Embracing Flexibility: Why Agile Teams Should Focus on Deliverables, Not Due Dates
In the world of agile product development, due dates can often create more stress than they're worth. Agile development is all about finding the most effective and efficient way to deliver value.
If your team works under an Agile methodology, don’t force due dates on them. As technology projects become more complex, setting accurate due dates and maintaining quality and scope becomes increasingly tricky. Setting project dues dates align with legacy Waterfall development practices but does not work well within the Agile development framework. The worst thing you can do to your team and project success is force arbitrary due dates but still, attempt to work under an agile methodology.
Why Agile development is generally preferred over waterfall development
Flexibility and Adaptability
The agile methodology emphasizes flexibility and adaptability. It allows for changes to be made to the project as it progresses, which makes it easier to adjust to changes in requirements or project scope. In contrast, the Waterfall methodology is inflexible and requires a detailed plan upfront, making it difficult to change direction mid-project.
Faster Delivery
Agile development focuses on delivering a working product incrementally rather than delivering the final product at the end of the project, which can take a long time. This allows for faster value delivery to the customer and reduces the risk of project failure.
Customer Involvement
The agile methodology involves the customer throughout the project, which ensures that the final product meets the customer's requirements. In contrast, the Waterfall methodology involves the customer only at the beginning and end of the project, which can lead to misaligned expectations.
Continuous Improvement
Agile development involves continuous feedback and improvement, ensuring the product constantly improves and meets customer needs. In contrast, the Waterfall methodology is linear and does not allow continuous improvement.
Why setting due dates for technology projects can lead to poor quality
Inaccurate estimation
Estimating the time to complete a technology project is challenging; even the most experienced project managers can struggle. Setting an unrealistic due date can lead to rushed development, resulting in lower-quality output. Developers may skip necessary steps, such as testing and debugging, to meet the deadline, leading to errors and issues.
Lack of flexibility
Technology projects are complex, and there are often unexpected roadblocks. Setting a rigid due date can hinder the team's ability to adapt to changes and delays. Rushing to meet a deadline may result in quick fixes that address the immediate issue but do not consider the long-term impact on the project. These quick fixes create tech debt and will need to be repaid at some point in the future.
Limited scope
Setting a due date can lead to focusing on meeting the deadline rather than delivering a quality product. This can lead to a limited scope, where developers only work on the most critical features and leave out important ones. The result is a product meeting the deadline but missing critical functionality or features.
How an agile mindset can help mitigate these issues
Embrace iterative development
Agile development focuses on iterative development, where teams deliver minor, incremental updates to the project. This approach allows teams to adjust to changes and improve throughout development. By embracing iterative development, teams can deliver a quality product without sacrificing the project's due date.
Prioritize features
With an agile mindset, teams prioritize the most critical features and functionality for the project's success. This approach ensures that the team is working on the most critical aspects of the project and delivering a quality product that meets the project's goals.
Continuously test and refine.
In an agile development environment, testing and refinement are continuous processes throughout the development cycle. Developers continuously test the code to identify and fix errors, and the team uses feedback to refine the product. This approach ensures the final product is high quality and meets the project's requirements.
Emphasize collaboration and communication.
Agile development emphasizes collaboration and communication among team members, stakeholders, and customers. This approach ensures everyone is on the same page and clearly understands the project's goals and progress. By promoting collaboration and communication, teams can work together to deliver a quality product that meets the project's requirements.
Dealing with business and customer-facing teams
Working in an agile development technology team where you do not use due dates can present several challenges, especially when the business and customer-facing teams do use them. Some of the challenges are:
Misaligned expectations - When the development team does not use due dates, aligning with the business and customer-facing teams, who may have different expectations around project timelines, can be challenging.
Lack of predictability - Without due dates, it can be difficult to predict when a project will be completed or to communicate that information to stakeholders.
Increased pressure on the development team - If the business and customer-facing teams use due dates, the development team may feel additional pressure to complete work quickly, leading to rushed or low-quality work.
To address these challenges, some possible solutions are:
Establish clear communication channels - It's essential to establish clear communication channels between the development, business, and customer-facing teams to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding project timelines.
Use relative estimation - Instead of using specific dates, the development team can use relative estimation techniques, such as story points or t-shirt sizing, to help provide some predictability around project timelines.
Prioritize work based on value - Rather than focusing on due dates, prioritize work based on its value to the business and customer-facing teams. This can help ensure that the most critical work is completed first and can help alleviate some of the pressure on the development team.
Collaborate with stakeholders - To establish a shared understanding of project timelines and priorities. Involving the business and customer-facing teams in the process can help align expectations and create a more collaborative work environment.
Use metrics to measure progress - Use metrics such as velocity or lead time to measure progress and communicate that information to stakeholders. This can help provide a sense of predictability around project timelines without relying on specific due dates.
Overall, it's essential to balance the needs of the development team and the business and customer-facing teams to ensure everyone is working toward a common goal. By establishing clear communication channels, using relative estimation, prioritizing work based on value, collaborating with stakeholders, and using metrics to measure progress, you can overcome the challenges of working in an agile development technology team without using specific due dates.
Wrapping is up
While setting due dates may have been the norm in the past, it simply does not work within the Agile development framework. As technology projects become more complex and teams work to maintain quality and scope, forcing arbitrary due dates can only lead to more stress, lower morale, and, ultimately, a decrease in project success. Instead, by embracing the flexibility and adaptability inherent in Agile methodologies, teams can focus on delivering value to customers sustainably. In this way, teams can foster a collaborative, engaged environment that leads to better outcomes and a more successful project overall.