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Agile project management
Plans are good – the ability to adapt them is better. This insight lies at the heart of the agile approach, which in recent years has spread far beyond software development to a wide variety of areas of project work. Agile thinking is also becoming increasingly important in humanitarian work. Anyone wishing to provide assistance in complex, rapidly changing situations cannot always rely on rigid plans. Natural disasters, political upheavals or changing needs among target groups require the ability to react quickly – and that is precisely the strength of agile project work. It creates structures that allow for flexibility without losing sight of the bigger picture.
What agile project work means
The term ‘agile’ is used indiscriminately these days – often without a clear understanding of what it actually means. Agile project work is not chaos without rules, nor does it mean that planning becomes superfluous. Rather, it is about designing projects in such a way that they can respond to change, rather than stubbornly sticking to a plan that was set some time ago and no longer reflects reality.
The difference from traditional project management lies in the underlying philosophy: traditional approaches aim to plan as comprehensively as possible in advance and regard deviations as errors. Agile approaches, on the other hand, accept that uncertainty is part and parcel of day-to-day project work and build in mechanisms from the outset to deal with this uncertainty productively. Short planning cycles, regular reviews and the close involvement of all stakeholders are the key elements here.
For organisations providing aid on the ground, this approach holds particular appeal. Anyone who works directly with people in difficult circumstances knows that needs change, that unforeseen events can thwart even the best-laid plans, and that rigid structures do more harm than good in dynamic contexts. In this environment, agility is not a method – it is a necessity.
The basic principles of agile project work
Agile project work is based on a small number of highly effective fundamental principles, which are implemented in different ways across various methods and frameworks.
An iterative approach and short planning cycles
Rather than planning an entire project from start to finish, agile project management works in short cycles – known as iterations or sprints. In each cycle, the aim is to achieve a specific, manageable outcome, which is then evaluated and incorporated into the next planning cycle. This rhythm ensures that adjustments can be made at an early stage, rather than only at the end of a long process.
In humanitarian practice, this can mean that a nutrition programme is not planned in full for twelve months, but is implemented in three-month phases, after each of which an assessment is carried out to determine what has worked and what needs to be adjusted. This approach is more labour-intensive in terms of day-to-day planning, but is far more resilient to changes – be it a shift in the security situation, a natural disaster such as a typhoon, or simply the realisation that the original assumption about the target group’s needs was incorrect.
Close involvement of all stakeholders
Another core principle of agile project work is the continuous involvement of all relevant individuals – the team, partners and, where possible, the target group itself. Decisions are not handed down from the top down, but are developed through dialogue. This improves the quality of decisions, as it incorporates a wider range of perspectives, whilst at the same time strengthening the commitment of all those involved.
In practice, this means holding regular review meetings where progress, obstacles and necessary adjustments are discussed openly. Feedback is not seen as criticism, but as valuable information that improves the project work. Teams that embrace this culture learn faster – and deliver better results.
Agile Methods in Practice
There are various frameworks that translate agile principles into specific methods. Scrum and Kanban are the best known of these, but are often used in heavily adapted forms. For many organisations – particularly smaller non-profit organisations – it is neither sensible nor necessary to adopt a framework in its entirety. It is more important to understand the basic principles and apply them appropriately to one’s own context.
The following elements can be easily integrated into project work even without a full implementation of the methods:
- Regular, short team meetings in which everyone briefly reports on what they are working on, what is going well and where there are obstacles
- A visual task management system that shows the current status of all tasks at a glance and highlights bottlenecks at an early stage
- Regular review points after each project phase, at which results are assessed and the next step is planned jointly
- A culture of openness towards mistakes, which does not hide problems but sees them as opportunities to learn
Striking a balance between agility and stability
Agile project work does not mean reacting immediately to every change and throwing all structures overboard in the process. In humanitarian work in particular, people – both within the team and amongst the target group – need a minimum level of reliability and continuity. The trick lies in striking a balance between flexibility and stability: being open enough to respond to change, yet stable enough to maintain trust.
Sustainability in social projects and agility are not mutually exclusive – quite the opposite. Those who are flexible enough to adapt their approach to reality work more sustainably in the long term than those who stubbornly cling to a plan that has long since ceased to be appropriate. In this sense, agility is not at odds with reliability – it is its most modern form.