The Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your Agile Workflow in Wrike
Agile teams are more productive, more satisfied with how their teams manage work, and can deliver results faster. But just because Agile is flexible, doesn't mean it's a free-for-all. In order to embrace the adaptability and speed of Agile, you need the right processes and an organized framework. And you need a work management tool that will bring structure to your work, while allowing for the kind of customization needed to support your team's chosen Agile approach. In this article, we'll show you how to set up a Scrum process in Wrike, create an Agile work breakdown structure, and determine what a project dashboard should contain. How to Create a Scrum Dashboard in Wrike This approach requires the custom status feature, so you'll need either the Business or Enterprise subscription plan. If you're not already using Business or Enterprise, start a free trial. You’ll also need to have admin privileges to set up your Scrum workflow in Wrike. 1. Here's how to build the workflow: Select “Account Management” under your account profile, then click the Workflow tab. Click on “+ Create New Workflow” and give your new workflow a name. Hover your mouse over each section and add statuses. Include statuses for Accepted, In Progress, Ready for Review, Changes Needed, Completed, On Hold, and Cancelled. (Your workflow may vary slightly, especially when it comes to your particular review and approval process.) Once you’re finished, click “Save.” 2. Once you have your Scrum workflow, you’ll need to set up your folders: Create three new folders, and be sure they’re shared with your team: a Backlog folder, a Scrum folder, and an Archive folder. Incoming work will be funneled into your Backlog folder, accepted or active tasks will be moved into your Scrum folder, and completed tasks will be added to the Archive folder at the end of each Scrum period, or sprint. 3. Since the first step in Scrum is to organize and prioritize incoming work, you’ll need to create a Request Form for people to submit new tasks and projects to your team: Go to your profile and select Account Management, then click the Request forms tab. Create a new Request form and make sure to include all the fields you’ll need to complete the work: i.e. requirements, due dates, goals, urgency, and business value. It’s also a good idea to include a field for a link to the task where the work will be done. (Once in Scrum, the Request task will act as a placeholder — think of it like a sticky note you move across a whiteboard — it’s not where the actual work will be done.) 4. Create a Dashboard from your Scrum folder. Create a new Dashboard and name it. In folder view, click the Filter icon and select the first step of your custom Scrum workflow. Then click the three-dot menu and select Add to Dashboard. Do this with each step of your custom workflow to complete your Scrum Dashboard. Note: Remember that tasks must be included in the Scrum folder in order to appear on the Dashboard. Also note that dragging tasks between widgets will automatically update their status—except if you drag items back into Requests, since this is a different folder than the rest of your widgets. In this instance, you'll need to click into the task and update the status. At the end of each sprint, create a subfolder within your Archive folder to house the tasks you completed and easily generate reports based on each sprint. Need More Help Setting Up Your Agile Workspace? If you're looking for more instructions on how to customize your Wrike workspace, implement Kanban scheduling, create custom workflows, or set up project Dashboards, check out the Wrike Help Center. You’ll find a searchable knowledge base, tutorials, live webinars, and a community of fellow Wrike users. Browse the community forums to ask questions and find out how other people are using Wrike with Agile, or learn new tips and best practices. Want more personalized help? You can always contact Wrike Support at support (at) team.wrike.com.
10 Fun New Ways to Use Your Backlog
We’re always looking for fun and creative new ways to use Wrike. The backlog may seem pretty straightforward: stash stuff in there for a rainy day, or if you solve problems with Agile, use it for sprint planning. But there are actually quite a few interesting ways to use the backlog that you may not have considered. Here are 10 different ways to make the most of your backlog: 1. Track High-level Goals. Looking for a product backlog example? Not everything you put in Wrike will be tied to specific projects or individual action items. Keeping quarterly goals, product ideas, and long-term plans in the backlog makes it easy to remember the big picture and see everything you want to accomplish — which can help you prioritize wisely. And if you put these items on your Wrike Dashboard, they'll never be “out of sight, out of mind.” When life gives you a window of opportunity or the stars align, you can instantly say, “Now’s the perfect time to _____!” In the same vein, you can use these backlogged goals as parent tasks. Create every actionable task as a subtask to at least one goal. This shows which long-term effort the work is supporting. Using the backlogged goals this way will help make sure all your time is devoted to worthwhile efforts. 2. Complete Creative Projects. Compose song lyrics or creative writing pieces in your backlog, letting them marinate until inspiration strikes. They’re always at hand when the perfect lyric or headline pops up, and you can take full advantage of the Time Slider (revision history) tool. Since Wrike tracks every keystroke and lets you revert to previous versions, you can let your creativity off the leash and just play without worrying about losing any of the good stuff. The revision history slider is also a pretty cool way to get a timelapse view of your unique creative process. 3. Write Routine Lists. Keep track of wish lists, grocery lists, movies to watch, books to read, bands to check out, and more in your personal backlog. Once they’re in Wrike, it’s easy to share these lists if you choose, and you can view them from your mobile devices. 4. Plan Trips and Events. Say you start planning a trip to one of the destinations on your backlogged “Travel Europe” bucket list. You can easily create a folder to keep track of the growing number of details like itineraries, confirmations, packing lists, maps, guides, and more. And since it’s backlogged, your info is always at hand when you need it (like at the airport). The same goes for planning events: a task called “Plan Jen’s Surprise Party” can easily grow into a folder with invite lists and RSVPs, menus and recipes, gift ideas, music playlists, and more. 5. Stash Your Read Later/Watch Later Items. One of my personal favorite uses for the backlog is to make it my virtual back pocket. I often come across interesting articles, videos, and TED Talks that pique my curiosity while link surfing, typically when I’m researching an unrelated project, or a link shared by a colleague or friend. It’s the kind of stuff I want to keep for reference, or save to peruse when I have more time. Instead of bookmarking it or emailing myself the link, I use the Wrike Chrome Extension to automatically create a task in my dedicated "Back Pocket" folder of Wrike. I backlog the task, take a screenshot of the page if I want, and always have it right there to look at later. 6. Store Your Knowledge Base. The backlog is the perfect spot to keep useful tidbits, whether you’re logging personal reference items (think Emergency Maintenance numbers, contact info for doctors and dentists, a list of good babysitters, that article on magical baking soda cleaning solutions) or sharing professional ones like notes on competitors, administrative passwords, routine IT/troubleshooting tips, vacation schedules/PTO request forms, best practices, and templates. 7. Track Inventory (Like a Librarian). This one we picked up from our customer Tisso Naturprodukte: make Wrike your office librarian! If your office has a stash of books to borrow, you can easily keep track of them using the backlog. Here’s how Tisso Naturprodukte’s system works: each book gets its own task. When someone wants to check it out, they assign it to themselves and set a due date for when they plan to bring it back. Once they return it, they unassign themselves and clear the due dates again. You can also use folder tags to keep track of equipment or supplies, tagging backlogged tasks with their specific location or status. 8. Keep Agendas and Meeting Minutes. If you have upcoming meetings with clients or colleagues, the backlog can be a great place to stash agenda items or reminders for things you’d like to bring up. If they’re shared agendas, two mouse clicks can bring someone else into the loop. Now you can avoid that nagging “I know I was supposed to talk to her about something” feeling, and use the backlog as your personal book of reminders. 9. Log Research. Some projects just don’t conform to a set timeline. Long-term, ongoing research is one of them. Instead of trying to shoehorn these items into rigid deadlines or constantly rescheduling them, simply set up a backlog of tasks. Log every piece of acquired knowledge as a backlogged task in your "Project Research" folder, then rearrange your tasks to create a mind map. You’ll be able to see all the pieces of the puzzle, make new connections, and organize your thoughts or process. A new breakthrough could be just around the corner! 10. Collect Personal Interests/Reminders. Keep a running list of potential weekend activities, personal best mile times, good habits you want to pick up — anything that’s ongoing you want to track or be reminded of. I like to keep a task at the top of my backlog widget on my Wrike Dashboard called “Sit Up Straight!” It catches my eye every time I check my Dashboard and reminds me to work on my posture. Once I’ve kicked that bad habit to the curb, I can replace it with a new one. Your turn! How do you use your backlog? Share your genius tips in the comments!
Is Agile Viable for Marketing Teams?
When the Agile software development methodology came into prominence in the early 2000s with its own Agile Manifesto, it changed how software companies managed their work mindsets and production processes. To put it mildly, it electrified the industry and started spawning unbelievable success stories. Eventually other industries realized Agile could be adapted to their own workflows. Marketing teams especially found it essential due to these Agile methodology advantages: 1. Customers' needs and tastes constantly change. Success means delivering products that customers need and want to pay for. But if customer needs are always in flux, marketing teams need a way to adapt quickly otherwise they doom their campaigns to failure or irrelevance. 2. Company priorities are perennially shifting. With marketing teams bombarded by requests for collaterals, or social media viral hits, or email marketing tactics, there is a real need to stay flexible enough to serve EVERYONE in the organization while still maintaining its own metrics for success. 3. Marketing technologies are always new. Shifting to new technologies often means changing the way work is processed. While it's never a good thing to try every shiny new gizmo that comes along, without testing new technologies marketers might miss out on the tech that truly makes their work more efficient. Agile marketing answers all the above needs, providing marketing with the framework to be customer-centric and also entirely flexible enough to handle sudden changes in strategy, direction, or even tools. How does Agile do this? • By promoting adaptive planning • By working in iterations • By promoting communication and transparency• By allowing rapid response to change These four benefits are tackled in more detail in the Slideshare below: 4 Reasons Why Marketing Needs to be Agile. Follow us on Slideshare! If you want truly in-depth strategies for making your marketing team Agile, download the free eBook, 7 Steps to Developing an Agile Marketing Team.
Sprint to Success with Scrum for Dummies (Book Review)
While there are plenty of advantages to becoming a Scrum team, transitioning from traditional project management methods to this new Agile methodology has its challenges. Scrum for Dummies presents this process in an easy-to-understand way and guides readers in implementing its strategies with their teams.
Agile Certification Options for Software Developers
Why pursue Agile certification? Perhaps your employer is requesting it, or you'd like to pump up your resume. Maybe you just want to learn more, or you're getting ready to join an Agile development team. Whatever the case may be, it's important to note that you don't necessarily need a certification to thrive on an Agile team. After all, credentials alone don't make great programmers, project managers, or Agile practitioners — knowledge, skill, and experience do. But if you're interested in delving deeper into the Agile methodology, learning some high-level applications, and boosting your resume at the same time, certification might be for you. Here's a list of widely recognized organizations offering certification in Agile and its offshoots, Scrum and XP: Agile Agile Certification InstituteTake an exam to prove your Agile expertise and earn one of ACI's 6 professional certifications, including Accredited Agile Practitioner, Accredited Kanban Practitioner, and Accredited Lean Software Development Practitioner.Details: No training necessary; pass the exams and you're certified. You must earn 45 knowledge points every 4 years to maintain certification. International Consortium for AgileChoose from certifications in Agile Programming, Agile Software Design, and Agile Development. Training courses teach participants how to design, develop, and test software while embracing Agile principles like collaboration and adaption to change. In total, ICA offers 13 "Professional" certifications, 8 "Expert" certifications, and 1 "Master" certification (Read the full list of course options).Details: ICA courses typically involve 2-3 days of instruction. Scaled Agile Academy5 certification options, including a two-day Agile Practitioner course that teaches developers to apply Scrum, Lean, and XP-inspired practices to large-scale, Enterprise-level projects.Pre-requisites: 1+ years of experience in software development, testing, business analysis, product management, or project management. Scrum Scrum AllianceLearn the ins-and-outs of Scrum, Scrum software, and the developer's role on the team with the Certified Scrum Developer and certified Scrum product owner program. Take at least five days of formal training from Scrum Alliance REPs, then take the exam to earn certification. (CSD track course list.)Details: Certification is good for two years. Full requirements. Scrum.orgThe 3-day Professional Scrum Developer course sorts students into teams and takes them through the Scrum process, from Scrum tools to completing a sprint to developing software in increments.Prerequisites: Must have studied the Scrum Guide and passed the free Developer and Scrum assessments through Scrum.org's website. Must also have experience with Java and .NET. (Full requirements) International Scrum InstituteComplete their Online Scrum Training Program and take a 50-question, multiple-choice exam to earn the Accredited Scrum Team Member certification.Details: No renewals are required to maintain certification. ScrumStudy6 certification options, including Scrum Developer Certified. This entry-level certification is designed to teach participants the basics of Scrum so they can fully contribute to their projects and teams.Maintenance: Need to earn 25 re-certification credits every 2 years. Extreme Programming (XP) Agile FAQsThe Extreme Week course is a 5-day workshop for development teams who want intensive, hands-on training in XP. Teams will learn how to self-organize, adapt their designs to changing requirements, and make their development process more efficient.Details: The course is delivered to the team online, so a projector & screen are required, along with a designated space for the team to work together. (Full requirements) ASPE SDLC TrainingThe three-day Extreme Programming Workshop teaches participants the essentials of XP and how to implement it. A combination of lecture and hands-on activities helps teams complete planning, development, and testing for a real software project.Details: Since these labs include live coding, some experience with Java or a similar object-oriented language is required to complete the project. Industrial LogicThe 4-day Extreme Programming Workshop teaches participants core Agile principles, including evolutionary design, customer stories, and development tools and strategies.Details: You’ll need a projector, screen, reliable high-speed internet access, and workstations for your team. (Full requirements) If you hold an Agile certification, hit the comments to tell us about your experience! What courses do you suggest?
What Is Swarming in Agile and How Can It Boost Productivity?
For Agile teams, flexibility is the name of the game. Team members are always prepared to change focus or alter their working style to achieve the best results for their project. And this flexibility works in their favor — the 2018 Standish Group Chaos Study results showed that Agile projects are statistically twice as likely to succeed than Waterfall projects. Agile methodologies, tools, and processes have seen a significant boost in organizations worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic, with adoption doubling in non-IT teams between 2020 and 2021. Agile’s flexibility and adaptability have proven crucial to modern project management, so it can feel odd to imagine Agile teams focusing their sole attention on one task. But that’s exactly what a new concept, swarming in Agile, does — and it can prove essential in managing fast-moving projects. In this article, we’ll explore the swarming Agile definition, examples of how to succeed with swarming, and the advantages and disadvantages of this technique. What is swarming in Agile? Let’s start off with a swarming Agile definition. Agile swarming takes place when multiple team members with available time and appropriate skill sets all direct their attention to work together on one feature or user story, i.e., they swarm the task until it is complete. The goal is to deliver high-quality results quickly by directing all available people power until the feature is up to scratch. Agile swarming is a very useful technique for fast-moving projects, as targets of swarming can be finished quickly before smoothly moving on to the next priority. Kanban teams are especially likely to use swarming, as it helps them ensure workflows are continuous and maintain Work-in-Progress (WIP) limits. Swarming is also closely linked to Scrum. Evaluating the tasks in their team’s sprint backlog and swarming a top priority item is a skill that most Scrum teams will be used to applying to their projects. Example of an Agile swarming scenario To visualize how swarming in Agile works, let’s take an example where it could be used. Imagine a large organization that has suffered an IT systems failure that affects most of its departments. The IT team needs to focus on fixing the problem to get the system back up and running for the rest of the business. Swarming enables teams to engage in cross-functional collaboration, meaning that every team member can play to their strengths to get the issue fixed as soon as possible. In this scenario, that may look like the marketing team engaging with IT to get regular updates on the situation to relay to the business’s website and social media visitors. Those in sales may work with IT to reschedule their calls and meetings with clients or use an alternative system to engage with them. Employees in other departments will redirect their usual queries and tasks away from IT, allowing them to focus fully on fixing the issue at hand. In this way, swarming allows the entire organization to band together, getting tasks done quickly and efficiently. Advantages of swarming in Agile So, what are some of the advantages of swarming in Agile? Time-saving: The most obvious advantage of swarming is that it saves valuable time for Agile teams. When multiple team members are involved in completing the same task, it reduces the potential for reworks and edits down the line. Encourages collaboration: If your teams have been struggling to work cross-functionally, swarming may be a great exercise in encouraging them to collaborate effectively. Workers come together from various backgrounds to work on a common goal, allowing each team member to gain an insight into the others’ way of working. Increased quality: Having workers from many different teams reviewing work means that the target of your swarm will be of higher quality than if just one person was proofing the final result. Potential challenges of swarming in Agile However, as with any approach to project management, there are potential disadvantages to swarming in Agile. These could include: Disorganization: The saying “too many cooks in the kitchen” can often apply to swarming in Agile. If there are too many team members multitasking at once, processes can get messy, and the overall project may become derailed due to a lack of organization. Potential for conflict: With so many people from different teams suddenly forced to work together, it’s natural that conflict may arise when working with swarming. Managers should be aware of this and be ready to act if and when conflict occurs. Not suitable for every task: Swarming is a great method for overall goal-oriented work, like an entirely new user story. But swarming is not a suitable method for every single task in a project’s life cycle. Resources should be better dispersed and teams should keep in mind that staying goal-focused, not task-focused, is the key to swarming success. How to succeed in Agile swarming with Wrike Wondering how your work management platform can help with swarming in your organization? An all-in-one solution like Wrike can be invaluable in bringing a fast-moving project to completion. Wrike offers: Agile templates, including sprint planning and Kanban projects, so that your team can hit the ground running with every new project Unified communication tools, including @mentions and over 400 app integrations, for your team to update and collaborate instantly 360° visibility, including team dashboards and shared calendars, so that your team can see exactly where your efforts are needed and prioritize with ease Interested? Try Wrike for yourself with a two-week free trial.
How Do Enterprise 2.0 Technologies Make Companies More Agile?
Organizational change experts stress the need to develop agile companies. Major Enterprise 2.0 theorists say that new-generation technologies can turn inflexible companies into agile and efficient organizations. They praise social software for optimizing management and overall company activity. To start with, why is the word “agility” so popular in management nowadays? Every year, new technologies, markets and competitors emerge at a rapidly ascending pace. Future threats and opportunities become harder to predict, and emerging challenges include increasingly novel elements. Today’s businesses are affected by globalization processes, and enterprises often become bigger, therefore more inflexible and bureaucratic. As organizations grow into huge corporations, it gets more difficult for them to react to constant market changes fast enough. This results in an ongoing agility gap. So an enterprise needs to be agile to be ahead of competitors; have leading market positions; exploit possibilities enter new markets; respond to new customers, partners and regulatory demands; launch new products successfully with an Agile lifecycle. I’ll explain what I mean by agility here. First, to be agile means to be able to recognize important changes in the business environment or realize the need for changes and innovations in your own business. Second, it means to make decisions rapidly to react to these changes. Third, it means to adjust your company’s goals, strategies and tactics to possible changes faster than your competitors. But prior to taking any actions in response to rapid changes one should possess information. Quick access to information and rapid information exchange are key factors that make companies agile and competitive. Enterprise 2.0 technologies, such as blogs and wikis, for example, are able to fill in the agility gap for organizations. They can provide quick access to information and improve external and internal communications. Enterprise 2.0 in external communications Enterprise 2.0 has great potential impact from an organizational and revenue prospective in the customer-facing areas. Thus, it is making companies agile in their customer relations. The new-generation technologies offer new ways of contacting and engaging new customers. These technologies provide easier communication with present and potential customers in two ways. An enterprise can get ideas for product improvement and new product launches from consumers. Customers’ ideas are likely to be much more successful than any of ideas based on in-house research. In addition, they make organizations more transparent and trustworthy to customers. They also help customer support and satisfaction. For example, many companies now have on-line support services and product discussions on their Web sites. It’s not only easier for a consumer, but also a lot faster. A user’s question can be answered in seconds, and he won’t need to dial any numbers or get annoyed holding on the line. Enterprise 2.0 in internal communications Enterprise 2.0 has even greater influence on communications inside of a company. Enterprise 2.0 tools give employees a chance to exchange information and collaborate more effectively. People enter new information that can be helpful to their colleagues. Information becomes more accessible. The most important element is that an Enterprise 2.0 application contains the latest information that Andrew McAfee says “employees think other employees should know about.” If we take a corporate blog as an example it gives people freedom of operating information. Employees can search across posts, tag articles, subscribe to blog feeds or link to articles, if they want to extend conversation, prove something, show resource of facts or just highlight information. Enterprise 2.0 technologies can be a powerful starting-lever for innovations in a company. A company, that introduces these technologies and gives its employees information exchange freedom will take leading positions and leave its competitors far behind. As an example let’s take two competing organizations Company A and Company X. Both of them are important corporations with multi-stepped hierarchical structures. Company A uses Enterprise 2.0 to improve communications among its employees. Company X is too busy to think about the implications of new technologies. Both companies hire two outstanding employees. Both of them come up with billion-dollar ideas for launching new products. Each young man’s idea is advantageous for the company and is able to move it to leading positions in the market sector. In Company X, the bright employee wants to share his idea and contribute to the company’s development. He goes to his boss, who says: “Yeah, that’s great, but it’s not what our company needs right now” because he is busy at the moment or probably is just too lazy to communicate the idea to the upper management. The excellent idea dies without even a chance to be brought to the CEO of Company X. The idea-generator in Company A wants to share his thoughts and tell the top-management of the company that there are great up-coming opportunities for the business. He publishes his idea on the corporate blog. This idea gets common attention, and it is supplemented and expanded by other team members. Company A’s top management takes it into consideration and finally brings it to life. The result is Company A is ahead of its main competitor, Company X. It launches a new product and gains more customers. Company A turned out to be more agile and open to changes. The human mind remains the center of a company’s growth and development, each company needs creative staff and innovative managers to move the business ahead. But new-generation technologies can help a great deal. Enterprise 2.0 should be properly applied in the way that allows businesses to best avail themselves of these tools. My conclusion is that Enterprise 2.0 tools are just tools after all and without the right application they will be useless. But if you know how to apply them, they will enhance your business agility and make the business easily adaptable to impending changes.
3 Ways Collaborative Work Management Fuels Enterprise Agility
Embracing change in the current post-digital world to remain relevant and competitive has become more critical than ever. Read more to learn how collaborative work management can fuel enterprise agility and help your business stand out from the rest.
The 4 Values and 12 Principles of Agile Project Management
When embarking on a new project at work, it’s important to have a structure in place to guide your project to success. A plan is important, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. Luckily, there are lots of tried and tested approaches to project management out there for you to choose from — these are called methodologies, and many are grouped into different families for organizations to use. Agile methodologies are some of the most popular approaches to project management, and if you’re wondering why, the clue is in the name — Agile methodologies allow project managers to be nimble and flexible, adapt to challenges as they arise, and pivot quickly to the most successful way of working. There’s a lot to understand about Agile project management to use it effectively in your organization. In this piece, we’ll cover what Agile is, the fundamental Agile values and principles, and how to incorporate the principles of Agile into your next project. What is Agile project management? First off, what is Agile project management? Simply put, it is a way of approaching project management that uses Agile values and principles to pave the way for project success. Agile uses a set of four values and 12 principles to guide project managers in their own work. These Agile values and principles were first developed and set out in a charter known as the Agile manifesto, which was written in 2001 at a gathering of developers and programming professionals. The Agile manifesto was created to find a solution to older project management methodologies and processes that were seen as unworkable for modern projects. The Agile manifesto had 17 signatories, who went on to be known as the Agile Alliance. Once the manifesto was released, the Alliance grew to eventually have more than 72,000 members worldwide, who all embrace the values and principles of Agile project management in their daily work. So, what kind of projects can be managed using Agile? Although it was originally developed for programming projects specifically, Agile lived up to its name and was able to be adapted for many different projects across a variety of industries. Agile is a flexible option for projects and allows goals to be changed without impacting the overall success of the project. This flexibility means that Agile is suitable for teams who like to move fast, without too many limitations or deadlines. If your team is consistent with its communication and enjoys less structure and more adaptability, Agile could be for you. But what are the core values and principles that make up the Agile methodology? Let’s explore each of them in detail. What are the four values of Agile? First off, let’s explore the Agile values. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools This is a cornerstone of Agile project management — favoring communication and interpersonal relationships over strict processes. Agile advises a more personalized approach to project management, where teams constantly communicate, rather than relying on more stagnant scheduled updates. Working software over comprehensive documentation Agile teams are not big fans of paperwork. They would rather utilize more flexible software solutions to manage their data, reports, and status updates than traditional documentation. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Agile teams love collaboration, and that includes regularly updating and liaising with customers and stakeholders to get their input on how the project is progressing. Lengthy contracts with lots of revisions are part of the documentation that Agile teams prefer to move away from. Responding to change over following a plan Finally, we have the value that characterizes Agile project management above all else. Agile teams are responsive to change and thrive off adapting to new environments and challenges. These values inform every process and task that is done under the Agile umbrella. But what are the 12 principles, which delve further into what makes Agile so unique? What are the 12 principles of Agile? You may notice that many of Agile’s principles relate specifically to software development. As this was the background of many members of the original Agile Alliance, it was a strong focus for the Agile manifesto. However, these principles are still applicable to projects in other areas and industries — let’s take a closer look at how. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software Agile teams place their customers’ happiness first and foremost and prioritize delivering results at regular intervals, rather than have them wait for one final reveal at the end of the process. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage Agile teams are ready and able to tackle changes, even at the last minute. This gives them an advantage over more traditional teams, who may not take to change management so easily. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale Again, we note that Agile teams are all about regular and consistent communication, rather than scheduled updates that may be too far apart to be workable for clients. Scrum teams, which fall under the Agile umbrella, break their workloads down into one to four week-long timelines, known as sprints. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project Collaboration is key in Agile, not just between team members, but with stakeholders, developers, customers, and other relevant parties. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job doneAgile teams are successful because they make sure to structure their team with the right people for the project. Once your team members have the support, collaboration, and tools they need to succeed, the rest will follow. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation We can all admit that there is no substitute for in-person collaboration when it comes to project management. But this principle is also applicable in our ‘new normal’ of hybrid and remote working models. Zoom and Teams are a great alternative to phone calls and email, and teams can also make the effort to meet in person for key points of progression throughout the project. Working software is the primary measure of progress This principle cites software as its main deliverable, but its message endures — your focus as a team should always be to deliver the best quality result to your customers as possible. If they are satisfied, then that is the strongest indicator of your project’s success. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely This can be a difficult task for many teams, who may come out of the gate with a burst of quick progress, before falling to a slower pace for the rest of the project. Agile teams must ensure that their working pace is consistent throughout the project. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility Agile is not a ‘one and done’ approach to project management. Every new project offers the opportunity for innovation and to create something new — not to keep rehashing the same ideas. Simplicity — the art of maximizing the amount of work not done — is essential Agile teams do not get bogged down in overcomplication — they meet their requirements, do their jobs well, and move on to the next project. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams The best teams are those with a leader who is not afraid to let them shine. Micro-managing rarely makes any team better or more productive, and Agile teams are great examples of what can happen when this is not the case. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly Continuous improvement is the name of the game in Agile, and regular performance reviews of the team as a whole can help to break unhelpful habits and lead to more success. How to implement Agile values and principles into your projects You may be ready to give Agile project management a go, but are wondering how best to keep to the manifesto’s guidelines. There is no one way to implement Agile values and principles into your projects. The Agile manifesto is an intuitive guide for your teams to make their own — as long as you keep to the core ideas of Agile, you can adapt it to suit the needs of your project. One way to ensure success is to utilize project management software that is compatible with the principles of Agile. A collaborative work management tool like Wrike can aid your Agile team to project success with features like: One source of truth for reports, edits, and comments, with no unnecessary paperwork @mentions and app integrations, which ensure that all communication can be done in one place for quick and consistent updates Customizable request and intake forms, so that work can be clearly prioritized and you can make the most of every sprint Ready-to-use templates for your team, including Agile teamwork, sprint planning, Kanban projects, and more Discover how Wrike can bring your team to Agile success. Start a free two-week trial now.
How to Boost Productivity Using Parkinson's Law
In 1955, Cyril Parkinson created Parkinson's law. The concept centers around the idea that work is like gas; it expands to fill whatever container it is placed in. For project management, this means that if you give a task five hours, it will take five hours to complete. But if you give that same task five days, it will take five days to complete. Understanding this basic principle is key to improving productivity for both yourself and your team. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what Parkinson's law is and how it can be used to boost productivity (or hinder it). Keep reading to explore examples of Parkinson's law, plus some tips on how and when to use it in Agile project management. What is Parkinson's law? Parkinson's law is the theory that work will expand to fill the allotted time. So whether you think a task will take one week or one month, if you schedule it accordingly, that's how long it will take. Much of this has to do with the way our brains are wired. In general, even the most put-together of us wait until the last minute to fulfill a commitment. In fact, it actually feels good for some people and gives them an adrenaline rush. That's because the farther out a deadline is, the lower it is on our priority list. And with good reason. If we prioritize all of our project-related tasks at the same level, we can almost guarantee a decrease in productivity. This is especially true if employees attempt to multitask. But if you follow Parkinson’s law, you’ll be able to boost the productivity of your onsite and work from home teams simply by limiting their allotted time. What does allotted time mean? Allotted time means the time assigned to a task in project management. Often, this is determined by the project manager when they are creating the timeline and schedule. Some project managers prefer to use historical data to calculate mini-deadlines for individual tasks. Others gather input from subject matter experts and talent to estimate how much effort each task requires. These guidelines may also be determined by the needs of the project itself. So whether or not you believe a task requires more effort if there is a short deadline, Parkinson's law dictates that the task can be achieved within that given time frame. Of course, this isn't true in every case. Some tasks really do require additional time for creation, revision, and approval. That's why this law works for the opposite issue, too — providing too much time for a task can lead to the task being done with more effort than what is required, making it more complex than it was to begin with. When we talk about Parkinson's law and productivity, we have to strike a balance between allotting the time necessary to complete a task and not overdoing it so that the extra time makes the task harder to complete. Trimming the fat is a good analogy for this. When you trim the fat off of your project schedule, you make it easier for team members to get to the meat of the assignment. Examples of Parkinson's law A great example of Parkinson's law in action that most people can relate to is student syndrome. Student syndrome is when a person waits to complete a task until the night before it's due. In some cases, that could mean the hour before a meeting for even a day or two later if they can sense the deadline won't be enforced. If we can assume that most professionals still succumb to student syndrome from time to time, then we can apply Parkinson's law to help them deliver work as needed. Here are some examples: Asking someone to return a signatory form within 24 hours of receipt rather than leaving it open-ended. Assigning a task that normally takes a week and giving it a three-day window instead. Condensing a client project timeline from six months to three months. Is it possible to overcome Parkinson's law? Yes, it is possible to overcome Parkinson's law. Aside from knowing that the work itself can become more complex the more time you give it, understanding the psychology behind procrastination is also a key factor in using this idea to your advantage. Procrastination is not a modern concept. In fact, even the ancient Greeks and Romans warned against it. So we know this has more to do with the way our brains function than modern vices such as social media and cell phones. Procrastination plagues all of us at some point. However, there are some telltale signs of whether or not someone is likely to put things off until the last minute. The biggest of which has to do with mental health. People who are prone to procrastination tend to have higher levels of stress and anxiety. This translates to their personal lives (missing appointments, putting off large yet necessary purchases, etc.) and their professional lives (delaying follow-ups, sending work in late, etc.). If a project manager is able to identify some of these symptoms among their team, they can strategically apply Parkinson's law in a way that helps these individuals prioritize. Project managers can take this a step further and ensure that the work environment they’re curating allows employees to feel relaxed. That is because procrastination isn't simply a mental obstacle — it's also an emotional one. If project deadlines are unrealistic and tasks are mounting, a strategic product manager would be wise to consider the emotional state of their team before using Parkinson's law to boost productivity. How can you boost productivity using Parkinson's law? The concept of Parkinson’s Law is that by setting deadlines that are significantly shorter than they were previously, you can become extremely productive and avoid getting bogged down by deadlines that are too long. It helps you find shortcuts, avoid procrastination, and focus on actions that matter. But how do you actually use it to boost productivity? Cut your estimated project timelines and task allotments in half. This will allow you to complete your tasks or projects in half the time it normally would take. If you or your teammates still can’t make a new deadline, it means that everyone is too busy and you need to loosen up the deadline for the next time. When you give someone half the amount of time they are used to completing a task, they will likely still turn it in as requested, thanks to creative solutions they wouldn’t have thought of before. Aside from focusing on your daily tasks, applying Parkinson's Law can also help you reach bigger goals and projects. If you decide to cut the deadline for a project or goal in half, it may seem impossible at first, but it can be done. For example, instead of giving yourself a deadline of one year, try to reach your goal in six months instead. This strategy will help you save time and make you more productive. Remember, the more time you give yourself, the more time you waste doing non-essentials. Another great way to apply Parkinson's law is using your project management solution. With visual timelines, your team will be able to see how much work is left. They will also be able to see the difference between how much effort one task takes compared to another. You can even set micro deadlines within individual tasks. In Wrike, users can add due dates to individual tasks within a project. Productivity coach Alyssa Coleman has suggested in her goal-getting workshops that you can go a step further and add reminders at the halfway point of your goal. If that task or phase hasn’t started by that date, it will kickstart your team into remembering that they now only have half as much time as they did before. This can help overcome the psychological barriers of procrastination. Wrike users also have the ability to automate reminders within their project planning to save you time on following up at the beginning, middle, and end of every major task. Using Parkinson's law in project management Remember, it’s never too late to improve productivity, so give your team a helping hand by using Parkinson’s law the right way. Here are some practical ways to use Parkinson’s law in project management. Apply these tips to active and ongoing projects now or in the future: Cut deadlines by 50% for every project and related task. Use historical data, team input, and task timers to find out how long each step normally takes, then cut it in half. Add buffer room for each task without putting it on the schedule. For example, if you absolutely need a deliverable by Friday, ask your team to deliver it by Wednesday or Thursday. That way, even if they are behind, you’ll still be on track. Encourage employees to work smart, not harder. If the point is to get the test done, make that clear. If the task needs to be done with an extra amount of detail or complexity, make that clear too. Remember to read the room. Imposing tight deadlines on an already overwhelmed team and further procrastination rather than support productivity. Encourage employees to keep a productivity journal. This offers holistic benefits for their life as a whole and keeps them in the right headspace for work. Start a free two-week trial of Wrike and use the Parkinson’s law productivity tips we provided to overcome procrastination and reliably deliver products by working smarter, not harder.
The Agile Origins of Project Management 2.0
In my previous post that was also cross posted on CloudAve, I brought up the topic of enterprise agility. My conclusion was: to be agile and adapt quickly to the ever-changing business environment, you need to be able to blend top-down control with bottom-up agility in a "Ying and Yang" style. I also mentioned the latest research, showing that teams that foster a focused, unified dialogue between their members, managers and stakeholders are 250% more likely to thrive in the present economic situation. Less agile teams are 360% more likely to miss millions of dollars in lost opportunities. The idea of constant interaction and collaboration between managers, team members and stakeholders is not new, however. Here I want to write a few words about the origins of this idea, which later became the background for Project Management 2.0. Agile Management Essentials The idea of constant dialogue in project management surfaced in 2001 as one of the principles of so-called agile software development and is described in the Agile Manifesto. According to evangelists of agile methods, cooperation is crucial for the success of a project. Among other key principles of agile lifecycle management are: • Clear vision of the project • Fast pace • Self-organizing teams • Leadership philosophy that encourages teamwork These principles easily took over the software industry in several years because of the major benefits they bring to companies, such as: • Increased productivity • Early return on investment • Responsiveness to changes in the business environment Perhaps the brightest examples here are Google and IBM. Among others are Verizon, GE Mobile, HP and Rackspace. Now agile methods are used to manage various projects outside of the software development. One of the agile management methods called Scrum is often used as a best practice for managing various complex projects in an iterative fashion, and it is frequently applied to diverse industries and types of projects. Scrum can be used in business development, customer development, marketing projects and even as a general project management framework in industries like finance, telecommunications, automotive, publishing, etc. Sounds great, but can agile methods, or any other type of bottom-up management, be instantly adopted in your company? Probably not. If you have ever tried introducing the best bottom-up practices to your organization, you have most likely found it difficult to do that while utilizing traditional tools for project management. I already wrote about the three major gaps of traditional project management software that make them less useful in an agile organization.Change in Communication The situation is changing, thanks to the transformations going on in how people share and receive information. More methods for the successful implementation of the bottom-up management best practices have emerged. During the past few years, analysts, the business community and the media talked a lot about the companies that try to boost the productivity of their employees by adopting tools like blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networks, etc. It’s not surprising that tech companies lead the way here. For instance, Intel was one of the first enterprises to utilize internal blogging. As far back as 2003, Intel began encouraging employees to communicate with each other by running their own internal blogs. These quickly gained a large following. In 2006, Intel launched the IT@Intel pilot blog, and in 2007 it rolled out a full blog program called Blogs@Intel. Today, through self-managed blogs and networking profiles, employees are encouraged to provide their own views on what’s going on at Intel and in the computer technology world. Intel is not the only example. Non-tech companies caught up very quickly. In April 2006, Intrawest Placemaking, a real estate development firm that operates in North America and Europe, undertook a bold technical initiative focused on empowering individual employees. Today, Intrawest Placemaking's wiki intranet allows practically unrestricted editing for all 250 employees. This has led to a tenfold increase in use over the previous intranet, and some excellent examples of knowledge sharing: One manager created a page with an idea that saved the company $500,000.Web 2.0 for the Enterprise This trend was recognized by technology and business experts, and in 2006, Andrew McAfee, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, coined the term “Enterprise 2.0.” The essential element of Enterprise 2.0 is freeform collaboration. Enterprise 2.0 gives people the capability to create, modify and mange information with ease. Using simple, Web-based tools, relevant and up-to-date knowledge within your organization can be found, tracked and shared efficiently. Leveraging the collective intelligence of employees brings real competitive advantages to organizations. It increases innovation, team productivity and agility. Does it work in the real world? It does, and there are hundreds of examples proving it. Here are some of them: - Simon Sproule, Nissan’s corporate vice president, is convinced that corporate social networking pays off. He recognized that Nissan’s internal social networking site "makes it easier for employees to tap into the expertise they need to do a better job." - Euan Semple, former head of knowledge management for the BBC, claimed the organization was getting "enormous benefits" from Enterprise 2.0. He reported to Forrester that BBC had 23,000 bulletin board users, 4,000 wiki users and over 400 people blogging. - General Electric, the venerable multinational corporation that was founded in 1878 in New Jersey, has at its core a hugely sophisticated enterprise collaboration system that is arguably the largest in the world. GE’s ‘SupportCentral’ users have created over 50,000 communities with over 100,000 experts signed up to answer questions and manage information. The experts are GE workers with full-time jobs who use the system because it helps them do their jobs better. Today, thanks to the influence of Enterprise 2.0 practices, Web 2.0 tools and agile methods, project management is evolving on a broader scale in a diverse set of industries that range from professional services to manufacturing. This evolution is often called Project Management 2.0 Now you are welcome to join the discussion. Why use agile project management?Have you tried managing your projects with agile methods? What tools were you using? Can you name any other trends that influenced the appearance of Project Management 2.0? Please share your thoughts and experience in the comments.
The 4 Pillars of Agile Marketing
In the last decade, Agile methodologies have been widely embraced by the software development and project management communities. Its iterative approach helps teams make direct progress toward an end goal, while allowing them the flexibility to adapt and refine their process as they go. Now, marketing teams are embracing the Agile pillars in order to thrive in a new era of customer engagement and expectations. Increasing demands on marketing departments require new approaches to marketing management and operations, and the benefits of Agile for marketers are clear: Agile marketing teams are more productive, more satisfied with how their teams manage work, and deliver better results faster. But marketers have their own unique challenges, and Agile’s principles must be adapted to suit their needs. Follow Wrike's Agile Marketing Manifesto to build a strong foundation for your marketing organization. Wrike's Agile Marketing Manifesto: The 4 Pillars of Agile Ongoing Customer Focus We anticipate changes in customer requirements and interests, and build processes that allow us to incorporate those changes even at later stages of the project. Clients and stakeholders are regularly involved throughout the project, from beginning to end. Collaboration & Communication Our team has open communication and is always aware of the status of work: what's been completed, what's in progress, and what's upcoming. Roles, responsibilities, and priorities are clear, and issues/roadblocks are quickly uncovered and addressed. Our team is self-organizing, setting its own goals and methods, without relying on upper management to dictate every step. Intentional Processes & Continuous Improvement We follow a clearly defined process, which is neither accidental nor ad hoc, and our process is sustainable and scalable within our organization. Our work processes are carefully designed to support agility, speed, and flexibility. We set aside time to reflect and improve our processes, removing any wasted steps to keep workflows efficient and proactively addressing any issues or bottlenecks. Results-Oriented Approach Instead of completing many different campaigns and initiatives, we prioritize efficiency, quality over quantity, and satisfying customer needs. We use the build-measure-learn feedback loop or similar approach, and focus on outcomes — not volume or other deceptive metrics — to ensure we're achieving strategic goals. Decisions are based on data, not opinions or habit. Quiz: What’s Your Team’s Agile Marketing Score? While the 4 pillars of Agile Marketing may sound simple, getting your team up to speed so you actually reap the benefits is tricky — and it’s tough to know whether you’re on the right track. Take our interactive self-assessment to evaluate your team’s agility and get some simple, practical tips for improvement.
Is Your Enterprise Struggling to Be Agile? 4 Tips to Get You There
Enterprises are struggling due to increased competition and greater customer expectations. Agile methodology can help enterprises succeed against more nimble competitors — but many are struggling to make the shift. Read on for 4 tips for a successful Agile transition, based on skills you learned playing Monopoly.
Quiz: What's Your Team's Agile Marketing Score?
Improved quality of work, faster time to release, better team morale and alignment — truly Agile marketing teams are at a distinct competitive advantage. But getting your co-workers up to speed with Agile team roles so you actually reap these benefits is tricky, and it can be difficult to know whether you’re on the right track. That’s why we created an interactive self-assessment that will help you evaluate your team’s agility and get some simple, practical tips for improvement. Will your marketing team make the grade? Click here to take our short self-assessment and find out! Brilliant Agile Marketing Teams Run on Wrike Wrike's new solution tailored for marketing teams includes Custom Request forms, proofing & approval, visual dashboards and real-time reports to help marketing teams exceed customer expectations and launch successful campaigns. Learn more about Wrike for Marketers, or try it free for 2 weeks.
Can you Become Agile, When Managing Projects the Top-Down Style?
Before, but recently, I came across some very interesting research data, so I decided to give this topic a different angle, taking the present economic conditions into consideration. The ups and downs of our economy are enough to make any executive dizzy. Just look at U.S. Steel (X). In the second quarter of 2008, the company achieved record profits, yet in November, executives laid off 675 workers and postponed the construction of a new $450 million plant. When the economy weakens, leaders are forced to link expenses to revenues. To accomplish this, they instinctively impose top-down, across-the-board solutions. Unfortunately, the latest research shows that this common strategy results in a 50-50 chance of damaging the company's long-term ability to thrive. Nevertheless, there are organizations that shine in changing financial conditions. The most agile companies that are able to quickly shift resources and employees to meet changing demands find millions of dollars in savings and often emerge stronger. The meaning of “agility” First of all, what does it mean to be “agile”? Enterprise agility (business agility) is a company's ability to rapidly and cost-efficiently recognize changes and adapt to them. In short, to be “agile” means to be able to make the right decisions and implement them fast. Making the right decisions is impossible without having real-time visibility into your company and the complete picture of your projects. Without this visibility, it would be like driving in the fog. You’re not sure what’s ahead of you, but you have to keep driving. That’s why you need the information that is in the minds of the employees dispersed across the organization. You need the knowledge coming from bottom-up. A constant dialogue between leaders, team members, stakeholders and clients is crucial. This fact is proven by the research conducted by Joseph Grenny, the co-author of three immediate New York Times bestsellers: “Influencer,” “Crucial Conversations,” and “Crucial Confrontations.” During the last quarter of 2008, in the thick of the financial downturn, Grenny and his colleagues studied more than 2,000 managers and executives from more than 400 different companies. The results were remarkable. The researchers found that teams that foster focused, unified dialogue are 250% more likely to survive. Less agile teams are 360% more likely to miss millions of dollars in lost opportunities. Is bottom-up the right solution? So if an enterprise wants to adopt the Agile project management lifecycle, should it use bottom-up management? Indeed, besides being a great way to get knowledge from the experts at the team level, the bottom-up approach to management on the whole, and to project management in particular, has a number of advantages. One of them is that it empowers team members to think more creatively. They feel involved into the project development and know that their initiatives are appreciated. The team members’ motivation to work and make the project a success is doubled. Yet, we all know that the bottom-up approach is often criticized for a lack of clarity and control. To be able to execute your decisions fast, you need to keep a tight, top-down control on operations. Otherwise, you may miss an important opportunity. What’s the right solution then? The best way is to find a balance between the two and take the best practices from both of them. I once wrote a post about taking the best from the two approaches (bottom-up and top-down) to project management. So to be agile, you need to be able to blend top-down control with bottom-up agility in a "Ying and Yang" style. Later in this blog, I’ll continue to develop my ideas on how this can be done by upgrading your project management practices to “Project Management version 2.0.” Now, I’d love to hear your thoughts and answers to the following questions: • Is agility important? • How can we make a company more agile? • Do project management practices influence the overall enterprise agility? • Have you tried blending top-down and bottom-up in project management? Jump into the comments section and share your vision.
Unlock All Your Team “Kan” Do With a Kanban Template
Creating a Kanban template means clearly defining your workflows and using a Kanban board to track progress visually. Your work management platform is the perfect tool to build your flexible Kanban style project template. Ditch those sticky notes and whiteboards while solving your team's biggest project management challenges.
Join the Agile Marketing Revolution! (Infographic)
Is your team a lean, mean, Agile marketing machine? In today’s digital age, responsiveness and adaptability are essential for creative teams. Join your marketing comrades and take up the Agile cause! Revolutionize the way you build campaigns, capitalize on the latest trends, and capture your audience’s attention by following this Agile Marketing Manifesto. Check out the infographic below for Agile axioms that will help you adjust to change, attract stronger leads, and work as a dynamic team. Source: Space Chimp Media Is your marketing team ready for the advantages of Agile? Or are you already a standard-bearer for the movement? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Should Your Business Go Agile? (Infographic)
Agile is everywhere. It’s more than a software development method — it’s become an ideology. What started as an approach to managing single projects is now a set of guiding principles for cutting-edge businesses. An Agile business doesn’t just endure change, it embraces change as an integral part of its business strategy. And in doing so, it can instantly take advantage of new opportunities and capitalize on sudden trends. So what are the benefits of Agile? This infographic covers the top reasons businesses adopt Agile strategies, the most common obstacles and concerns, and the biggest benefits. The Agile Enterprise 37% of survey respondents say they chose Agile to accelerate time to market. 36% cite the ability to adapt to changing priorities as the main reason they went Agile. 27% adopted Agile in order to increase productivity. Top barrier to Agile adoption is an unwillingness to change organizational structure. 66% of businesses say Agile increases their velocity and helps them complete projects faster than before. Check out the infographic for additional details, including the average size of companies using Agile, common concerns, Agile management and business strategies, and more. Source: Gist Are you considering Agile for your next project? We’ve got some helpful resources for you! Learn the ins and outs of Agile with our Quick-Start Guide to Methodologies, and get the essentials on the most popular Agile approach.
Fundamentals of the Scrum Methodology
Kanban, Lean project management, Six Sigma, Scrum… there are a mountain of Agile methodologies to choose from. And if you’re new to project management, it can be a lot to take in. You may know that Scrum is one of the most common approaches to Agile project management, but what is it exactly? (Besides a group of scuffed-up rugby players, that is.) Scrum is an approach to managing complicated projects that may have to adapt to changes in scope or requirements. By emphasizing productivity, focus and collaboration, Scrum teams build high-quality deliverables quickly and can more easily adapt to change. Curious about how it all works? Read on for an introduction to Scrum. The Process When a customer (internal or external) comes to the team with a certain need, the final product is broken up into individual chunks. (Traditionally this has been a software need, but the process also works for any project that is comprised of multiple stages and pieces, such as a marketing launch.) The pieces are prioritized and tackled in a series of short bursts called sprints. Teams can determine their own sprint length, provided it’s less than 4 weeks (one to two weeks is common). At the end of each sprint, the team delivers a product increment — essentially, a version of the product that could be shipped if necessary. Transparency is a key principle in Scrum, so teams and stakeholders review the results of each sprint together. This ensures everyone's on the same page about priorities and deliverables, and any adjustments can be made right away. Teams promote internal transparency through daily standups. During these brief, 15-minute meetings, everyone reports what they accomplished yesterday, what they plan to work on that day, and any current “impediments" (factors that are keeping them from working more efficiently). This visibility helps uncover problems and bring them to the forefront quickly, so the team can tackle and overcome them together. Who’s Who: Scrum Roles There are three main roles in Scrum: the product owner, the scrum master, and the development team. Product Owner: Product owners represent the customer's interests. They decide what the team will work on next, so the team's efforts stay focused on high-priority tasks that create the most value. The Kanban product owner must always be available to provide input or guidance to the development team, although it's important to note that product owners are not managers — scrum teams self-organize. Scrum Master: The Scrum master's #1 goal is to help the development team be self-sufficient. Scrum masters intercept and remove barriers to team progress, and act as a buffer between the team and any outside forces that might interfere with productivity. S/he leads daily standup meetings, so while the product owner is responsible for what the team will produce, the scrum master oversees the how. Development Team: Development teams are made up of cross-functional team members, so the group has all the necessary skills to deliver the final product. The team focuses on only one project at a time; members don’t multitask or split their efforts between multiple projects. Once the product owner makes an ordered list of what needs to be done, the development team decides how much they can complete in a single sprint and plan accordingly. You may have heard the words "pig" and "chicken" tossed around in conversations about Scrum. If so, you may be asking yourself, what do farm animals have to do with software development? Within the development team, members are assigned roles as either pigs or chickens. A pig is the person responsible for the completion of a specific task. They're the ones "risking their bacon." Chickens may be involved in the task, but are not ultimately responsible. Only pigs can speak about their tasks during daily standup meetings; chickens just listen. Core Values As an Agile framework, Scrum shares the values of the Agile Manifesto. But it also creates its own guidelines. These are the five golden rules in Scrum: Openness: Scrum sees collaboration as the most effective way to create the best possible product. So teamwork and transparency are essential. Rather than anxiously downplaying problems, Scrum team members are open about their progress and any roadblocks they encounter. Focus: With Scrum, multitasking is out. Since productivity is key, splitting the team’s attention across multiple projects, or redirecting their efforts mid-sprint by shifting priorities, is avoided at all costs. Instead, teams concentrate on the task at hand for the highest velocity and best quality product. Courage: Teams must have the tenacity to commit to an ambitious (but attainable) amount of work for each sprint. Scrum masters must also be able to stand up to stakeholders if necessary, and the product owner must guide the development team with authority. Commitment: Each sprint is itself commitment: teams must agree on what they’re going to accomplish and stick to it. This value is reflected in each team’s unique “Definition of Done,” a list of criteria to determine whether a feature or deliverable is truly finished — that it’s not only fully functional, but meets the team’s standards for quality. Respect: In the service of true collaboration, roles and responsibilities are transparent. Each member of the team is respected equally, regardless of job description, seniority, or status. The development team must honor the product owner’s authority in deciding what the team works on, and the product owner needs to respect the team’s need follow whatever work process is best for them. Now that you've got the basics, are you curious about the pros and cons of Scrum (and other top project management methodologies, such as Kanban vs. Scrum)? Wondering what are the 5 Scrum ceremonies? Read our Quick-Start Guide to Project Management Methodologies and you'll be an expert in no time!
The Effect of Agile on Marketing Teams (Infographic)
We recently surveyed over 800 marketers regarding work management, cross-department collaboration struggles, technology integration satisfaction, and how Agile methodologies are helping them improve flexibility and collaboration across their teams.
Agile Software Project Management Event: The APLN Seattle Leadership Summit
. It will be held in Seattle from July 17 - 18. The Summit promises to be an interactive event, with topics including Scrum, agile program management, the software development triangle, collaboration games and many others.