In the fast-paced world of technology and software development, speed and quality are everything. Today, businesses are constantly looking for ways to deliver new products more efficiently to keep up with competitors in rapidly evolving markets. Enter Agile.
For two decades, teams have turned to Agile to deliver products faster, minimize risk, and drive innovation. Today, Agile is the de facto standard for software development, but its use is far more widespread than its creators could have imagined. From Marketing teams to Operations teams and beyond, organizations across the galaxy are taking an agile approach to collaboration and delivery.
Meanwhile, advances in technology have made Agile more accessible and scalable than ever before. Gone are the days of meeting in person for every Agile ceremony. Remote, hybrid, and distributed teams can be just as successful — if not more — than co-located ones.
Agile is a philosophy that gives teams the power to deliver high value to their customers without the cumbersome elements of a full-blown launch. It started as a reaction against the traditional Waterfall methodology of delivering software, which favors long release cycles over incremental iterations.
Rather than waiting months or years to deliver a full suite of software products, for example, an Agile team delivers work in smaller chunks. This enables teams to collaborate closely with their customers to evaluate a product plan and strategy in real time, making adjustments as needs shift.
Agile is an attractive approach to development and collaboration because it allows teams to:
This template is designed to give all participants an overview of Agile, what it is, and how it compares to Waterfall. Teach your team about:
The origins of Agile
When to use it
Frameworks for putting Agile into action
With a team charter, you can build a shared understanding of how your team will work together. Use it to ensure your team is clear where you’re heading, and to point you in the right direction when your ship veers off course.
Agile ceremonies and team meetings shouldn’t be dull — but you know from experience that it can be tough to keep everyone engaged, excited, and creative. That’s where check-ins, warmups, energizers, and other simple activities come in. When you start a meeting with a no-pressure activity, team members can let their guard down, get in a more creative mindset, and ease into the meeting without abrupt context switching.
Even if everyone on your team can meet in person, you can benefit from going digital-first. Whiteboards and sticky notes are useful, but they’re limiting. Crowding around a physical whiteboard inevitably means people get left out. Not to mention the fact that digitizing chicken scratch from rogue sticky notes is a painstaking process. With a visual collaboration platform like MURAL and a video call solution that records the session, you can streamline collaboration and simplify follow-up.
Even if you’ve mastered in-person facilitation, running virtual meetings requires some new skills. Brush up on the technology you’re using, whether that’s MURAL’s Facilitation Superpowers or simply video call software. Keep an eye on group participation and encourage everyone to contribute — something that’s easier for introverts to do in an online environment. And don’t forget to prepare for the worst-case scenario — create a backup plan in case facilitators lose internet connection or something else goes wrong.
Get tips for remote facilitationWho hasn’t suffered from a case of workshop amnesia? As much as we believe we’ll remember outcomes and next steps, it’s easier said than done. Make sure you follow up after collaboration sessions with a recap of decisions made, next steps, and any artifacts from the meeting.
Agile Scrum is a lightweight framework designed specifically for keeping complex product development and project management on track. Primarily used for Agile product development, but applicable to any activity requiring teamwork, the Scrum framework helps teams communicate, hold each other accountable, and iterate quickly and consistently to deliver results.
Like a rugby team (where Scrum gets its name) trying to take possession of the ball, Scrum encourages teams to work together and learn from their experiences to improve. It's not a prescriptive method, but rather a set of principles and well-defined roles that help teams manage their work — and work more creatively.
Scrum teams are the most common type of Agile team, and a successful mission includes the following crew members:
The product owner looks over the product backlog, defines user stories, and orders the work to be done. They act as an advocate for the customer and other product stakeholders.
The Scrum leader, also called a Scrum master, is an expert responsible for making sure the team adopts Agile values, principles, and practices. They’re Scrum experts, able to guide the team through the process while also fostering positive team dynamics and protecting the team from potential distractions and roadblocks.
Developers are the people who create the product — but they’re not always software developers. For example, if a Marketing team adopts Agile, the developers are the folks who are creating marketing campaigns and materials.
Stakeholders aren’t technically on the Scrum team, but they still have a critical impact on the development process. A stakeholder is someone who has a vested interest in and knowledge of the product — so that includes users, external customers, and internal customers such as designers, marketers, and user researchers.
Unlike most Scrum leaders, Agile coaches work across multiple Scrum teams to develop their skills, foster a collaborative environment, and solve specific challenges. Agile coaches don’t simply advise; they also teach, empowering team members to evaluate potential solutions and understand the “why,” not just the “what.”
While the term might sound a bit intimidating, Scrum ceremonies and their related activities are relatively straightforward. Think of them as meetings designed to align the Scrum team and empower them to be more effective with each increment.
Teach your team about Scrum roles, artifacts, and events by using this collaborative exercise to match terms to the proper location on the Scrum framework.
Drag and drop the Roles, Ceremonies, Artifacts, and Inspection Points to their appropriate spot on the Scrum Workflow diagram. Check your work by moving the box to uncover the answers.
Similar to Scrum, Kanban is a framework designed to help teams work more effectively together. Whereas short, structured work timeframes (i.e., sprints) and well-defined roles are the heart and soul of Scrum, Kanban offers a more fluid and continuous workflow. It’s all about helping teams visualize their work and maximize efficiency.
Kanban teams aim to reduce the time it takes to complete a project and they do this by constantly considering how to improve their flow of work. Using Kanban boards, teams create their own columns to organize how projects flow through the necessary stages. They also set WIP (work in progress) limits to stay focused on a limited number of tasks at one time.
Kanban relies on everyone’s participation and leadership, and having regular meetings makes that happen. Keep your team on track by encouraging open communication and ongoing collaboration with the help of these common Kanban meetings.
Kanban boards make it easy to track your team's progress and visualize everyone's tasks. Use this template to create transparency and help your team focus on their goals.
Enterprise organizations that want to scale Agile across the company face unique challenges that demand a more prescriptive framework.
That’s where scaled Agile methodologies like SAFe®, or the Scaled Agile Framework, come in. SAFe combines Lean, Agile, and DevOps principles to create a collaborative system that empowers numerous Agile teams to work together across an organization.
Create a visual summary of the goals, features, risks, dependencies, and timelines defined in the program increment plan.
Estimate the capacity of each team to accomplish the tasks in each iteration. You'll need one for each team that participates in the planning.
With MURAL, the possibilities of Agile are infinitely expanded
Share this overview of Agile with teams that are just getting started.
Learn how the world’s oldest consultancy facilitates remote PI planning with their clients.
Learn how Agile Product teams can adjust to a hybrid work style, adapting Agile ceremonies so they work for every team member, no matter where they are.
MURAL® is the leading digital workspace for visual collaboration in the enterprise. Teams depend on the MURAL platform to understand and solve problems and build consensus using visual methods. More than an online whiteboard, the MURAL platform enables innovation at scale by providing a platform for everything from product strategy and planning to leading immersive workshops using Agile and design thinking methodologies. Industry-leading teams at companies including IBM, IDEO, Autodesk, Intuit, GitHub, and Atlassian use the MURAL platform to work together — at any time and from anywhere.
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