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Unforeseen Benefits of Agile11 May 2017

After a decade of Agile working - it is pretty clear what are the predominant benefits of applying the approach: clearer product development process, faster delivery, higher customer satisfaction, better project control, scope for efficient risk management, more overall flexibility and a valid waste and cost reduction.
But as you get on working with the method's prescriptions it is possible you will also note some additional benefits, namely:

Less stressful work

Agile makes room for fewer specs sheets and more discussion - the team feel more empowered and better involved with the process and product. All this makes for a nicer working environment and higher job satisfaction.

Knowledge Sharing

With more discussion and common thinking in daily or weekly Sprint meetings, the more knowledgeable team members share their expertise with the rest of the team, distributing their outlook and possibly their know-how among them.

Less Overtime

As most of the work items are estimated ahead, occasions of needing to work extra hours are scarce. This does not only help to get a good feel of how much work teams are capable of within a week, month or quarter, but is also promotes healthier work ethics. Also, it makes for an easier strategic company planning.

Two Heads Are Better Than One

Many have argued that collaborating leads to higher productivity, since there are more ideas to be analysed and implemented. Sounds about right and Agile methods make collaboration easier to initiate and to manage.

Data Spread-out

Thanks to better information flow within an organization, there's higher stability of projects and therefore of the entire company. In other words - fewer chances that a project or a company branch will be hit strongly by a team partial disintegration, making constant growth a real possibility.

Team Self-structuring

Once you drop a bunch of unassigned tasks onto a team and apply the "pick and choose" approach, after a little while natural leaders and diligent followers will be apparent among the team. Regardless of how people perceive and present themselves on a daily basis, this is a good opportunity to see who accelerates at which side of the team. A valuable information for all interested parties.

Adopt the Agile way for your workflow to see how it performs for your case. A good starting point is a visualization of the process and item assignments on a digitally shared board, Scrum or Kanban style. We recommend giving it a try with Kanban Tool.
See whether your expectations of Agile can also be exceeded!