Why companies must rely on Agile to survive COVID-19
By: Dan Siwiec
Tags: Agile, Covid 19, Lean, Software Development

Agile to the rescue

We’ll now look at how Agile can help with these challenges through the lens of the Agile Manifesto, a document created by 17 leaders in the software industry in 2001, which gave a start to the Agile movement. It consists of 4 statements and 12 principles, which outline the spirit of the practice. We’ll pick the ones, that are especially relevant.

Responding to change over following a plan. This central concept in Agile methodology allows teams to adjust course. The original requirements specification that now misses the target in the new COVID era, can pivot by responding to user feedback (or lack of user interest) on a cycle basis, which is typically 2 weeks. This puts much less work at risk of being wasteful, compared with a waterfall approach, where the product gets released only once fully developed.

Additionally to product feature specification, the team needs to course-correct the way they work. For teams that are new to remote collaboration, this is especially important, as tweaks like reducing or increasing daily touchpoints, switching email updates for group chats, etc, will be frequent at the beginning. Agile retrospectives develop a muscle for constant refinement and empower the team to self-organize. Having this ability has an added benefit of increasing the team’s morale, work satisfaction and strengthens the feel of trust the team receives from the management.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. When adapting to the new standard of remote work, it’s tempting to prescribe a process and a set of tools to tackle it. The individual can easily be trampled in this transition and so it is important to recognize the importance of human interactions and focus the transition around them, rather than on the process itself. The stress of a pandemic can further isolate team members and reduce their happiness, job satisfaction, and productivity.

Implementing this rule might mean prioritizing video group chats over isolated work time or creating space for 1 on 1 ‘water cooler’ conversations, which are often the hidden driver for innovation at companies. Agile daily stand-ups and huddles can satisfy this need.

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. Whether working with vendors or other internal teams, it’s tempting to work towards a written agreement — either a written legal contract with a software vendor or a JIRA story handed off to the infrastructure team for implementation. While writing down expectations is a good practice and helps as a point of reference for both sides, it creates a wall in between and reduces the opportunity for a constructive conversation. This can result in delays, due to lack of information or execution of a task, which misses the target but follows the specification to the letter.

Instead, try including vendor representatives or external team members in your daily standup meetings or other touchpoints. Misunderstandings are much easier to resolve when spotted early!

Promote sustainable development. When our personal and professional lives both take place at home, the boundary between the two can start to blur. Especially during the COVID crisis, it is tempting to find escape in work, however, this proves to be short-sighted and stress eventually catches up magnified. Experts advise taking care of oneself by consciously taking regular breaks from work and practicing mindfulness. Agile processes promote a healthy and sustainable pace, which, by definition, can be maintained indefinitely.