But, what are the most used agile methodologies in today’s companies? There are different options but the most used are: extreme programming (XP), Scrum and Kanban, all of them are guided by a pattern established by the Agile Manifesto made by several authors who established the 12 principles of agile software.
1# Extreme Programming XP
This tool is very useful especially for startups or companies that are in the process of consolidation, since its main objective is to help in the relationships between employees and customers. The key to success of Extreme Programming XP is to enhance personal relationships, through, teamwork, fostering communication and eliminating downtime.
Its main phases are:
- Project planning with the client
- Project design
- Coding, where programmers work in pairs to obtain more efficient and high quality results.
- Testing to check that the code being implemented is working.
2# SCRUM
It is characterized as the “chaos methodology” based on an incremental development structure, i.e., any product and/or service development cycle is broken down into “small projects” divided into different stages: analysis, development and testing. In the development stage we find what is known as process interactions or Sprint, that is, regular and partial deliveries of the final product.
This methodology makes it possible to tackle complex projects that require essential flexibility and speed when executing the results. The strategy will be oriented to manage and standardize the errors that may occur in too long developments, through frequent meetings to ensure compliance with the established objectives.
Meetings are the fundamental pillar of the methodology, where we differentiate between: planning, daily, review and retrospective meetings, the most important of them all, since it is held after finishing a sprint to reflect and propose improvements in the progress of the project. The key aspects of Scrum are: innovation, flexibility, competitiveness and productivity.
3# Kanban
The Kanban strategy known as “Visual Card” is very useful for project managers. It consists in the elaboration of a chart or diagram in which three columns of tasks are reflected; pending, in process or finished. This chart should be accessible to all team members, thus avoiding the repetition of tasks or the possibility of forgetting some of them. Therefore, it helps to improve the productivity and efficiency of the work team.
The advantages provided by this methodology are:
- Task planning
- Improvement in the team’s work performance.
- Visual metrics
Continuous delivery deadlines *Scheduling of tasks *Task planning
4# Agile Inception
It is oriented to the definition of the overall objectives of the companies. Its goal is to clarify issues such as the type of target customer, value-added propositions, sales methods. It usually revolves around the “elevator pitch” method, which consists of small meetings between the partners and the team in which the interventions cannot exceed 5 minutes.
5# Design Sprint, Google’s methodology
In any organization, business strategy is the most important thing. Agile methodologies have been implemented since a decade ago in order to improve processes that lead to an improved and quality product or service in which customers become more and more important. As an example of innovation in business strategies we find Design Sprint, a Google methodology that is favoring the professional profiles of the agile world.
This methodology comes from Google Ventures, a service of the technological giant for innovation and promotion of technological startups. It is a 5-day process in which the business has to solve all issues related to design, prototyping, customer testing. The idea is that the work is elaborated in stages of sprints in which months of work can be reduced in a few weeks, instead of waiting to launch a product to understand if the idea is good, the prototype provides before the information to avoid possible mistakes.
Practical examples of the use of the agile methodology
Zara
As you can imagine, managing an empire like Inditex, or even Zara for that matter, cannot be easy. Organization has to be the order of the day. In another article we discussed Inditex’s logistics, one of the best in the world, if you want to take a look. Years ago, the Harvard Business Review questioned the company’s logistics strategy, going so far as to say that it was madness. However, the company can design, produce and ship a collection to all stores in less than 15 days.
Zara makes four times more use of its resources than most brands thanks to its agile system, so it’s worth asking, what do they do? They call it postponement, we can translate it as postponement. This technique consists of postponing the creation, or even the shipment of products, as much as possible and considering their logistical record they are able to do so.
The products that Zara manufactures are difficult to forecast. That is, they have a short life cycle and you never know exactly whether they will be liked or not. Therefore, defining whether you need a thousand units or a million is almost impossible. The solution that Zara has found is to make downward forecasts, in the event that there is a shortage of products, then they start the wheel of creation and express shipping, which they already have well oiled, and in less than 15 days they have the stock problem solved.
INDITEX’S LOGISTICS SECRET
But how does Zara’s logistics manage to be so efficient and fast? The key is at the headquarters in Arteixo, Galicia. From there, there is constant feedback from all the stores around the world, which send daily information about what has sold the most and what has sold the least. The truth is that if a store orders a consignment of clothing, it takes about 48 hours to receive it.
First they send the request to the head office, if it is approved, the factories are ready to start the production of the garments, which once finished are sent to the headquarters to pass a quality control and be resent to any part of the planet. So everything goes through Galicia, but also each team (order request, order reception, order manufacturing, shipping, quality control, etc.) is connected with the rest and communicates the status of the different product life cycles.
Apple
Steve Jobs spoke on more than one occasion about how the teams at Apple were managed to keep everything flowing. In this case I have recovered an interview in which he tells us how Apple is organized as a startup and through a good example of agile methodology.
According to Jobs, Apple is an “incredibly collaborative” company. There is no committee, what you find are people in charge of projects: one person is in charge of the iPhone operating system, another person is in charge of mac hardware, another person is in charge of iPhone hardware engineering, another person is in charge of worldwide marketing, another person is in charge of operations, etc. Apple is organized as a startup, the biggest startup in the world.
Another good example of the use of agile methodology is Facebook. At Facebook they have a routine that they usually carry out. When a new project is established, they assemble a team of people who will carry it out, about 6 or 7, depending on the magnitude of the project. These people are chosen according to the skills needed to do the project, so they often come from different departments, with different backgrounds, etc.
Instead of coordinating the project by e-mails, chats or having a weekly meeting to establish who does what and then everyone goes to their work place to do it, what is done is to gather the whole team in a room, apart from the rest of the office, and they work there until the project is finished. They can also meet once or twice a week to dedicate the whole day to the project. In that room they have all the necessary equipment and work on the part of the project in which they are experts.
The fact that they are all together allows them to talk and communicate directly, to be aware of the changes that are taking place in real time and to always keep in mind the work of the other colleagues, which in the end, is the work of the rest of the project creation chain.
PayPal
At PayPal the objectives are reviewed every day and all the teams involved take a look and discuss what they are going to do, what they have done and what they learned the day before. In the case of PayPal, code is combined with content. The final product is a web page that communicates a service, but your whole service is immaterial, you can’t touch it.
The most difficult job is to unite the technical part; the code, with the communication; what people can see. The process they follow allows them to have constant communication from one team to another and to know the general objectives of the company.
BBVA
The more traditional banks have also opted in recent years to incorporate examples of agile methodology. For example, in an interview with the director of BBVA, he said that the company had 53 agile trainers who supported the entire organization.
As he explains, at the beginning they did not have any type of instructor in this regard until 2016 when they began to hire external coaches from consulting firms. Then, they gradually developed internal ones, with the objective of supporting the teams and later the portfolios. He also pointed out that the most important agile team is the general management because it is from where everything is derived.
This type of methodology allows the employee to become truly responsible for the entire process from top to bottom and thus be able to see if value is being generated for the customer.
Now that you know better what the agile methodology is and how it can help you, learn the new organizational and management models that are leading to success the companies that dominate the current market.
