Agile management

Agile management or agile project management is an iterative method of determining requirements for engineering and information technology development projects in a highly flexible and interactive manner, for example agile software development. It requires capable individuals from the relevant business, with supplier and customer input.^{[citation needed]} There are also links to lean techniques, Kanban and Six Sigma. Agile techniques are best used in small-scale projects or on elements of a wider programme of work, or on projects that are too complex for the customer to understand and specify before testing prototypes.

Agile techniques may also be called extreme project management. It is a variant of iterative life cycle where deliverables are submitted in stages. One difference between agile and iterative development is that the delivery time in agile is in weeks rather than months. Both iterative and Agile methodologies were developed as a reaction to various obstacles that developed in more traditional project management. For example, as technology projects grow in complexity, end users tend to have difficulty defining the long term requirements, without being able to view progressive prototypes. Projects that develop in iterations can constantly gather feedback to help refine those requirements.

The Agile Project Leadership Network provides a community of practice for those using Agile methods, with international conferences and online forums. Their Declaration of Interdependence extends the Agile Manifesto further into the value stream and emphasises the collaborative, whole-business nature of this work.

Agile Methods are mentioned in the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) under the Project Lifecycle definition: A project life cycle, also known as change-driven or agile methods, that is intended to facilitate change and require a high degree of ongoing stakeholder involvement. Adaptive life cycles are also iterative and incremental, but differ in that iterations are very rapid (usually 2-4 weeks in length) and are fixed in time and resources.