Agile project management has expanded well beyond software development and is now used by over 70% of US companies. For businesses building Agile teams, the process can seem daunting – Agile project managers must balance a constant flow of inputs while keeping their teams moving forward.
Without Agile teams, companies struggle to adapt when markets shift suddenly, new competitors emerge, or unexpected industry changes arise.
Agile methodology definition
Agile methodology is a project management approach that breaks larger objectives down into smaller phases, with a focus on continuous iteration, progress, and improvement. This reflects the definition of the term ‘Agile,’ which refers to a team’s ability to move freely, recalibrating in response to both challenges and successes.
Agile methodology helps organisations respond quickly and effectively to challenges – from rising customer demands to product delays. Businesses using Agile achieve a 64% success rate, compared to 49% with other strategies.
This guide covers Agile principles and how to apply them to your current operations:
What is an Agile team?
An Agile team is a group of people with diverse, multipurpose skills, all dedicated to the success of an Agile project across every stage of development, testing, and delivery. Agile teams typically consist of 5 to 10 members, carefully selected for their expertise in specific business areas.
These teams are carefully assembled with a clear purpose to fulfil for the company – typically tied to a specific business objective. They’re also self-directed and self-organised, share accountability, and provide cross-functional support to meet their goals.
Advantages of an Agile team
Flexibility and scalability – in good times and challenging ones – are just a few of the advantages of having an Agile team in your organisation. Many companies are adopting Agile team approaches – for software development and beyond – because of the benefits they deliver. Here are a few:
- Improved customer engagement and satisfaction: Agile’s iterative approach enables companies to continuously deliver new products or services, strengthening customer relationships and improving retention.
- Higher-quality products: Process improvement sits at the heart of Agile, with contributors encouraged to identify areas for growth. This helps processes evolve faster, eliminating bottlenecks and improving quality control.
- Higher levels of adaptability: The ability to adjust helps teams push through roadblocks or embrace positive changes with minimal downtime. Teams can also reassess their priorities as they progress, enabling more consistent delivery.
- Better project control: With the end goal clearly defined, Agile teams can manage their outcomes through continual progress and regular group reviews of deliverables.
- Reduced risk: The progressive approach also minimises the risk of missing goals. Team members can recalibrate their expectations and methods to reach the desired outcomes in new ways.
- Increased collaboration and feedback: Communication is valued and actively encouraged in Agile teams. Members meet regularly to share feedback, progress updates, and ideas for continuous improvement.
Characteristics of an Agile team
Agile teams will naturally vary in their design and execution, but successful ones share several key traits. Central to Agile methodology is the goal of breaking down silos and fostering a collaborative culture that’s as positive as it is productive.
Improved team collaboration
Above all, the most successful Agile teams are built on a strong sense of unity that shapes every action and interaction. Members are encouraged to share successes and setbacks equally, working together to propose or celebrate solutions as needed. This cohesive approach lifts overall team performance and strengthens the ability to achieve assigned goals.
High productivity
Working as a unified group, an Agile team should also deliver high productivity. Clarity around who is responsible for what – and when tasks are due – helps each contributor understand their role and complete their work as efficiently as possible.
Cross-functionality
Cross-functional Agile teams are often compared to T-shaped teams – where members have deep expertise in specific areas alongside the ability to work across other disciplines – and the two share a lot in common. That said, cross-functional Agile team members are more likely to have skills that extend well beyond traditional disciplines. It’s this broad skillset that allows them to contribute across various projects, which in turn increases an Agile team’s velocity. The maths is straightforward – when you’re not waiting on external resources, you get more done in less time.
Well-defined responsibilities
Team members should be ready to support each other when needed, but clearly defined tasks and responsibilities for each person are equally important. Project managers or Scrum masters can make sure there’s no overlap between tasks. Setting clear boundaries and assignments keeps everyone focused, productive, and efficient.
Self-organised around value
Agile teams work best when they have a clear picture of the value they’re expected to deliver for the organisation. Leaders need to define goals and outcomes from the outset – establishing what success looks like and showing how today’s iterative tasks build towards the final product or service.
Emotional intelligence
Agile projects can be demanding, with tight deadlines and precise deliverables. Teams with a high level of emotional intelligence handle these pressures well – whether the stress is professional or personal – by keeping the focus on the work rather than the individual. The result is steady progress rather than panic when things get difficult.
Adaptable and willing to learn
Agile team members adapt readily as they move between environments, maintaining consistent output with minimal disruption. They typically have a strong sense of the working conditions that suit them best, which helps them find their most productive footing in almost any situation.
Advanced T-shaped skills
T-shaped team members understand most aspects of a project at a foundational level – represented by the horizontal line at the top of the ‘T’ – while having deep expertise in one area of specialisation, represented by the vertical line in the centre. This combination is a real asset for teams looking to drive development or improve processes in specific areas.
Agile team roles and responsibilities
Agile teams generally divide responsibilities clearly across defined roles, and there are many formal roles within Agile methodology. Here are the two most pivotal to success:
Product owner
The product owner in an Agile team sets the tasks, deadlines, and expectations in line with broader business goals. Often described as overseeing the ‘what’ of a project, the product owner – or project owner in Agile marketing – is the team’s assigned leader. This role is typically filled by someone already in a leadership position within the company, such as a director or manager. Their main responsibility is to break down assignments into manageable iterations that align with Agile development.
Scrum master
The scrum master is a role specific to the Scrum methodology – and sometimes included in the hybrid Scrumban methodology. They filter incoming requests to the Agile team, manage the backlog, and facilitate all Scrum meetings. This isn’t necessarily a leadership role; in fact, it can rotate among any member of the Agile team.
The scrum master turns the product owner’s task lists into action by building the team processes and structures that help everyone work efficiently and effectively. This equates to overseeing the ‘how’ of the project – and it’s also a role that’s critical for both internal and external team communication.
Product owners and scrum masters may attract most of the attention in Agile teams, but other roles are just as important. An internal stakeholder, for instance, may be the one who requests the project or outcome, stays informed on progress, and coordinates with other teams on a launch or update. Stakeholders provide critical feedback that can shape the direction of tasks.
Like developers in Agile development, individual contributors are an integral part of the Agile team, forming the team’s primary source of productivity and output.
How do product backlogs optimise Agile?
Maintaining a product backlog is central to effective Agile project management. By building and maintaining one, your team can:
- Keep your to-do list up to date. Team members always know what’s next on their plate, and team leaders can see which tasks matter most and assign them to the most suitable person.
- Encourage discussion about priorities. With the backlog continuously monitored and updated, team members can contribute to discussions about which items are critical and should move up the list. The team can vote on what matters most and estimate how much work is likely involved.
- Increase efficiency. When everyone works from the same prioritised list, the team spends less time debating and second-guessing – and more time building a better product.
- Improve flexibility. Teams can adapt to new needs and circumstances by reassessing backlog items at any time. As priorities shift, so does the list.
Create a product backlog
The product owner is responsible for managing the backlog. It’s their job to create and maintain the list of backlog items. the backlog. It’s their job to create and maintain the list of backlog items.
Prerequisites to creating a product backlog – the two Rs
Before creating the backlog, the team needs a solid understanding of the project’s general requirements and a roadmap for developing it – these are the two Rs of Agile backlogs. The requirements cover the product’s functions, services, and features. The roadmap is the high-level plan of action for the product.
With both Rs in place, here’s how to create a project backlog:
- Collect items. Start by pulling together the tasks, to-dos, and upcoming work you and your team have already identified. These may already appear on team or individual to-do lists. Bring everything from these different sources into one location.
- Clarify items. Make sure you and the team have a thorough understanding of each item. Find out why it was requested, what the specific requirements are, and how it will add value. Use the product roadmap to guide what gets added to, and what stays in, the backlog.
- Prioritise items. Arrange items in order of importance. There are several approaches to this. You could tackle the most complex tasks first, or prioritise based on urgency. Some teams prioritise by weighing impact against effort. Others focus on business value – the effect of the work on revenue or savings. The approach you choose will depend on the type of project you’re working on.
- Manage the backlog. Actively managing the backlog is essential to keeping priorities current – this is known as ‘backlog refinement.’ New items are added continually as ideas and requests come in. You’ll also need to remove and modify items as required.
All these steps take place during backlog creation and continue as an ongoing process throughout the project’s entire lifecycle.
Tips and best practices for managing a product backlog
With new requests and items constantly coming in, the backlog can quickly get out of hand – making it essential for the product owner to stay on top of it. Here are some best practices for ongoing backlog refinement.
- Split up a large list of backlog items. When the backlog grows too large, it becomes hard to find anything and progress becomes less visible. Keeping it manageable is important. One effective approach is to categorise items into long-term and short-term tasks.
- Delete items. Remove any backlog items you know you’ll never complete. If something has been sitting on the list for a while and isn’t valuable enough to implement, it’s time to delete it. With new items constantly being added, the product owner needs to stay proactive in keeping the backlog focused.
- Share the backlog. A backlog kept only as an internal document quickly becomes stagnant – the opposite of Agile. Everyone involved should have access to it, so share it with all relevant stakeholders.
- Visualise the backlog. You can also visualise your team’s backlog. Teams will typically have a digital visualisation of the backlog, but an analogue version can be just as useful. Something as simple as posting notes on the wall works well. Keeping them close to where the team works helps everyone stay engaged.
- Review and reprioritise. Agile is built on flexibility and responsiveness, so your backlog should reflect shifting priorities. The highest-priority items should always sit at the top. Whatever your approach, make a habit of regularly reviewing and reprioritising your backlog items.
The different Agile frameworks
There are several Agile frameworks, with no single tried-and-tested method that suits every situation. Many leaders choose to draw on elements from multiple frameworks to build an approach that best fits their team, industry, or organisation – with a focus on improving performance and meeting their objectives. Here’s an overview of some of the most popular approaches.
- Scrum
Widely adopted in software development, the Scrum framework is an Agile approach that enables team members to self-organise around an assigned set of tasks, tackled iteratively. Through structured meetings and shared tools, Scrum participants collaborate towards a common goal – providing feedback and advancing through the development cycle incrementally, ultimately delivering a final product. Scrum works best in environments where frequent change and adaptability are the norm.
- Kanban
Kanban is a lean workflow management approach, best suited to teams looking to streamline their work in progress and those handling a steady flow of incoming requests. It works well because the process provides a visual representation of the work queue, moving items forward based on the stages or resources they require. The workload – not the workers – is managed by the project owner, who fills the queue and allows team members to pick up individual items for development or review.
- Crystal
The Crystal Agile framework puts communication and interaction ahead of rigid processes, giving team members the freedom to speak up about blockers or efficiencies and direct their own workflow. Teams follow broad collaboration guidelines and are encouraged to share information openly, rather than being tied to restrictive documentation and reporting requirements. Crystal is a strong fit for teams whose members work well together and can keep scope creep in check.
- Extreme Programming Framework (XP)
Turning the focus back to software development, Extreme Programming applies the Agile methodology with a strong emphasis on engineering best practices. Collaboration remains central, but team members follow a defined set of 12 processes that support continuous, iterative sprints to keep development moving forward. This covers elements such as small releases, consistent integration, and code ownership.
- Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
For organisations after faster releases, DSDM could be the right fit. This approach is built around strategies that prioritise quick releases with multiple iterations, with the expectation that revisions and rework may be needed along the way or once delivery is complete. Agile team members still follow set processes and procedures, but move at a faster pace than those working in a purely Scrum-based environment.
The ideal Agile team is typically small – around three to seven people. Keeping team numbers contained supports active communication and reduces the complications that come with larger groups. Many organisations assign a project owner to each Agile team, though having multiple Agile teams report to a single project owner can be more effective. This is someone they’re likely already reporting to. If your team has more than seven people, consider forming multiple smaller Agile teams.
Here are some tips for building Agile team structures:
- Understand, align, and map your business capabilities. Building a team starts with defining clear business goals and outcomes – and how to achieve them. Assembling the right contributors based on business needs, rather than competing priorities, is key to getting this right.
- Establish team expectations and boundaries. Leaders need to be clear about what is and isn’t included in the plan. This helps prevent scope creep from other stakeholders, as well as the spin-off work that naturally arises from team collaboration and innovation.
- Instil the value of self-organisation within the team. For an Agile team to stay productive, team members need to feel empowered to speak up, contribute, and take ownership of their work. Leaders should identify contributors with these qualities and empower them to reach new levels within the right Agile structure.
- Manage work, not people. The team nominates the individuals best placed to determine how to achieve set goals. Leaders should focus on keeping work item priorities, requirements, and deadlines clear – allowing the team to self-organise.
- Create open lines of communication with the product owner. Product owners drive task alignment with business goals, but contributors need clear channels to share essential feedback that could shape future plans.
Improve team collaboration
Strong, effective communication is one of the most critical components of successful collaboration. It drives better decision-making, helps teams meet their responsibilities, and speeds up progress. As leaders build Agile teams, there are practical steps they can take to improve collaboration – and outcomes – for the whole team over time:
- Ensure every team member is aligned with the shared vision and task at hand.
- Build a diverse skill set that doesn’t overlap too heavily with other team members' specialties.
- Build regular feedback loops into the learning cycle and use them consistently.
- Avoid assigning Agile team members to other teams at the same time.
- Identify and manage different work types on a Kanban board.
- Introduce classes of service to increase predictability.
- Visualise cross-team dependencies to streamline collaboration.
Project managers and leaders can drive better project outcomes when they understand how an Agile approach defines specific roles and functions. Once everyone is in the right position, leaders can also use tools and software to support the implementation of their chosen Agile framework.
When you’re ready to take the next step, look into Agile project management software that helps you manage projects at scale. Adobe Workfront is built to help project managers collaborate with teams and stakeholders while monitoring projects in real time, no matter where they are.
Take a product tour of Adobe Workfront or watch the overview video to learn more.
