Agile, which started in 2001, is now all the rage. But what is it? In a nutshell, it is about delivering a product in pieces–or “sprints,” as they’re called in the biz—through cross-functional teams that are constantly responsive to customer feedback. Each sprint starts with a planning phase then moves into execution followed by a review phase where the team reflects on what they accomplished and how they can improve for the next cycle. There are a lot of moving parts to this methodology, and its fundamentals will only continue to adapt as time goes on. It is also clear that companies that use agile methodologies gain a competitive edge over others.
In an agile environment, organizations use short cycles of planning called sprints to build products collaboratively in short iterations.
Why Being Agile Matters
The business landscape is changing. There are many new and revitalized challenges such as the emergence of new technology, COVID-19, and a shift in how customers engage with businesses. Businesses that adapt to this changing landscape will be in a better position to succeed in the future. However, for that to happen agile transformation journey must start now.
Additionally, agile businesses can adapt to the changing landscape because they are designed to work at speed. That means they can react quickly and easily when changes happen, whether it’s improving customer experiences or entering new markets. Agility gives businesses a competitive advantage, as well as peace of mind about the future.
Key Benefits of Agile Trends
In a fast-moving and ever-changing world, small and medium-sized businesses need to be agile to succeed. Having an agile team helps companies achieve goals more effectively by helping them to collaborate and communicate better, become more efficient and accurate, and improve idea flow and troubleshooting. Agile methodologies provide inherent advantages over traditional methodologies:
#1. Fast innovation:
Agile is good at fostering innovation. Because of the work being done in sprints and due to streamlined cross-team collaboration, teams can experiment a lot more throughout the process, even when projects don’t last very long.
#2. Speed resolution:
In the Agile approach to project management, different teams work on their respective parts of a project simultaneously. The teams have frequent meetings where issues are resolved and working materials are shared.
#3. Increased transparency:
Agile is a framework that allows all stakeholders to have continuous visibility of the project. It allows them to see the progress and give their feedback at any stage. This leads to better results and more satisfied clients, who will then be more willing to hire you again for future projects–or even recommend your services to others!
#4. Faster communication:
Agile also makes communication easier between team members because it breaks down barriers between them by always allowing them all access to information instead of just considering one person’s opinion (i.e., an expert) when deciding how things should be done.
Top Agile Trends for you!
Here are the following 4 key agile trends in 2022 that can have a transformational impact on business.
1. Leveraging Cloud Computing for Enhanced Agility
Cloud computing has been a major trend for the last few years, but now agile teams are also looking at cloud-based solutions to gain a competitive edge and utilize new ways of thinking, testing, and deploying. Those organizations that are using cloud-based agile systems are finding that they are achieving enhanced product quality, faster response to market, agility, less cost, more client satisfaction, and similar other benefits. Therefore, we will see more involvement of cloud technology in the agile methodologies with every passing year.
2. DevOps Practices Will Be A Must-Have To Be Successful In The Landscape
DevOps and agile transformation is the new norm, and business needs to adopt this cultural shift that emphasizes constant communication, collaboration and integration. This requires a tremendous level of trust between teams as they work together and hold each other accountable for their actions.
DevOps practices also include automation, continuous delivery, testing and continuous improvement for software development. Software engineers can achieve these goals by incorporating new technologies such as containers (Docker), Kubernetes orchestrations tools, and persistent volumes in the cloud or in-house data centers.
3. Artificial And Agile Trends Are Merging
The combination of agile methodology and artificial intelligence is a common topic of discussion within organizations. Both agile and AI seek to accomplish the same goal: to get high-quality work done in less time and to reap profits as you go. Therefore, they’ll make a great couple.AI and machine learning are already changing how we make decisions. It’s only a matter of time before they start to help us build and deliver products in an agile way. For example, AI could be used to send you daily reports about your projects or potential risks. Once AI has expanded its data storage capabilities, we’ll be able to feed specific information and receive insights on how to improve productivity. This means measuring progress, tracking results, and retaining feedback will happen in one click.
4. Agile Is Expanding Beyond Software Development
The basic principles of agile are not just confined to software development projects; they’re equally useful in other areas as well—like finance and marketing. They are using Agile practices like managing priorities via an iterative approach and becoming more open to changes. In short, we will see more rapid involvement of Agile practices in many other areas in 2022 and in upcoming years.
Where Should Enterprises Focus Now
With the rise of the digital economy, businesses are realizing that they need to be able to quickly adapt and pivot as needed—and that means going agile. Therefore, many organizations are setting up an Agile Centre of Excellence (Agile CoE), a consulting body made up of coaches, senior leaders, and change agents who advocate for their people’s learning needs and govern transformation across teams. Business leaders should focus on inculcating those aspects of agile methodologies that directly impact their functioning and productivity.
The Agile CoE has been a hot topic in business lately, but most organizations are just getting started with scaling agile across departments and teams. Companies are also building up Agile Governance Teams (AGTs). These are the areas business leaders should pay attention to.
Conclusion
Agile is arguably the most popular approach to managing projects in the IT industry, but it has found a new popularity in other fields thanks to its incremental and iterative nature. Additionally, because of the COVID-19 shake-up, agile has become the only rational way of doing work even in traditional organizations. With more people taking their exposure to the next level, agile is all set to reshape workplaces and operating models. For that, We at CG-VAK helps you to get in the flow of agile software development process.