Agile methodology is a project management approach that emphasizes continuous collaboration and improvement. It involves breaking projects down into smaller phases and guiding teams through cycles of planning, execution, and evaluation. Agile project management is an iterative development process, where feedback is continuously gathered from users and stakeholders to create the right user experience. Agile methods can be used with any programming paradigm or language, and different methods can be used to perform an agile process, including scrum, extreme programming, lean, and kanban.
Agile is not defined by a set of ceremonies or specific development techniques, but rather a group of methodologies that demonstrate a commitment to tight feedback cycles and continuous improvement. The Agile Manifesto, published in 2001, is a document that focuses on four values and 12 principles for Agile software development. The four values are individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan.
Agile project management is not just useful for software project management, but all types of teams have been successful with this dynamic methodology. Agile enables teams to deliver value faster, with greater quality and predictability, and greater aptitude to respond to change. Agile methods generally promote a disciplined project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, a leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork, self-organization, and accountability, a set of engineering best practices intended to allow for rapid delivery of high-quality software, and a business approach that aligns development with customer needs and company goals.
