Being AGILE

I was recently re-introduced to Agile software development. So I decided to take a closer look at it.

There are a ton of methodologies, but the general idea of Agile Software Development is to quickly develop complex software projects by breaking them up into smaller projects and breaking those projects into tasks. All the while, you’re increasing teamwork and communication to minimize roadblocks.

I started to look into the Scrum methodology (because who doesn’t like rugby!) and I discovered that a lot of the principles that programmers use to implement agile development could also be applied to any complex project.

Here’s how:

Organize Your Project
- Create a 2-week to 4-week goal (this is called a SPRINT).
- Organize your tasks to be no more than 5-hour chunks of work.
  - Break down tasks that take more than 5 hours into smaller chunks.
- Itemize a list of “wants” and “needs”.
- Prioritize based on Return on Investment (ROI). “Needs” that take less time than “Wants” have a higher return on investment.
Create Realistic Expectations
- If two projects will collectively take 40 hours, and you have 8 hours a day to give, but only 3 days, only one project will be completed.
- You only have so many hours to burn, so maximizing ROI is key.
Minimize Distraction and Increase Efficiency for Update Meetings
- Allow only key players to hold the floor, but allow anyone interested to attend.
- Limit the overall meeting time to 15 minutes.
- Keep the discussion flowing – stay within the confines of these topics:
  - What have we done so far?
  - Where do we need to go?
  - What do we need to get there?
- Stay standing – it energizes the participants and keeps the meeting short.
Increase Communication
- Real advocates of SCRUM meet for 15 minutes each day, but depending on the scope of your project, once or twice a week would be enough.
- Nobody is penalized for bringing up problems – no problem is hidden.