Brief summary

The Agile Practice Guide describes the fundamental principles, values, and methods of agile working. It shows how projects can be implemented flexibly, iteratively, and with a customer-centric approach. The goal is to empower teams to react quickly to changes, continuously deliver added value, and increase productivity through close collaboration. The document combines theoretical foundations with practical frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe, and provides guidelines for agile leadership, team structure, and continuous improvement.

General ideas

• Agile is part of Lean

• Agile methods are suitable for uncertain, dynamic work.

• There are two types of uncertainty: requirements uncertainty and technical uncertainty.

• Agile refers to undefined work. Definable work : Routine, predictable, as in production processes.

  Indeterminate work: Variable, difficult to plan, as in software development.

Contents

4 core values of Agile

1. Individuals and interactions are more important than processes and tools.

2. Effective results take precedence over comprehensive documentation.

3. Customer collaboration is more valuable than contract negotiations.

4. Responding to changes is more important than following a fixed plan.

12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto

1. Customer satisfaction is our top priority.

2. Changes to the requirements are welcome.

3. Regular delivery of effective results

4. Daily collaboration between subject matter experts and developers

5. Motivation and personal responsibility are encouraged

6. Direct communication is the most effective way

7. Progress is measured by functional results.

8. A sustainable pace of development should be pursued.

9. Technical excellence and good design are prioritized.

10. Think simply and do only what is necessary.

11. Self-organized teams lead to better results

12. Regular reflection and improvement of working methods

Types of life cycles

Every project goes through analysis, design, construction, testing, and delivery. The frequency and flexibility of these phases vary depending on the approach. The types of project lifecycles are:

• Predictive: Fixed planning and one-time delivery, suitable for stable environments such as construction projects

• Iterative: Infrequent deliveries, but with major adjustments after long cycles, e.g., in research or design projects.

• Incremental: Frequent delivery in small steps, stable requirements, e.g., for software modules

• Agile: Very frequent delivery, high variability, short cycles with rapid adaptation, e.g., app development.

Flow-based approaches control work by limiting work in progress.

Implementing Agile

Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is a leadership style that empowers and supports teams. It promotes collaboration rather than control and creates an environment in which people can reach their full potential.

Key areas:

• Purpose: Defining the shared "why"

• People: Creating an environment that enables success

• Process: Reflect on processes without striving for perfection

  
  

Tasks:

• Boost self-confidence

• Listen and serve

• Supporting growth

• Coaching

• Promoting trust and respect

• Promote Others

  
  

Attributes of successful teams

• Committed, cross-functional members

• Stable working environment

• Balance of generalists and specialists

• Coordination despite different locations

Agile Roles

• Cross-functional team members: designers, developers, testers with diverse skills

• Product Owner: Responsible for product vision, customer feedback, and backlog

• Team Facilitator: Supports the process, e.g., Scrum Master or Project Manager

Agile environments

• Project Charter:

  A project charter defines the vision, benefits, definition of done, and working methods. As long as the team understands the goals, a rigid procedure is not necessary.

  
  

• Retrospectives:

  Regular reflection to increase effectiveness. Conducted after releases, milestones, or problems. Goal: To find root causes and adjust behavior without assigning blame.

  
  

• Backlogs:

  List of all pending tasks. User Stories: Describe functions from the user's perspective. Impact Mapping: Prioritizes tasks according to their impact on user experience.

  
  

• Daily Standups:

  Short 15-minute meetings for review: What has been done, what's next, what obstacles exist? The goal is to find solutions together.

  
  

Systems that support agile practices

• Continuous Integration: Regular merging of the code, tests ensure functionality.

• Test at All Levels: Comprehensive test levels from unit to system tests.

• Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD): Definition of acceptance criteria before the code is written.

• Test-Driven Development (TDD) / Behavior-Driven Development (BDD): Tests are created first to ensure design and quality.

• Spikes: Time-limited research tasks for learning and estimation.

  
  

Measurement in agile projects

Traditional progress measurement is done via visual systems.

Traffic Light Measurement: Divided into steps with time and buffer definitions. Color coding indicates status: Green (as planned), Orange (buffer used), Red (delayed).

Kanban board: A visual tool with columns such as To Do, In Progress, Done. Limits parallel tasks (WIP).

Lean and Agile Frameworks

• Scrum:

  A team process with sprints of a maximum of one month. The goal is a functional product at the end of each sprint. The Product Owner maximizes the product value. The team works in a self-organized manner and delivers functional results. The Scrum Master ensures adherence to the rules.

  
  

• Extreme Programming (XP):

  Short cycles, continuous improvement, focus on teamwork and quality. Includes pair programming and constant adaptation.

  
  

• Kanban Method:

  No fixed time interval. Work according to priority, focus on continuous delivery. High flexibility and increased efficiency.

  
  

• Crystal Methods:

  A family of methods for projects of varying sizes. Adaptable to team size and criticality.

  
  

• Feature Driven Development (FDD):

  Structured for large software projects. Six main roles such as project manager, lead architect, developer. Five iterative processes: create model, build feature list, plan by features, design, develop.

  
  

• Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM):

  Focus on fixed parameters for cost, time, and quality. Eight principles: business focus, on-time delivery, collaboration, quality, incremental development, iterative development, clear communication, and control.

  
  

• Agile Unified Process (AgileUP):

  A simplified version of the Unified Process. Emphasis on feedback, simplicity, and adaptability. Principles: agility, focus on value-adding activities, independence from tools, and situational adaptation.

Scaling frameworks

• Scrum of Scrums (SoS):

  Coordination of multiple Scrum teams by representatives. Ensures synchronization and removal of obstacles.

  
  

• Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe):

  Scales agile work to the enterprise level. Based on systems thinking, an economic perspective, and rapid learning cycles. Includes principles such as visualization, WIP limits, small batches, and decentralized decision-making.

  
  

• Large Scale Scrum (LeSS):

  Extends Scrum for multiple teams with a shared backlog and Definition of Done. Focus on cross-team planning and improvement.

  
  

• Disciplined Agile (DA):

  A framework for decision-making with a focus on people, learning, and adaptation. It covers the entire lifecycle and is scalable for complex programs. It emphasizes governance, goal orientation, and collaborative development.