research by the Standish Group found that about 70% of IT projects fail to meet their goals, regardless of the methodology used. The reality is that most organizations are not getting value from their investment in software because they're delivering late and over budget, or features are not designed according to what customers really need. That's why agile approaches encourage you to start small when trying something new, focusing on solving one problem at a time rather than overhauling your entire system all at once.

• "We'll lose control if we let people change requirements mid-development ."

Agile teams prioritize based on value, which means that stakeholders do not get everything they want every time. Rather than spending time negotiating with stakeholders on every request, agile teams use techniques like " decomposition ", where they break down larger requests into smaller, more manageable ones that are easier to agree upon. This makes it much easier to say no when necessary because changes are introduced gradually rather than all at once.

• "Agile seems disorganized."

Agile is often seen as an unstructured approach relative to the orderliness of traditional software development, but this doesn't have to be the case. Many successful agile projects adopt a hybrid approach that incorporates both waterfall and agile practices depending on what works best for each individual situation. For example, agile teams may initially plan out their backlogs based on the business value before starting work, then switch to timeboxing during execution so that they can complete work in the shortest amount of time possible to deliver valuable features quickly.

• "We're not sure how agile works."

It's easy for companies to misinterpret what it means to be agile. For example, some organizations think that it implies trying out new ideas or technologies, while others interpret it as an excuse for developers to do less rather than more. However, being agile doesn't mean abandoning planning or minimizing quality; instead, you are adapting your development process based on what is currently working well for your organization and team members. This way, you can continuously make improvements and keep growing along with your business needs without getting stuck in one approach that may no longer be relevant.

Being agile to help your team

If these reasons sound familiar but you're still not sure how to get started with agile, you're not alone. Many companies experience a shift in mindset when they first begin to adopt these approaches, and that's okay: It takes time to change the way we work and think. At its core, having the courage to begin this journey means gaining control of your future by becoming aware of your options and making informed decisions rather than sticking with what is familiar. Or as Agile Manifesto author Ken Schwaber has said: "If you're wondering if an agile approach would be good for you, it probably would."

Why do people prefer Agile Development Methods?

Team members are agile to react to changing market forces in order not to delay their planned projects for more than a day or a week. It allows your staff to gather feedback on the changes and integrate them within your plans for minimal cost. But the real issue is people.

In the Agile spirit, authentic human interaction is a greater priority than rigid processes. It's more of a relationship than a predetermined arrangement between customers and team members. It also helps deliver an effective solution to the customer problem rather than just hyper-detailed documentation.

Agile methodology is a proven, effective way to manage small teams. The agile principles can help you identify what your team needs and how they work best together. Get started today with our guide on using the agile approach for software development in small teams!

We’ve laid out some of the benefits of implementing an agile strategy as well as approaches that are most appropriate for small teams so you don't have to start from scratch. You'll be amazed at how much more productive everyone will feel when communication flows smoothly throughout all aspects of your business.

Being Agile with ZenTao

Agile with ZenTao

ZenTao is an agile project management software that can help you manage your team’s workflow with precision. They have a full feature set, so you don’t need to integrate several systems. It has open-source code and a flexible extension mechanism, making it easy to deploy or re-develop the system.

The underlying framework of ZenTao is developed independently from its frontend UI framework, which makes it robust and stable with a beautiful interface and friendly interaction. With their perfect community mechanism in place, you will be able to get technical support when needed as well as access tutorials for how best to use the product.

Whether you’re a startup or an established enterprise, ZenTao can help your business achieve the agility and efficiency that will make it successful in today's competitive marketplace.

Schedule your demo with us now to see how we can work together to better manage projects for agile teams