Agile Project Management
Updated
Exploring Agile Project Management
Understanding Agile Principles
The Lean Philosophy
Integration of Agile and Lean
Benefits for Project Managers
Overcoming Challenges
Our product development process
Evolutionary design
Our product development services come standard with evolutionary designs. We forge new-gen architectures that are driven by user interactions, cloud-native microservices, and self-healing capabilities for radical performance, faster evolution, and seamless integrations.
Product thinking mindset
We always have one eye on the bigger picture, anticipating technology shifts, and paving the way for your product ideas and business goals to stay ahead of the transformative curve and deliver significant competitive advantage.
DevOps culture
We employ only the best engineering practices with a mindset of ‘everything as code’ to accelerate product innovation and deployments at breakneck speeds.
Lean product philosophy
With a metrics-driven development philosophy, our team prioritizes value-based and iterative features and incorporates customer feedback early in the dev cycle to build the most successful products.
Agile project management, as this page describes it, combines Agile's adaptability with Lean's focus on efficiency: iterative delivery, customer collaboration and flexibility on one side, minimizing waste and enhancing value delivery on the other. Below, both are defined from the sources that set them out, how they meet, how an engagement runs, what you receive, how iterative work is priced, and what to ask any firm.
Agile from the 2001 Manifesto, Lean from the Toyota Production System.
Set out in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, with twelve principles behind them.
Working software every two weeks, as our About page states.
Per hour, depending on the seniority and mix of the team. The published Sthenos band.
On this page
- What Agile means, from the Manifesto
- What Lean means, from Toyota
- Agile compared with Lean, and where they meet
- How an agile engagement runs
- What you receive from an agile engagement
- How iterative work is priced, and what moves the cost
- What to ask IT project management consulting firms
- Questions buyers ask about agile project management
- Related pages
What Agile means, from the Manifesto
The Manifesto for Agile Software Development, published in 2001, states four values. Each pairs what its authors value more with what they still value, and the Manifesto adds: "That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more."
| Valued more | Still valued, less |
|---|---|
| Individuals and interactions | Processes and tools |
| Working software | Comprehensive documentation |
| Customer collaboration | Contract negotiation |
| Responding to change | Following a plan |
Behind the values sit twelve principles, several of them about how a software development project should run. Three of them, in the Manifesto's words: "Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale"; "Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project"; and "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly."
What Lean means, from Toyota
The page traces Lean to the Toyota Production System. Toyota describes TPS as "a production system based on the philosophy of achieving the complete elimination of waste in pursuit of the most efficient methods", whose objective is "to thoroughly eliminate waste and shorten lead times". Four of its terms, as Toyota explains them:
The page's own summary of Lean is the same idea in project terms: efficiency, minimizing waste and value delivery enhancement, a strategy that began in industry and now works across industries.
Agile compared with Lean, and where they meet
The page's Integration of Agile and Lean card says combining the two improves overall project efficiency, streamlines workflow and accelerates delivery, so teams adapt to changing needs and build a culture of continuous enhancement.
What each one brings
Agile
From the Manifesto and this page- Iterative delivery of working software, frequently
- Customer collaboration throughout the project
- Changing requirements welcomed, even late
- Continuous feedback that lets the project evolve
Lean
From Toyota and this page- Efficiency, and the elimination of waste
- Shorter lead times
- Daily incremental kaizen
- Value delivery enhancement
Figure 1. Four Agile principles around Lean's aims
Caption: the four outer boxes are principles from the Manifesto's list (agilemanifesto.org/principles.html), shortened; the centre is from Toyota's TPS page. Placing the two together follows the page's own Integration of Agile and Lean card. The figure orders nothing and draws no sprint length or duration.
How an agile engagement runs
The first three steps are the ones the contact section on this page lists under What happens next. The rest follow the cadence our About page states: we work in two week sprints, so working software arrives every two weeks and a first production release typically lands in three to six months.
- A first callWe schedule a call at your convenience.Call
- A bounded discoveryWe run a short, bounded discovery, scoped per engagement.Discovery
- A costed roadmapWe give you a costed roadmap before committing to a build.Roadmap
- Two week sprintsWorking software arrives every two weeks, with customer feedback brought in early in the development cycle, as the page's lean product philosophy card describes.Every two weeks
- A first production releaseTypically three to six months in, per our About page.Release
What you receive from an agile engagement
Each item below is named on this page, in its contact section or on our About page:
- A costed roadmap before any build is committed to
- Working software every two weeks
- Customer feedback incorporated early in the development cycle
- Value-based, iterative features prioritized with metrics
- Engineering run on an everything-as-code DevOps culture
- Training and open communication to help teams through the change
How iterative work is priced, and what moves the cost
Our rates are $150 to $250 per hour, depending on the seniority and mix of the team. Where the scope is clear we quote a fixed price for a defined outcome, with a costed roadmap before any build starts. Our software outsourcing services page sets out four pricing models, each with what it is best for:
| Pricing model | Best for, in that page's words |
|---|---|
| Time and materials | Work whose shape will change as you learn, which is most product work. The risk sits with you, and the control does too. |
| Time and materials with a cap | A buyer who needs iteration and a predictable worst case in the same contract. |
| Fixed price | A boundary you can draw and defend. The wrong instrument for anything still being discovered, because every change becomes a negotiation. |
| Dedicated team, monthly | A programme of work that will outlast any single project and needs continuity more than it needs flexibility. |
- How much of the scope is still being discovered
- How many sprints run before the first production release
- Which pricing model fits the shape of the work
- The seniority and mix of the team
What to ask IT project management consulting firms
These questions apply to any firm offering software project management consulting, Sthenos included. Each one comes from the Manifesto, Toyota's TPS page or this site.
- How often will we see working software? The Manifesto's principle is frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
- Who from our side works with your developers, and how often? The Manifesto asks business people and developers to work together daily throughout the project.
- What happens when our requirements change? Agile welcomes changing requirements, even late; ask how the contract handles them.
- Which pricing model are you proposing, and why does it fit this work? A fixed price is the wrong instrument for anything still being discovered.
- How does the team reflect and adjust? The Manifesto asks for it at regular intervals.
- How will you help our people adopt the new way of working? This page names training programs, open communication and a welcoming environment for change.
Questions buyers ask about agile project management
What is agile project management?
On this page, it is adaptive project management based on agile concepts, prioritizing iterative delivery, customer collaboration and flexibility, combined with Lean's focus on efficiency, minimizing waste and value delivery. It thrives on continuous feedback, so a project can evolve as requirements shift.
What are the four values of the Agile Manifesto?
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools; working software over comprehensive documentation; customer collaboration over contract negotiation; and responding to change over following a plan. The Manifesto says there is value in the items on the right, but its authors value the items on the left more.
Where does Lean come from?
From the Toyota Production System, which Toyota describes as based on achieving the complete elimination of waste in pursuit of the most efficient methods. Its two pillars are jidoka, automation with a human touch, and Just-in-Time, making only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed.
How long is a sprint?
We work in two week sprints, so working software arrives every two weeks, and a first production release typically lands in three to six months. The Manifesto itself asks for working software from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
How do Agile and DevOps fit together?
This page names both. Its DevOps culture card describes engineering practices with a mindset of everything as code, to accelerate product innovation and deployments, and our DevOps consulting page covers that work in depth.
How is agile work priced?
Our rates are $150 to $250 per hour, depending on the seniority and mix of the team. Time and materials suits work whose shape will change as you learn, time and materials with a cap adds a predictable worst case, and a fixed price suits a boundary you can draw and defend.
Related pages
Starting an agile project? Tell us what you want working first and who on your side will work with the team, and we will give you a costed roadmap before any build is committed to. Talk to our engineers.
