Using Agile Project Management
Techniques to Improve
Your Business
Keith has been involved in social
media since first becoming a member
of the early business networking site
Ecademy in 1999.
Now with 17,000+ connections on
LinkedIn, 5,000+ followers on Twitter,
and 2,000+ friends on Facebook, Keith
also runs the largest charity-related
group on LinkedIn—Charity UK—with
39,000+ members.
Keith also has a popular blog on
Huffington Post UK.
Keith teaches and mentors business
people on how to make the most of
social media in business, especially
LinkedIn.
Keith sees himself as a social impact
entrepreneur and has established
Olderpreneur to help older people set
up business.
© Business Expert Press 978-1-94744-198-9 (2018)
www.businessexpertpress.com
Keith Grinsted
Abstract: This article looks at the methodology behind
Agile project management and how it can be applied to,
and improve, your business. Many business people have
probably never considered using project ­management
techniques to help improve the way they run their
­business, but Agile brings a whole new perspective. This
­article explores some of the ways Agile can become your
best friend in business.
Keywords: Agile, Iteration, Iterative, Milestones,
Minimum viable product, MVP, Project management,
Review, Scrums, Sprints, Wash-up meeting
Using Agile Project Management Techniques
to Improve Your Business
I first came across the Agile methodology while w ­ orking
for a local authority in the UK. With all the expected
­bureaucratic overtones, it does not, at first, sound the most
likely environment to find Agile project management in
play. But it was a refreshing discovery as I’ll cover later.
It is true to say that most public sector organiza-
tions (­certainly in the UK), and many private sector
­businesses, are still heavily into the more traditional
project m­ anagement methodologies such as PRINCE2—a
structured project management methodology. PRINCE2
(PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a p ­ rocess-based
method for ­effective project management.
There are seven, interconnected PRINCE2 processes:
1. Starting up a project
2. Initiating a project
3. Directing a project
4. Controlling a stage
5. Managing a stage boundary
6. Managing product delivery
7. Closing a project
Expert Insights
1
 Using Agile Project Management Techniques to Improve Your Business
I think clearly it is a very structured
process with set criteria and milestones to
be achieved throughout the course of the
project. The “controlled environments”
bit in the name suggests a very set way of
working.
Agile, on the other hand, is a much
speedier process. An iterative process with
constant feedback loops. In my opinion,
­ ronment would go something like this:
­Agile is a much more useful methodology
in  the rapidly developing environments
within which most businesses operate today.
Going back to my public sector e
­ xperience,
over a two-year period I found Agile most
­effective in generating solutions for many
diverse needs. I’ll touch on some of this
later, but now we need to consider where
Agile originated.
Agile
Agile started out as a methodology for
software development and was originally
­published as the Manifesto for Agile Software
Development.
It was based on 12 principles:
1. Customer satisfaction by early and con-
tinuous delivery of valuable software
2. Welcome changing requirements, even
in late development
3. Working software is delivered frequently
(weeks rather than months)
4. Close, daily cooperation between busi-
ness people and developers
5. Projects are built around motivated indi-
viduals, who should be trusted
6. Face-to-face conversation is the best form
of communication (co-location)
7. Working software is the primary m ­ easure
of progress
8. Sustainable development, able to main-
tain a constant pace
9. Continuous attention to technical excel-
lence and good design
10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the
amount of work not done—is essential
11. Best architectures, requirements, and
­designs emerge from self-organizing
teams
2 © Business Expert Press 978-1-94744-198-9 (2018)
www.businessexpertpress.com
12. Regularly, the team reflects on how
to become more effective, and adjusts
accordingly
Source: Wikipedia—https://en.wikipedia
.org/wiki/Agile_software_development#cite_
note-ManifestoPrinciples-19
The process deployed in a business envi-
Brainstorm
Initial requirement analysis
Design
Design, document, and prototype
Development
Iterations, demo, and feedback
Quality Assurance
User testing, identify defects, and resolve bugs
Deployment
Minimum viable product and technical
support
Deliver to Client
At this stage the project may be complete,
or if further requirements are identified,
then these would be entered back into the
cycle again.
Notice that much of Agile is about the
regular, sometimes daily, communication
process between the team and the client.
What Agile avoids, therefore, are problems
cropping up late in the process when it
transpires a key element is running late,
well behind schedule.
To illustrate this, let’s use the example of
many chefs working in a busy restaurant
or hotel kitchen. Remember the two totally
opposite sayings:
■■ Too many cooks spoil the broth!
■■ Many hands make light work!
The key difference is communication.
We’ve all seen the results of poor communi-
cation in a busy kitchen on such programs
Expert Insights
 Using Agile Project Management Techniques to Improve Your Business
as “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares” with Chef
Gordon Ramsay!
If a complex dish is being prepared
requiring input from several different
­ Because testing is done in every
chefs, with each ingredient requiring very
different preparation and cooking times, it
is crucial they all arrive on the plate, prop-
erly prepared, properly cooked, and at the
correct temperature.
If one of the key ingredients is missing,
you need to know at the outset.
If preparation of one of the key ingredi-
ents is delayed, you need to know as soon
as it becomes apparent.
If a key ingredient is running late, there
is no point putting the others on the plate
as they’ll just get cold waiting.
It all must be there at the same time. But
this will happen only if all chefs commu-
nicate and everyone knows exactly where
they are in the process.
If one element is running out of kilter,
then the head chef can deploy additional
resource to get it back on schedule. But he
can’t if he’s not been kept informed.
You don’t want to find out about any of
these issues just at the time the meal is due
to be served!
But that is what can happen if you don’t
have constant iterative communication.
­Remember from the TV program the con-
stant response “Yes, Chef!” to confirm
the relevant chef was aware of what was
­required of him.
The sooner you learn of an issue, the
sooner you can deal with it and come up
with an alternative solution.
Iterative Process
One of the key differences between the A ­ gile
methodology and other project management
processes is the use of an iterative rather than
a waterfall approach to quality and testing.
In the more traditional waterfall model,
each process follows on from the f­ormer.
There is always a separate testing phase ­after
a build phase.
However, in the Agile methodology the
testing is completed in the same iteration
© Business Expert Press 978-1-94744-198-9 (2018)
www.businessexpertpress.com
(typically two or three weeks) as the build.
It is far more immediate. Issues can be
identified and dealt with more quickly.
­iteration, developing a small piece of the
overall solution, users can frequently use
the new build to test and validate in real
time. Imagine developing a website with
the ­expectation of it having, say, 20 pages.
­Instead of building all 20 pages before user
testing, you “soft launch” each page as it
is produced. The users testing each page
can provide feedback on the process more
quickly and their feedback can be utilized
in the development of subsequent pages.
They can make better decisions about
future elements.
Having a retrospective and replanning
session in each iteration (sometimes called
a Scrum) helps the team continuously
adapt its plans so as to maximize the value
it delivers and optimize the deployment of
resources. This can be particularly useful if
individuals are involved in several projects
or if holiday periods have to be taken into
consideration.
This iterative approach supports a prod-
uct  rather than a  project  mindset. This
provides greater flexibility throughout the
development process.
With a project mindset, requirements
are defined and locked down from the very
beginning, making it difficult to change
them later.
Agile, iterative product development
­allows the solution to evolve in response to
changes in business environment or mar-
ket requirements.
Because of the short iteration style of ­Agile
software development, it also has strong
connections with the lean start-up concept.
Adapt Rather Than Predict
Agile uses adaptive  methods to focus on
adapting quickly to changing realities.
When the business environment changes
or the actual needs of a project change, an
adaptive approach changes as well. If you
have an adaptive team, it works on the
Expert Insights
3