Working on a project and completing it on time gets difficult sometimes. What if the customer doesn't like your end product, and then you must make changes or start the project from scratch? It does happen, but with Agile Workflow, it gets easier to work on a project and completing on time.
What is Agile Workflow?
Agile Workflow is a modern project management method that will help you with the following things:
· Helps you to break your whole project into smaller parts that you can assign to different individuals.
· Customer involvement in every chunk of the project so you can make changes correctly to get a 100% perfect end product.
How is agile Workflow better than Waterfall development methodologies?
There are other methodologies to complete your projects, like Waterfall development, but it won't allow the customer's involvement and getting their reviews before the project ends. This might create chaos for you sometimes because the customer might not like what you have done for the project.
Agile Workflow is way better than Waterfall development because it will allow you to get customer reviews. If any customer is liking your work, you can continue to complete the task. It also gives you chance to evaluate each step to get customer approval before moving onto completing the task.
You will have better effectiveness in whatever project you are working on because you keep getting feedback from a real-time user.
Suppose you are working on software, but the customer doesn't like it when you release it for public use. All your hard work will be wasted. You will have to amend your software. You might have to start working from scratch. Agile Workflow saves you from this kind of situation.
You can keep getting customer feedback, so you don't have to work on it once you release your product in the market or give it to your client as the end product.
Agile Workflow key elements to know about
Before considering Agile Workflow for your project, it would be best to get a little basic knowledge about this method. Learning the key terms necessary for the product development process would be wise.
Agile Workflow manifesto with 12 key principles
A manifesto or Agile Workflow manual comes with 12 key principles that will help you get the perfect end product once you finish your project.
Customer satisfaction: priority
· You are making the product for the customer; therefore, the customer has to be your number one priority that your product satisfies them.
· Never get tired or frustrated if you must make changes according to the customer's feedback.
· Following working software and services so you get constant reviews from the customers.
Product Quality
· Product quality that satisfies the customer requirements, just like we said above.
· A sustainable project and your team must be able to follow the Workflow.
· Everything little detail of the product must be perfect with technical excellence to satisfy the customer.
Active team collaboration
· Teamwork helps to complete your project on time with perfection, so collaborations with your team members and project stakeholders are necessary.
· Choose highly motivated people for the project that will maintain the workflow pace.
· Face-to-face discussions and meetings are more reliable for discussing the project details.
· Create self-organizing teams that complete their assigned tasks on time and don't require someone to breathe under their neck all the time.
· You don't have to follow procedures that you think would be a waste of time, so simply eliminate all those factors from your Agile Workflow process.
· Keep evaluating your team's progress so you would know what changes you need to make further. Gantt charts are great tools to do that.
How to get started with Agile Workflow?
There are a few more basic facts that you must learn about Agile Workflow that will help you to get started with it.
Product Backlog
The first step in Agile Workflow is the product backlog, which means you will fill the sheet with all the ideas you have in your mind. How would you like to implement the project work chunks to individuals, and which people would you like to have on your team? What would be the end product?
Initially, you just have to write everything in your mind so you can work on everything individually.
Sprints
Once you finish the product backlog, it would be time to divide the work into small chunks, and those chunks or tasks would be known as sprints. Once you are done with a sprint, you can get the customer's feedback, and if you get a green signal, you can start working on the next sprint.
Meetings
You would be holding meetings regularly because it is necessary if you want to follow the Agile Workflow method to complete your project.
Standups regularly
You will ask about the ongoing project's success and progress rate, what your team would be doing on the same, and how they are getting along with each other so far.
Make changes
While holding meetings daily, you will ask about the customer's requirements and feedback and what changes need to be done immediately.
Step-by-step guide for Agile Workflow process
Understanding a new way to complete your project won’t be easy. So here is a breakdown of a software development process while following Agile Workflow principles:
· Planning the concept
The first step is to make a plan and a product backlog.
· Creating teams
Creating teams and assigning tasks would be the next step.
· Assigning tasks
Assign tasks and deadlines for the sprint teams so they complete their work on time.
· Sprint release
Once your team completes a sprint, you release it to the customer and get their feedback.
· Submitting project
The last step would be releasing your product to the customer while following Agile Workflow key rules.
How does the Agile Workflow sprint development cycle work?
If you try to work on a project without dividing it into sprints, completing it on time with zero errors is a little difficult. Therefore, here is a breakdown of the project according to Agile Workflow sprints:
Product requirements
Follow your product backlog and start working on the first phase of your project, and you can call it the first sprint, which means your team will work on it solemnly.
Product development
Now you have to work on the development of that certain sprint requirements.
Testing sprints
Keep testing your sprint and backlog items.
Sprint delivery
Once the sprint is completed, get feedback from the customer.
Feedback
You must make a document of the feedback from the customer, whether negative or positive, so that you can work according to it.
How can you create your own Agile Workflow?
Creating your own Agile Workflow is not difficult. Here are a few steps that would help you to make your own Agile Workflow for your project management and development:
Forming team and implementing rules
You and your team must understand the importance and implementation of every Agile Workflow principle. While you are in the forming stage, here are the three things that you need to keep in mind:
· Understanding and implementing Agile Workflow key rules on every member of the team.
· 2Follow the steps like daily meetings, getting information, sprint planning, and getting feedback.
· Understanding the principles will help you to implement them.
Brainstorming on product backlog
Now you have to create the product backlog, and what will you need to complete the project? Then you will have to divide your product backlog into sprints.
While you're working on the sprints, it would be best to keep your team involved. Discussing and getting ideas from them will help in implementing Agile Workflow rules easier.
It will help you choose your team members wisely.
Dividing workload
Once you are done dividing the project into sprints, it is time to assign roles and tasks to your team. Keep the skills of your team members in mind while you are assigning the roles.
The team should include a product owner, project manager, project team, and stakeholders.
Analyzing your team
You must keep an eye on your team's progress and which member is following Agile Workflow rules and keep providing positive work outcomes.
Once your team is done with the sprint, offer it to the customer to get their reviews and make changes if needed. Otherwise, if you get a green signal, you can start working on the rest of the project.
Use tools while working
A smart tip you must follow is to use tools for more efficiency in your project outcome. Following are a few things that you can do while using tools:
· Document everything related to your product backlog.
· Make a plan for your sprints first.
· Keep having team collaborations.
Conclusion
Agile Workflow is not difficult to implement, but you must know the basics of this method to complete any of your future projects is important. You shouldn’t change the key rules; otherwise, you might not get the 100% error-free end product the customer wants. There is a reason why you must divide your project into chunks and get customer feedback on it. Once you learn the basic principles, it gets easier to implement them on your project development team.
