Emerging Trends in Agile Methodology

Agile organizations are flourishing since recent times in many domains. These domains may be aerospace, construction, education, banking and finance, software development, and management. Companies have realized the inner potential of Agile Methodology and understood how it could increase their revenue and also solve most of its issues and problems. Agile organizations have excellent work culture and competition that aids the members of the organization to stay on top of their game. The Agile culture also helps the employees to thrive and achieve their inner potential and help them grow in their career. By benefiting the organization’s employees, Agile methodology enhances the company’s performance as a whole. As great businessmen say, the organization’s employees are the mirror of the company as it reflects the company’s performance as a whole. Hence, Agile methodology has always supported the industry’s growth and has evolved according to the current market trends.

The latest Agile trends are the trends that Agile organizations have adopted based on the market present. These are developments or enhancements to the frameworks that thrive on creating a product of superior products. As a wise person said, “Change is the only constant”; Agile organizations are frequently employing changes in working to enhance the product quality and ultimately increase the company’s business value. The latest trends are the changes that Agile industries are making to ensure that the company’s organizing and planning run smoothly, and everyone is benefitted from the changes. As Agile organizations are competing against their contenders, it becomes inevitable to adopt changes and become the best versions of themselves. Here are some of the Latest Agile trends that companies have integrated to stay the best in the industry.
 

Latest Agile Trends
 

Agile is blooming even outside the IT sector
 

Agile organizations are seen not only in the information technology sector during software manufacturing and delivery; it is also seen in many areas that deals with complex systems and processes within an organization. The core principles of Agile almost apply to every industry in the market as most of the organizations deal with Human resources, marketing, and operations that require the equipment that the technology industry is using for many years. Across all the departments, the need for predictability empowered teams, greater visibility, and a continuous improvement mindset, which could be easily solved by implementing Agile and following all Agile principles and values in the company. However, whenever an organization implements Agile, a clear sense of vision should be established before the implementation.

As the years pass by, Agile continues to evolve through the Agile scaling frameworks, whole-organization Agile transformations, and Agile implementations outside of technology. As a result, the companies have become highly responsive to the market and have drastically transformed. Hence, this current Agile trend has seen more businesses evolve in the past that are not related to information technology. Sectors such as construction, finance, banking, education, aerospace, etc. have seen the most revenue after implementing Agile.
 

Distributed Agile Teams are seen more than ever.
 

Team resources across many time zones of the globe are being hired to join the Agile revolution, during which the Agile companies continue to enforce globalization of product development. Companies have realized that teams do not necessarily have to stay in the same place to get the work done, and people from all over the world can be a part of a specific Agile team without having to leave their country. Companies are used to working with employees who are physically present in the enterprise. However, it is most likely that organizations have to be distributed with the current situations, and most of the work can be done even when the employee is not physically present. Most companies may struggle initially to reap the virtual teams’ benefits as it requires a different approach. But as times have changed, it is necessary for organizations to keep up with the world and adapt to the world. This demands organizations to create virtual teams as it is not possible to physically meet. The growth for virtual teams and distributed Agile teams is seen more than ever in history. However, companies should make sure to bridge the gap and try to replicate the same dynamic of a co-located team and make the distributed team an adequate contribution.
 

Organizational Agility is given more Agility than Team Agility.
 

Agile Methodology was established 20 years ago, where the primary focus of the Agile principles was to develop values and skills that surround only software product development. Most organizations have understood that Agile teams have to follow Agile values and regulations to succeed and gain revenue in the market. Self-organizing teams have always been an area of interest for organizations as it has been a contributing factor for most of the organization’s success. However, the latest trend in Agile organizations is that Agile practices should be applied to the entire organization and not only to the product development or the engineering sector of the company. 

“Business Agility” is a significant addition to the Scaled Agile Framework, where this trend was integrated. Various other frameworks have also demonstrated this trend, as many organizations have believed that this trend would increase their company’s business value. Organizational Agility enhancement was a primary goal for Scrum at Scale organization in recent months with all accounts that organizations are stepping up their game by following this trend. This trend implies that organizations initially have to become developed and well advanced in its engineering services, and later have to follow the next step: to grow and adapt the Agile practices into other functions of the company such as HR, procurement, business operations, etc. The goal of most of the organizations is to become an Agile organization and sustain all their competition in the ever-changing markets 
 

Agile coaching training offerings have significantly increased.
 

As Agile organizations have continued to grow, more job opportunities have opened in the Agile sector. The demand for Agile professionals to handle the operations has also increased along with the training offerings where more individuals can explore many domains where Agile is implemented. Companies hire professionals who are well versed in Agile practices, and for a person to become an excellent employee has to learn all the knowledge and skills required for the company. 
 

Value Stream Management is implemented in most organizations.
 

In recent years, it is seen that most of the organizations have implemented Value Stream Management in their organization to reap more benefits from the Agile methodology. Value Stream Mapping has helped the Agile teams understand and change the way of thinking of the Definition of Done (DoD). It escalates from the team members to the perspective of the entire project as a whole. For example, the developer does not treat the definition of done as “I have done my job” but treats the work as “the value of the work is realized.” This proves to be an effective way to change behaviors and get teams to gain clarity about the end-to-end lifecycle of their work. Agile Teams who have implemented Value Stream Management will be able to formulate their base for improving the organization in various ways with data-driven decisions and prioritizations. 
 

Leadership Roles in Agile
 

Agile Project management does not have one true leader who manages all the operations. The responsibility of the procedure is distributed among the members, which is divided as follows:
 

• Product Manager: They set the product’s vision and set goals for the work to be developed. They oversee the project and also communicate between the team members and the customers.
   
• ScrumMaster: They monitor individual tasks of the team and act more as a servant-leader and solve any impediments on the development team’s way.
   
• Team members: They are the driving force of any company responsible for building the product as desired. They are the leaders of their tasks and departments and interact with the product manager and Scrum team while creating the products.   

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Conclusion
 

Agile principles and practices have been the reasons for the success of many organizations. As they enjoy the benefits of continuous improvement, early return of investment, customer satisfaction, reduced risks, and a healthy Agile environment, companies have credited Agile for their success in the past. The IT sector and the latest Agile trend also show that all types of businesses have immensely benefited from implementing Agile. Since the job opportunities are abundant in this field, getting trained in the Agile field has also proven to improve one’s career and make them a respected professional in an organization. Agile training provides an Agile mindset and skills that are essential to lead an organization towards success. Taking up Agile training courses that individuals are interested in would give them a sense of satisfaction while working for their organization and bring out their inner potential and significantly improve their careers.  

Agile organizations have to continually keep up with the world as it is continuously changing every day. While change is inevitable, we have to adopt the change to survive in the industry. The latest Agile trends are the ways where Agile organizations have realized to improve themselves and continuously thrive in the market to reap all the benefits and give tough competition to their competitors. The latest Agile trends are also continually evolving, where every year, a new trend may come in the market where organizations can function more efficiently than their previous year. Hence, companies always have to be continuously updated about the latest Agile trends to stay on top of their game and reap maximum benefits from the Agile methodology.