7 Benefits of Agile Methodology Every Small Business Owner Should Know

Project management has grown a lot over the past few decades. As projects have become more sophisticated, new management methods have been created to simplify things and keep projects moving forward. The agile approach is one of those project management techniques.

While there are a lot of other project management methods out there, agile has shown itself to be one of the top contenders. In fact, 71% of companies polled reported using agile methodologies in their business.

Are you wondering what the benefits of agile methodology are? Keep reading to learn seven ways switching to agile project management can benefit your company.

1. Team Efficiency

Keeping your team on track is vital when launching big projects. But this is hard to do with big scopes and over longer timelines. Luckily, the agile methodology breaks your project down into sprints that last a few weeks.

Doing this will help your team better organize their work. When working on a sprint, a team member can look at the tasks that need accomplished and pick what they want to work on.

This allows people to focus on the areas they’re good at. If you have any urgent tasks, you can mark them as so. The right person for the job will see what needs to be done and finish it.

2. Adaptability

One of the problems of large organizations is complexity. That complexity makes it hard to make changes. If you’re in a rush to push a change through, the last thing you want is to go through several layers of bureaucracy.

Sure, you can streamline things to cut out the red tape. But speed alone isn’t enough to run things effectively.

What agile provides is a way to be both fast and smart. It’s a framework that gives you the tools to adapt when changes happen.

Since you’re working on small projects in agile, the changes you make are often small. This cuts dependencies on other teams and departments.

3. Predictable Projects

Coming up with timelines is tough for most people. When you think in large terms, it’s easy to be over-optimistic and set unrealistic deadlines.

Doing this will cause problems when you promise delivery dates and fail to deliver. When you break a project down into pieces, it’s easier to estimate how much time each of them will take to finish.

Customers aren’t the only people who benefit from predictability either. When you have a better understanding of how long something takes, you can create more realistic budgets and allocate your resources better.

4. Reduce Risk

Planning for the long term is risky. You can do a lot of work that ends up being scrapped because of changes in the company or market. It can be demoralizing to your team when something they spent months working on is no longer useful.

Your company will have also wasted a lot of money during these months. Your team could have been working on other projects that would have made your business money. It can be tough to keep the top talent if this happens regularly.

When you focus on sprints that only take a few weeks to complete, this is less of a concern.

5. More Customer Satisfaction

When you work in an agile environment, you aren’t working on massive releases. Your project sprints will last for a few weeks at a time. During this time, you’ll be getting feedback from your customers.

You’ll be able to use this feedback to make quick changes to your product. Doing this allows you to respond better to customer feedback and get the changes made that need to be done. When you give better and quicker results to your clients, you’re going to end up with a happier customer base.

6. More Project Control

Have you ever worked on a giant project that took months or years to do? Things can get out of control quickly in situations like that. There are a lot of moving pieces that aren’t easy to get right.

With the agile methodology, you work to reduce big projects to tiny pieces. When you break down your project like this, it’s easier to assign tasks to your team and get things working quickly.

You’ll be able to manage these pieces through sprint meetings. This time allows your team to share what they are working on and discuss any problems they are facing. These meetings will allow you to get a sense of what’s going on and change things as needed.

7. Better Quality

The agile method is an iterative one. You focus on the smallest pieces of a project and keep improving them over time. Since you are only releasing a few features at a time, it’s easier to find problems and fix them.

Your sprints also allow you to map out your project better. Instead of developing a giant project with a lot of moving parts, you put together a minimal project that does the most important things first. You can test, tweak, and change to your heart’s content.

You’ll be able to produce a high-quality product that solves your customer’s most pressing problems. Make sure you learn more about preparing your sprints to maximize the quality of your product.

Don’t Ignore the Benefits of Agile Methodology

If your business has been set in its ways for a while, it can be hard to adopt a new way of doing things. But the benefits of agile methodology make it worth the effort. Try it today so you can see the benefits for yourself.

Are you looking for more ideas that can help you manage your team? Head back to our business section for more advice.