Are you confused about what agile project management is and what it can be used for?
Well, in this video, I'm going to share with you the benefits of agile project management
and some of the pitfalls. Stay tuned. Now, if you really want to master your project,
stay tuned to the end of this video, because I'm going to share with you how to get your hands
on an amazing download on ensuring that projects don't fail. Hi, if you're new here,
welcome. My name is Adriana Girdler and on this channel, you're going to get the best
project management and career advice coming to you every week. So if you are interested in learning
more about agile project management, please subscribe, like this video and let's get to it.
What is agile project management? Well, I asked you guys about agile and over 65%
of you have either never heard of it or have never used it. So I'm going to now clear it up
for you so we're all on the same page. Agile is a framework for delivering products quickly and
efficiently. And agile project management takes an iterative approach when it comes to executing
on those items within your project framework. So what does this really mean? Every project
within its life cycle of execution has a standard sequence of plan, build, test, review and launch.
Now the big difference here is when we take a look at this iteration approach, we're not
doing everything in the plan phase before we move on to the next one and we're not then
going and building everything and then moving on. That's more known as a waterfall effect. In fact,
if you go to YouTube search, go Adriana Girdler waterfall. I explain that methodology there.
But when it comes to agile project management, it's that iteration that we do where instead
of doing everything and then moving on until you have it all done, which actually creates a
lot of issues because it can actually create more rework for you when you finally get to the launch
end or even in testing and realize everything you build, which was everything, a lot of
things are wrong and you had to rework it. So what agile does in order to make things quick,
effective and efficient is it does these smaller sections. It's kind of like, let me take one or
two things and put it through this iteration of plan, build, test, review, and launch. Once that's
done and everything is good, let me now take a few other little things and do the exact same thing.
And you do this over and over and over multiple times within your project execution life cycle.
So now this becomes where very quickly, you already have things in a very short timeframe that
you can start to launch. It's like a wash, rinse, repeat cycle. Constantly wash, rinse, repeat.
Over and over and over. And it is something that can really help move certain projects along very
quickly. Now there are different methodologies to agile, which is interestingly enough, it's not
just one. The most famous one out there is a scrum technique. There's also a kanban. In fact, I have
a video explaining that one. There's also XP and lean and a whole bunch more. In fact, that kind of
sounds like there could be a video in there. So if you want to hear more about that, put in the
comments below, and we can put that on our list of potential videos that you may want. So that
in essence is what agile project management is. Benefits of agile project management. Now just
to take note, agile was really born in the software industry and it was used in order to
have a quicker result with better output and less rework. So that's how agile really was born. So
it's quite interesting. Now what we're finding though, is a lot of other sectors are now adopting
this concept. So let's roll into those benefits. And the first benefit is better quality. As I
said, because of this iteration approach and you do that plan, build, test, portion before you
launch it, becomes really important because you're doing it in these smaller chunks. So now we have
really good quality on items that are being developed because it's really being focused and
laser beamed and you don't move on until that is done and it works well. And then you go on to the
next cycle. So that is a really huge benefit. It's just better quality immediately versus waiting to
the absolute end where you're still not 100% sure until you do all your testing if you have any
issues, which actually may impede your timeline. Higher customer satisfaction. The big thing with
agile is not only the iteration approach, is that you're really in direct contact with your
customer, wanting to know what their requirements are and always checking back in with them
because now they have the ability because your iteration [inaudible 00:04:47] if they want to
change something, it's not that big of a deal because you can just put that change in the next
iteration cycle. Or if you have to change something that was already developed, it's
a tiny portion. It's not everything. So you can go in and make those changes accordingly. So your
customers are more involved, you're pulling out on them to find out what are their needs and again,
those needs change. So it has more flexibility and essence, more agility to really ensure that you
get the end result that your customer wants. So definitely higher customer satisfaction.
More control. Now this becomes really interesting and because
you have more interactions with your customers, you're really focusing on this iteration of plan,
build, test, review, and launch with all of these sort of many things that you're bringing into
play, which ultimately altogether is going to give your end result. There's a lot more transparency
because you can't move on until you really figure out and complete everything in that iteration.
So it's really a lot more control, you know down the road, whether you're going to do something,
not do something or whether something has to change. So that's a real big benefit of agile.
Pitfalls of agile project management. Now this is a really important topic because
like everything there is a yin and a yang, a sun and a moon, there's black and white, there's the
opposites to everything. And with the benefits as awesome as they are, there are some pitfalls. So
the first pitfall is a lack of understanding from senior management. So this happens a lot. Senior
management hears the word, agile, hear the word about the methodology, they hear all the awesome
stuff with it. They get excited and they're like, okay, implement agile methodology now. But,
and I'm telling you, this is a real big but, they don't support it properly. They want to implement
agile methodology in their traditional ways of working. And that is just not going to fly.
In order for agile methodology to work, you need dedicated teams. There is a framework to doing it.
And a lot of organizations when they try to adopt this, don't understand that and don't set it up
properly and then they wonder why at agile methodology fails. So that's a huge pitfall,
probably one of the biggest one, and number one reason while agile methodology or agile
project management does not work and then gets a bad rap, which is really unfortunate
because the methodology is perfect. You just need to set it up properly.
Lack of commitment and discipline. All right, just like the other tip about the framework and
dedication, it becomes really important that people are committed and they're disciplined
to the methodology of agile. If you're not set up properly, what will happen is you'll start
to get distracted, you'll get pulled on other projects and that this whole aspect of being
dedicated to an activity and getting things done, because don't forget, these iterations
tend to happen in a two or three week cycle. And you're working on that every day. You're
working on it every day, talking to your team. And if you don't have the commitment to that,
then you'll start to fall quite quickly from your timeline and the activities. And then you
don't have agile project manage anymore. You have something. I don't know what you have.
You have something that's not working. It really is what's occurring.
So you need to ensure that your team does not get distracted. You need to ensure that
there's discipline. And that those who are not part of the project team are not interjecting,
creating havoc as well because they're like, oh, I need to pull someone off or that's not our
priority. We have to do this. Once you're in that iteration and you're moving forward, you really
need to be dedicated and disciplined to it. Increase pressure and stress. All right,
I already told you the reason why this was brought in was for the software industry in order to move
things out quicker, which actually makes a lot of sense. Things are happening really fast in
that particular industry. So you don't want to be the last one out, you kind of want to be the first
one out. That's why there's so much beta testing out there. But anyway, that's a personal opinion.
But really, the increase of pressure and stress is a real thing. Because now you have
these iteration cycles, there's this pressure to ensure that you're successful with it. And did
you set it up properly? The requirements that you pulled in this iteration, did you pull too many?
That can become a problem. Perhaps it was too big of a concept that you pulled in,
in order to do your iteration with, and now you're not done within that two, three week cycle.
Nothing wrong with that because you can throw it into of the next two,
three week cycle if you're not completed. But if you don't have people around you, particularly
upper management who don't get that, then they are going to be on you, hounding you in order to get
it done. So it is a lot of pressure. It is a lot of stress. It's a lot faster. So just take note of
that when you're getting into agile methodology. Now that you have a better understanding of agile
project management, I would like for you to go to the link below and grab this. Take note. Projects
about this whole iteration I was talking about, there's more to it than just that. There's a
framework, there's an initiation stage you have to do, and there's a whole bunch of pitfalls
in projects, agile methodology, waterfall methodology, doesn't matter, you need to be aware
of. And guess what? They're in here just for you and it's free. So why not get it? It's only going
to help you. So please check it out. Thanks. Now that you've learned something new,
agile project management, how cool, please like this video, share it with everybody you know.
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