Find the best Agile Project Management Software

Agile project management refers to an incremental approach to managing projects that helps teams address and respond to change and uncertainty over the course of a project life cycle.

Agile project management software supports this iterative process and facilitates the transparency and collaboration required by agile teams to successfully deliver value.

This guide will help you understand agile project management and how it differs from traditional project management. We’ll also explain the role of agile project management tools within the larger project management space, so you can choose the right software to fit your workflows.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Agile vs. Waterfall Project Management

What Is Agile Project Management Software?

Common Capabilities of Agile Project Management Software

What Type of Buyer Are You?

Market Trends to Understand

Agile vs. Waterfall Project Management

Agile and “waterfall,” i.e., traditional project management (PM), are different approaches, or methodologies, for managing projects.

Waterfall PM is sequential and change averse. Requirements are agreed upon at the start of a project and benchmarks set for scope, budget and timeline. Then, work flows from one phase to the next until completion, and project success is measured by how closely the project delivers against the initial plan.

Agile PM is iterative and designed to help teams embrace change. By completing work in incremental phases and incorporating feedback loops into their workflows, agile teams can address uncertainty and better adapt to changing needs over the course of a project life cycle.

Agile project success is measured by the ultimate value delivered to the end user/customer via “continuous improvement” throughout the project, rather than “breakthrough improvement” all at once at the close of a project.

Agile works well for projects (and industries) where requirements are uncertain at the start of a project, or are likely to change over the course of a project life cycle. For that reason, it's especially popular with IT teams and software developers.

Conversely, waterfall PM is best for projects (and industries) that require in-depth planning to iron out the scope, budget and timeline before work can begin, e.g., within construction.

What Is Agile Project Management Software?

The core principles of agile PM are largely based on the Agile Manifesto (initially developed for software development), and emphasize:

• The importance of collaboration in fostering innovation

• The significance of feedback loops and iterative workflows in facilitating inspection and continuous improvement

• The value in embracing and responding to change over following a plan

According to Andrew Hunt, one of the 17 founders of the Agile Manifesto, the fundamental premise of agile is to inspect and adapt—to do something, get feedback, change what you’re doing and be responsive.

“Agile” is more of a mindset held by teams and/or organizations rather than a set of specific tools. However, there are specialized project management systems used by agile teams that help them accomplish their goals. For the purpose of this guide, we are referring to these specialized tools as “agile project management software.”

Agile project management software supports the above processes in several ways, including:

Creating a centralized workspace. The tool acts as a single repository and searchable database housing all project documentation and communication. This promotes transparency and creates a shared understanding of project (or product) goals, team workflows and KPIs for measuring success.

Facilitating collaboration. Users can view their individual tasks and team responsibilities on shared boards, participate in wikis and discussion forums and invite other users to share their ideas and input. Additionally, features such as file sharing, @mentions, activity feeds and shared boards allow teams to communicate with each other and stay up-to-date.

Tracking progress and measuring performance. The “single view” provided by the tool helps teams monitor the progression of work items, as well as give and receive feedback. Dashboards and reports track user performance, providing valuable data on user and team productivity, efficiency and output.

Planning room in VersionOne

Common Capabilities of Agile Project Management Software

Two of the most popular frameworks for implementing agile are scrum and kanban. Although both scrum and kanban systems have unique and defining features (click through to those category pages for a breakdown), there are several agile capabilities that each of these frameworks have in common.

These common capabilities are what you should look for as you evaluate agile solutions:

What Type of Buyer Are You?

According to VersionOne’s 11th annual State of Agile report, the top industries practicing agile project management include:

• Software

• Financial services

• Professional services

Additionally, the vast majority of organizations (80 percent) say their agile maturity is at or below “still maturing.”

This is likely indicative of the spread of agile into other industries besides software development (where it was initially pioneered), and shows that businesses and teams are still trying to learn, understand and fully adopt agile practices.

With so many organizations new to agile, it can be hard to know where to start when choosing agile PM software. It’s imperative for teams to establish basic agile workflow processes before implementing software, otherwise they risk a GIGO scenario (garbage in, garbage out), or may adapt their workflows to the tool and wind up “doing scrum” without being agile, for example.

We’ve outlined several tips for choosing the right agile project management system in our free e-book. These include:

1. Start off simple

2. Analyze your team’s workflows

3. Know which method (kanban or scrum) is best for which type of team

4. Assess purchase drivers

5. Evaluate integration requirements

6. Identify tools and vet products

(Click on the link above to download your free copy and learn which agile tool is right for you.)

Market Trends to Understand

The implementation of agile continues to expand outside the software development sphere. In Gartner’s 2016 Hype Cycle for Project and Portfolio Management, agile plays a much more extensive role as a relevant technology, methodology and discipline than it has in years past. For this report (and likely upcoming Hype Cycles as well) Gartner looks at the prevalence of agile past its typical application in the software development space and examines its use and expected impact on improving business agility. (The full report is available to Gartner clients.)

Although agile has become increasingly popular, it has not replaced waterfall. In a recent survey of current project management software user's, disciplines were split, nearly 50/50 among respondents. It’s important to remember that not every project is conducive for agile, just as every project is not conducive to waterfall. And of course, you’re likely to find more agile teams within certain fields than in others. However, at the end of the day bear in mind that while agile is becoming increasingly popular, it has not replaced waterfall (yet).