Posted by Disciplined Agile is a toolkit that incorporates hundreds of strategies from various project management methodologies, such as Agile, Lean, Kanban, Scrum, and others. It is a hybrid approach that responds to both the team and the context. In a nutshell, this toolkit assists you in identifying the best ways to work and selecting the appropriate tools and processes for the job.
This guide will teach you the advantages of Disciplined Agile and the principles that serve as the toolkit’s foundation. Let’s look at why you might want to use this people-centric project management toolkit.
Why should you use Disciplined Agile?
Disciplined Agile focuses on how you work and offers a robust toolkit that includes hundreds of Agile practices that provide your team with appropriate processes for the context. This approach is based on the notion that true agility stems from the ability to select the best method for any given challenge. It all comes down to choosing the best next step for your team, whether you’re doing disciplined development or embracing an Agile framework for your entire business.
The Advantages of Disciplined Agile
More team engagement
Discipline Agile principles value flexibility over-prescriptive processes, allowing your team to choose the best way of working for them. Aside from increased efficiency, this also promotes ownership and engagement among team members.
Traditional Agile began as an approach to software development and was a tool used by product owners and project managers in that space. However, Disciplined Agile can be applied to any aspect of business and is adaptable enough to work with any team, including sales, marketing, and human resources.
These advantages stem from the numerous promises and guidelines the Disciplined Agile mindset espoused. These, in turn, are built on the eight-core principles that define a Disciplined Agile team, described in the tool kit.
Disciplined Agile’s seven principles
The Disciplined Agile principles form the foundation of the toolkit and mindset. Based on lean and flow concepts, they serve as the philosophical topsoil from which business agility grows. The eight principles are as follows:
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Customers should be delighted
The first principle is about exceeding basic expectations and striving to impress your customers, extending beyond external customers to internal customers.
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Be excellent
Being extraordinary means constantly striving to be, do, and produce better. Simply put, it is about creating a great environment with amazing people and an excellent company.
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Context is important
This principle emphasizes recognizing the uniqueness of teams and processes. The idea is that couples must find methods that reflect the given context while leaving room for those methods to evolve across contexts.
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Be pragmatic
Being practical means employing the most logical strategy. Whatever helps the team be as effective as possible, whether agile, lean, or traditional methods, is the best choice.
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There is a good selection
Based on contextual and pragmatic work methods, the principle of choice is about knowing and understanding the trade-offs associated with the options available to a team.
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Optimize flow
This principle is about optimizing flow to respond to customer needs effectively. It encompasses processes from the value stream to the organizational level.
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Organize around products and services
To truly delight their customers, teams must centre their strategies on their products and services. Their priority should be to provide the best offerings and engage in project portfolio management using Agile philosophies.
Finally, every team should work to keep enterprise awareness in mind. Every team does what is best for the organization as a whole.
Disciplined Agile teams with Agile Certification commit to adopting and adhering to these principles and the guidelines and behaviours that define Disciplined Agile. They might have an Agile coach to assist them in implementing Agile methods. While these are essential for business agility, they are also crucial for teammates and other stakeholders.
As an Agile approach, the DA framework provides enormous flexibility to teams willing to adopt the mindset. However, those teams require the same level of adaptability as Agile.