Agile Teams

Philosophy and methods of effective teams

In the new reality of the world after the first lockdown outsourcing and the remote work became as relevant as never before. Recent pandemic forced many companies to change their perspective. On one side, the situation limited possibilities, on the other side it showed us new ones – maybe under-discovered options. One of them is Agile Teams. 

The philosophy and methods of these highly effective teams come from Agile Manifesto. The list of principles created from frustration to make software developing easier.  Let’s get started!

 

First of all – construction. 

These agile teams are built of well-matched individuals. Specialists take various competencies and mix them in the way they can complete each other. The hierarchy and organization of assignment remain in the hands of the team, allowing for self-governing. The group know better how to split tasks among themselves based on experience and knowledge in a given topic.  

 

Second of all – communication plays a key role.  

Agile teams can work remotely as effective as on-premise. Your trust, their experience, and communication skills create an agile team capable of many ambitious projects. 

 

Another rule is that the satisfaction of the client is the highest priority. It is made by early and continuous delivery of valuable software. To go even further, the team can accept and react to even late change of requirements. Everything is for a competitive advantage of our client.  

 

Cooperation with agile teams is simpler to follow the progress of work because of the usage of shorter timescale. Deliver working software frequently, reporting even weekly. Additionally, the measure of the development is working software. 

 

Next important principle is that projects do not belong just to one department, the same as it is hard for a company to be run without different departments. Businesspeople and developers must work together. They go through the project together every day. Moreover, the Manifest claims that the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. During remote work done with using online tools. 

 

In the face of the information above, we can still be worried about how the job will be done. How is it possible without constant control? The answer is building projects around motivated individuals. If you support them and give the proper environment they need, you can trust them to get the job done. The best architectures, requirements, and designs come from self-organizing teams. Trust your people and they will repay you with excellent work.  

 

Also, agile teams put a lot of effort into self-development. At regular intervals, the team reviews themselves: achievements, cooperation, problems and how were they solved; to become more effective. The result is adjustment and improvement. 

 

Furthermore, Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely, while continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential. 

 

To sum up, the most relevant parts of the whole Manifesto are:

 

“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan”

(Principles behind the Agile Manifest)

 

 

_____________________________________________________________

Bibliography:

1. Manifesto for Agile Software Development from https://agilemanifesto.org/

2. Principles behind the Agile Manifesto https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

Background picture source: photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Marta Kościjanczuk

Published:12/14/2020

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