Agile project management has gained popularity in recent years due to its ability to deliver value on a regular basis. Agile teams are known to use a variety of practices, each tailored to the specific context of the project they are working on. In this article, we will explore the idea of mixing agile approaches and the benefits it can bring to project management.
The Peculiarities of Each Project Context Agile teams understand that each project context is unique and requires a tailored approach. This includes the mix of team member skills and backgrounds, the components of the product under development, and the environment in which the work takes place. Therefore, agile frameworks cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution, and the team must tailor their practices to deliver value on a regular basis.
Blending Approaches One of the most common blends of agile practices involves a coordinated use of the Scrum framework, the Kanban Method, and elements of the eXtreme Programming (XP) method. Scrum provides guidance on the use of a product backlog, a product owner, scrum master, and a cross-functional development team, including sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, and sprint retrospective sessions. The Kanban Method helps the team to further improve its effectiveness by visualizing the flow of work, making impediments easily visible, and allowing flow to be managed by adjusting work in process limits. In addition, XP-inspired engineering practices such as use of story cards, continuous integration, refactoring, automated testing, and test-driven development further increase the effectiveness of the agile team.
The Synergistic Result By blending practices from these various sources, agile teams can achieve a synergistic result of higher performance than each individual component in isolation. The mix of agile approaches enables teams to respond to changing requirements, mitigate risks, and deliver value to stakeholders on a regular basis.
Conclusion In conclusion, mixing agile approaches can bring many benefits to project management. Agile teams can tailor their practices to the unique context of each project, and by blending practices from different agile frameworks, they can achieve a synergistic result of higher performance.