Do we want to Agile

It’s Agile word now a days .. What to do we mean by Agile ? Agile means moving quickly or mentally quick.
In this fast moving technological world, everyday we are forced to face the new challenges of changing world. As rightly said “Change is constant” in our life.
Whether it’s personal life or Professional project management everything is changing so rapidly. We have to cope-up with the changes and move ahead. One of my fried mentioned in our drama “Planning is necessary to decide the direction, but one has to take the decision according to the situation” This exactly we have to anticipate and “PLAN” accordingly.

In formal Agile framework we would consider below topics, I tried to explain all these in short, there is a room for more and more discussions.
Guiding Vision,
Teamwork and collaboration,
Simple Rules,
Open Information,
Light Touch,
Agile Vigilance

Visionary leadership are the important factors. This framework helps Managers to become successful leaders.
Project Managers need to state and clear the vision of the project. Now this project can be anything for example “Going to a Trekking on Moutons near to the city” is a project. So whosever is initiating need to clear the vision to all team members what everybody is going to achieve from this project. In traditional approach Project Manager Prepare a plan document and get the input from the sponsor, create WBS , identify the risk and execute with the help of team. Now in Agile framework these steps will not change , what make it different from traditional management practices is to have frequent interaction with team and quick response to the changes. Since Trekking is complex journey and depends upon the changes in nature conditions, Leader has to respond quickly to the changes , he cant follow the “Change Management Process”, else it will be costly and project may get scraped.
So along the project execution path every team member becomes a solder and has the responsibility to complete the tasks. He can take his own decisions in favor of vision of the project.
Teamwork and collaboration – Good relationship within the team members works as a catalyst. It improves the performance of the team. As well getting to know team members very well at the start of the project leader can easily understand what difficulties he can face during the execution process (Risk Identification and Response planning) Although many a time team is not a choice of leader, try to have mixture of experts and learners in the team. Experts will guide the learners and they will find the innovation in the project. In out previous example Enthusiastic new team member may find the idea to have a quick bridge on the small river flow which will save at least 3 KM , experience member will guide to build the bridge.
Simple Rules – Rules should be simple could be easily followed , yes that’s true. Make a rule that can be followed and not broken. All rules should be clearly stated and agreed by the team. Use your leader ship skills to have a common agreement. If team is in doubt , make it more simple e.g. RULE is daily we have to walk 10 KM. have a doubt, make it simple walk 10 KM with 1 Breakfast break of 10 min, 1 Lunch break etc.
Open Information – Most important, all the relevant information should be assessable to all team members, approval process should be minimum. Trust on the team. We follow the open information system by way of these blogs, “plainspeak”, Ravi Pandit’s and KPP’s informative mails. Really a good culture, We need be more open at DU level and need to flow the information.
Light Touch – This is also a great aspect of becoming really agile. In traditional management methods everything is seen through the controls like risk control, change control, people control. Unfortunately, this conventional view doesn’t really help us in the uncertain real world because life is characterized by probabilities, not certainties. As experience teaches, unforeseen events can lay the bestof plans to naught in an instant. Skilled professionals do not take well to micromanagement. Tools and techniques reach their limitations quickly when used inappropriately. To impose order, you must impose some control, but do it with a “light touch”.
Agile Vigilance - You, the agile manager, therefore must be continually vigilant to merit the mantle of leadership: monitoring progress, and keeping a finger on the pulse of the development team. This does not mean hovering and controlling everything – remember, you have established simple rules and must trust in your people and the process. Instead, it means being observant, continuously seeking feedback and monitoring success or failure, and adapting by making changes as situations warrant.


So, what are waiting for? I know all these methodologies may not be the perfect way to be successful, but certainly this is a guide line, we can discuss and build a better future in this constantly changing world.

(Sources – Google, Agile Project Management frameworks)