Most of us have experienced projects where a customer's needs or circumstances change, causing a massive disruption in the original plan. Agile project management is designed to solve this problem.
At its heart, Agile is about adapting to change throughout a project lifecycle.
Agile project management focuses on iterative development and continuous improvement. Unlike traditional project management (i.e., waterfall project management), which is linear in nature, Agile is broken out into small steps that allow for optimization of the end product. With Agile project management, development teams produce deliverables throughout a project lifestyle instead of at the end of a project.
Unlike some people believe, Agile isn't just a software development process (though it's very useful for that). Any company or type of organization can adopt Agile or parts of the Agile methodology to make their processes more adaptive.
Here's what you should know.
Waterfall project management was showing its limitations
Organizations have long subscribed to a waterfall project management approach. With this framework, project teams followed a sequential approach to projects involving gathering all project requirements before initiating work.
From there, the project owner identified necessary resources, budgets and timelines. Only then did they begin performing the work. The end product wasn't delivered to the customer until work was complete, including providing comprehensive documentation.
A waterfall approach works fine for situations where the business objectives are fixed and well-defined, and the product is being delivered into a static environment. However, more dynamic environments require a new approach.
This demand became very apparent in the early 2000s, when the technology industry started moving and changing at faster rates.
Agile project management emerged
Things started changing in 2001.1
Frustrated by the limitations of sequential project management methodologies, 17 software developers published the Agile Manifesto, illustrating a more flexible way forward. The Agile Manifesto identified 12 principles that could be applied to make software development more agile. Agile project management was initially used for software development projects. However, today, this project management methodology is applied in all kinds of businesses, including marketing, finance and healthcare.
These principles outlined in the manifesto have had staying power, continuing to help businesses be more responsive to change.
Agile development principles
The 12 principles outlined in the Agile Manifesto are:2
- The highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
- Welcome changing requirements, even at late stages of development.
- Deliver working software frequently, in swift intervals.
- Encourage business people and software developers to work together on a daily basis throughout the project.
- Build projects around motivated individuals and trust them to get the job done.
- Encourage face-to-face conversations to convey information.
- Delivering functional software is the primary measure of progress.
- Maintain a constant pace to promote sustainable development.
- Focus on technical excellence and good design.
- Simplicity of design is essential.
- Self-organizing teams produce the best architectures, requirements, and designs.
- Agile teams need to regularly reflect and execute on ways to become more effective.
The benefits of Agile project management
There are many benefits of Agile workflows.
Customer collaboration
Throughout this iterative approach, Agile teams seek customer feedback. These insights yield continuous learning that allow developers to enhance products. Ultimately, this collaboration leads to increased customer satisfaction.
Flexibility
Agile project management doesn't require as clearly defined requirements and milestones as a sequential project management approach like waterfall. Because of this, Agile teams can more easily adapt to rapidly changing requirements or business dynamics.
Quality improvements
The continuous iteration and feedback allow for swift detection and resolution of problems.
Cost savings
With Agile project management, you have the freedom to adapt schedules based on individual team member's strengths, leading to greater efficiency.
The ideal types of projects for Agile project management
The Agile project management methodology is ideal for situations where...
- Project requirements are unpredictable and are subject to frequent changes
- Complex projects requiring an iterative approach
- Frequent customer feedback is necessary
- A high degree of uncertainty
- Projects focused on delivering value
How Agile works
The Agile methodology has a language all its own.8
Agile teams work in short intervals called sprints. In Agile projects, teams work in "ceremonies." That is, regularly scheduled meetings or events. Four ceremonies within the Agile methodology are:
- Sprint planning, where the Agile team determines what to complete in the upcoming sprint
- Sprint demo, where the team presents what they've completed in that sprint
- Daily standup, where team members briefly sync
- Retrospective, where teams review completed work and reflect on what went well and how they can improve on the next sprint
How do Agile teams work?
The Agile methodology empowers teams to be self-directed and autonomous. An effective Agile team is one that has the skills and appreciation for delivering value in quick increments. Often project teams come from disparate functional areas but are adept at cross-organizational collaboration and continuous improvement.3
For example, web development team members on an Agile project might include roles such as...
- Product owner
- Business analyst
- Agile project manager (sometimes also called a scrum master)
- Software developers
- Software testing engineer(s)
- User interface / user experience specialists
- Graphic designers
- Usability experts
- Software architect
- Web copywriters
- Web editors/proofreaders
- Potentially content translators if the site is global
These self-organizing teams continually solicit customer feedback to ensure they're meeting project requirements. This way, they're better able to adapt to shifting project requirements.
Agile project manager responsibilities
Effective Agile project managers embody Agile principles. Whether they're leading software development projects or another type of Agile project, these professionals foster flexibility, continuous improvement and customer collaboration.4 Projects vary but in general, Agile project management involves:
- Defining the project scope
- Estimating how much time and resources each task will consume
- Identifying potential barriers to project delivery
- Keeping track of and reporting on sprints
- Facilitating regular stakeholder communication / alignment
- Tracking Agile metrics
- Providing visibility into working software and other sprint deliverables
Instead of leading from above, Agile project managers enable their teams to organize around the work. This approach helps to make the most of each team member's skills and potential. Coaching is a key role in Agile techniques. Agile project managers reinforce and teach the values of organizational agility.
Agile project management frameworks
For each project, Agile teams employ Agile project management frameworks, which are structured approaches to deliver customer value. The best framework will depend on many factors as well as organizational preferences.5
Scrum
Scrum project management is an Agile methodology often used by small teams. The project manager (also called a Scrum master) focuses on clearing obstacles team members may face. With Scrum project management, teams meet daily sprint planning to review tasks, roadblocks as well as any emerging changes that may affect the project.
Scrum masters also coordinate sprint retrospectives as an opportunity to discuss learnings that can be applied to the next sprint.
Kanban
Kanban is similar to Scrum, except that Kanban uses visual tools to track sprint progress. Each development team has access to a Kanban board where tasks are displayed on cards on a board. Once team members complete a task, they update the status of the card.
This approach makes it easy for everyone on the team to see visually how sprints are progressing. With color-coded Kanban boards, it's apparent where the project may be lagging and what issues need to be addressed.
Feature-driven development (FDD)
With feature-driven development, organizations apply several different Agile best practices. Often used for Agile software development, FDD focuses on specific software features end users need.
Feature Driven Development blends different Agile best practices. While still an iterative method of project management, this model focuses more on the exact features of a software that the team is working to develop. Feature-driven development relies heavily on customer input, as the features the team prioritizes are the features that the customers need. Because of this focus, customer collaboration is essential. By continually receiving customer feedback, development teams can quickly identify bugs and apply fixes to keep the project on track.
Extreme programming (XP)
Typically used in software development, Extreme Programming (XP) is an Agile framework that is also used for software development projects. This Agile framework is built around five core values:
- Communication
- Simplicity
- Feedback
- Courage
- Respect
With XP, software development teams have daily standups to discuss the technical details of responding to customer needs.
Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
Dynamic Systems Development is an Agile methodology built around a full project lifecycle. As such, DSDM has more of a structure than some other approaches. DSDM has four main phases:
- Feasibility and business study
- Functional mode or prototype iteration
- Design and build iteration
- Implementation
Adaptive Software Development (ASD)
Adaptive Software Development is an Agile methodology that helps teams to quickly respond to shifts in project requirements. This framework is designed to enable continuous adaptation. Its project phases include speculation, collaboration and ongoing learning.
ASD is a fluid development process that allows team members greater flexibility in producing working software. They may even have overlap and repeat the three phases.
FAQs about Agile project management
Since Agile is an entire methodology and comes with a whole manifesto, reading up on it can get really confusing. Here are some of the things you might want to know if you're interested in Agile project management.
What skills are important for Agile project managers?
In general, successful Agile project managers need to be strong facilitators who lead by example. They must embrace continual improvement, teamwork and adaptability.
Agile may feel uncomfortable at first, particularly when teams need to incorporate changes to project requirements late in the game. However, strong collaboration and communication throughout the project will help team members to realize that doing so serves to ultimately improve customer satisfaction.
How do Agile projects adapt to changing requirements?
A key part of Agile project management is delivering incremental value throughout a project. Unlike linear project management approaches, Agile requires meeting milestones and reviewing those with stakeholders. With this approach, Agile team members have more regular interaction with stakeholders, so they can recognize and adapt to changing needs at most any point in the project.
Can I use Agile for projects other than software development?
Absolutely! Agile methods are used at large and small companies alike, and across numerous industries. In fact, there are many success stories of brands using the Agile development methodology.6 For example:
- PayPal® uses Agile management to improve employee alignment and increase product offerings.
- Spotify® uses Agile software development to increase the speed of deliverables and improve overall efficiency.
- Toyota® adopted Agile development processes to cut out waste and continually improve its operations.
Be excellent as a project manager
If you want to incorporate principles of Agile into your work as a project manager, consider talking with other organizations that have adopted Agile techniques. This approach to project management isn't just about adopting Agile tools. It's about adopting an Agile mindset.
You need buy-in from company leadership as well as team members to follow Agile practice. You may need to educate managers and colleagues about the many benefits you can gain from adopting Agile methods.
But this methodology isn’t the only way to improve efficiency and speed in your work! Far from it. Check out 12 Project Management Tips Beginners Should Know for more ideas on how to thrive as a project manager.
PayPal® is a registered trademark statement of PayPal, Inc.
Spotify® is a registered trademark statement of Spotify AB
Toyota® is a registered trademark of Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
1Isaac Sacolick, A brief history of the agile methodology, InfoWorld website, https://www.infoworld.com/article/2334751/a-brief-history-of-the-agile-methodology.html, Accessed 6/26/25
2Agile Manifesto website, accessed 6/26/25 https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
3SafeSummit website, https://framework.scaledagile.com/agile-teams Accessed 6/26/25
4Nikolay Tsonev, What is an Agile Project Manager and What Does One Do? Businessmap website, https://businessmap.io/blog/agile-project-manager, Accessed 6/26/25
5Sarah Laoyan, What is Agile methodology (A beginner's guide), Asana website, https://asana.com/resources/agile-methodology, Accessed 6/26/25
6Nikolay Tsonev, What is an Agile Project Manager and What Does One Do? Businessmap website, https://businessmap.io/blog/agile-project-manager, Accessed 6/26/25
7Lulu Richter, Real-Life Agile, Project Management & Famous Success Stories, Smartsheet website. https://www.smartsheet.com/content/agile-project-management-examples?srsltid=AfmBOoobT4pdiHE01aVvtnTYJLa4tpXLe1b_oCrSvzw7m9texc6bhALf, Accessed 6/26/25
8TechTarget, https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/A-Deep-Dive-Into-Agile-Project-Management
