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Agile management

As a management tool, agile enables matching of the capacity and capabilities of the business to the goals and objectives for the business going forward. Agile tools and methods help to coordinate the work to be done into projects and activities for current and future action.

Agile provides a real-time snapshot of work in progress and, over time, metrics to measure performance of key components of the business, such as its products, services, people, systems and processes.

Agile can be used to help solve workflow problems and identify why it is happening, such as resource issues, an issue with the process or system, a lack of skills or inaccurate estimations.

Workflow management

Workflow management is vital is to ensure that there is the capacity and capability within the team and to ensure that external dependencies, such as materials or budget, are available to support the team’s optimum performance. Management teams can use agile tools to work within their teams in order to identify changes that will improve capacity and capabilities, such as improvements to systems and processes.

Continuous flow of work can be overwhelming for a team, especially if opportunities for work exceed the capacity of the team. Backlogs of work can build and work can be left unfinished as new priorities arise or situations change. Teams often underestimate the time needed to complete work, especially if it is new and unknown and, if deadlines are unachievable, then they lose their potency. Unrealistic pressure on a team to overperform can lead to corners being cut, quality suffering and wastage increasing.

Agile helps to organise and prioritise the backlog of work to be dealt with alongside new work and change projects. It helps cut projects that are no longer viable, finish off incomplete work and park future work for later consideration.

Agile is an approach that supports the development of good working relationships and better understanding across teams to help identify collaborative opportunities for improvement.

• As a manager, it is easy to see by reviewing the board what work has been completed, what is currently in progress and what is yet to be completed without interrupting the team.
• Workflows are connected, coordinated and visible to all, which helps to raise awareness across teams.
• Estimation and ranking tools can be used to define, agree and prioritise work with teams and create metrics to measure performance.
• Sprints of work with stand-up meetings and retrospectives provide time for the team to reflect and learn in order to inform their future activities, and feed back to management on progress and performance.

Workload management

• Predictable and planned workload is managed by the team and guided by the team leader or manager, to ensure that time boxes align with current goals and milestones as well as the wider business activities.
• The amount of work that can be achieved can be forecast using previous performance data. The metrics delivered through agile provide information to identify and implement improvements and provide insights to identify future improvement opportunities.
• Slack can be built into sprints of work for potential ad hoc work expected and for change and improvement projects, the balance of which will be dependent on current trends, performance and priority.
• Continuous improvement is managed through rapid daily stand-ups, and review and learning are facilitated through regular structured retrospectives and sprint planning meetings.
• Structuring work into sprints using minimum viable propositions helps to ensure that work is controlled in the short term, but is more flexible in the longer term.
• Daily stand-up meetings ensure that the teams update and review the boards continuously, and regular retrospective meetings ensure that time is given to reflect and reposition work as changes occur.
• Time to reflect and learn on what is working well and what can be done better can be provided to management to review their approach, identify change and inform the decision-making process.

Self-managing teams

• Agile methods provide a structure to define and delegate work in a way that empowers the team and individuals to be self-managing and self-organising. Teams are able to choose the work they carry out and so can select the work they do best and enjoy most.
• An empowered team will select work based on their personal preferences as well as maintain a contribution to general team activities and performance. It builds knowledge of others’ work through the encouragement of working practices such as pairing and swarming, particularly during times of change.
• Agile helps to uncover and take advantage of the knowledge and skills of individuals within teams. Agile practices help to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and skills to help maintain a team that is not overly dependent on one person.
• By using boards to track a team’s workflow, it enables them to take ownership of work; it provides a way to see quickly how time is being spent and a way to see opportunities for improvement.
• Metrics on team and individual progress can help when appraising work and help to identify opportunities for improving performance, such as training or ensuring that appropriate levels of support and resources are provided. For example, if work becomes blocked, the individual working on the task will move it to the waiting area of the board. During the stand-up meeting, the team can flag up that this action is needed by another party to enable their team to continue to work. For example, they may be waiting on information that the manager is able to chase up more easily than they are.
• The team leader and product owner can use performance metrics to feed back to management and the wider business to inform them of progress and influence actions, to help optimise the team’s performance and address any key blocks, bottlenecks or factors that are holding them back.
• As work is completed, actual metrics deliver new insights at a team and individual level, which gives continuous feedback, providing an opportunity for continuous appraisal that recognises and celebrates success and brings development opportunities to attention.

People management

Agile is a valuable tool for helping to identify the right work to do and the right people to do it. The methodology encourages learning and development, which works to improve team and individual performance. Agile can be used to:

• Create communication channels that help to build relationships, maintain a shared understanding of the work to be done and a clear vision of the goals and objectives by which that work is driven.
• Provide feedback on individual and team performance at a variety of levels.
• Gain a better understanding of individual skills, knowledge, experience and preferences so the business can capitalise on team strengths and identify personal development opportunities.
• Identify and remove barriers and blocks that put pressure on the team and cause stress.
• Promote a positive environment that is solution-focused and action-driven to provide the optimum working environment.

Performance management

As well as a personal performance management tool, agile metrics can be used by management to identify how much work each individual contributes. This insight is valuable for managing future work delegation and identifying risks, such as the impact of the loss of a key team member.

Agile as a team tool encourages everyone to help each other to achieve a result and perform as a team. As a manager, encouraging practices such as pairing up can help to build the strength of the team, as knowledge and experience is shared among the team.

Agile should help to identify the skills gaps and needs of the team and it provides ways to build in learning and development to the culture. Personal development becomes a part of day-to-day work as agile planning ensures there are resources and time to improve and grow continually:

• Gain a better understanding of the knowledge, skills and experience within the team.
• Enable people to develop into roles they enjoy and in which they perform well.
• Establish clear expectations, such as timings, definitions and success criteria, for jobs to be completed.
• Manage allocation of work to teams and individuals through sprints to focus and guide the direction and variety of work required.
• Gain the insight of the team into best practice through facilitated communication and discussion.
• Drive better performance through looking at what can be done to improve upon previous performance.
• Ensure the right people are assigned to the right jobs.
• Set a standard of performance, so teams are clear on expectations and their targets.
• Develop awareness of selves’ and others’ preferences and values to build better working relationships.
• Easily pick up and reassign work when staff changes occur, bring new team members up to speed quickly and manage the migration of workload when staff exit.
• Install a culture of ongoing appraisal and review with individuals to enable continuous career and professional development, to benefit individuals and the organisation as a whole.