Top 10 Types of Agile Methodology to Consider in 2024

Closer Look at Agile Methodologies

What methodology do you pick for project management?

For this question, some organizations can show their loyalty to traditional approaches (e.g. Waterfall or PRINCE2), while many either describe themselves as pure agile or lean toward lightweight methodologies. Beyond that, 42% of companies opt for a blend of more than one methodology to optimize different projects enterprise-wide.

Agile was originally developed for IT-driven products and services. But its 12 principles and values are now being adopted by other departments. According to the 17th State of Agile Report, 71% of companies apply agility-driven strategies for software development and operation projects.

The result of adopting Agile is beyond expectation; 52% of small companies and 43% of larger organizations said Agile helps them improve collaboration, foster software quality, and better meets their business needs.
Agile’s adoption spans beyond software development and IT operations. Particularly, engineering and R&D are two fastest-growing Agile adopters. With the increasing popularity of Agile methodologies, the global market for enterprise agile transformation services is predicted to increase at a CAGR of over 18% during the forecast period 2023-2032.

Top 10 Common Types of Agile Methodology You Should Know

If you’re finding some ways to penetrate the Agile world, you should first identify which Agile framework best suits your company. In this section, Designveloper will focus on several most prevalent types of agile methodology that all project managers should know. These lightweight approaches work around the Agile Manifesto, hence showing some similarities. However, they have various features.

1. Scrum

SCRUM is one of the most recognizable Agile frameworks by professionals. This Agile framework enables companies to manage projects at a team level and conduct timeboxed tasks.

Accordingly, the whole work will be split into small, manageable chunks that are carried out in a flexible order of priority. Each iteration, or called sprint, often lasts from one to four weeks with the involvement of the product owner, the Scrum Master, and developers.

This PM solution is suitable for the first stage of the product life cycle. For example, your company plans to launch a new product for the first time. However, your business domain is highly competitive or ever-changing, thereby leading to uncertain and easily changeable requirements.

Therefore, to mitigate unexpected consequences (e.g. user dissatisfaction or failure to compete), your team needs to target on-time delivery and quick feedback from customers. SCRUM is among the best options for Agile teams to work on the core functionalities of deliverables and release them early in the market.

How SCRUM is Adopted at Designveloper

But how do Agile teams leverage SCRUM in their projects? Let’s look at our work with this Agile framework at Designveloper:

Backlog Refinement: In the beginning of a project, our team always holds a backlog refinement meeting to discuss a list of core functionalities or client requirements. This list is well-prepared by a Product Owner. In this meeting, our team members will detail tasks that need prioritizing and what should be achieved in each sprint.

Sprint Planning: In the beginning of each sprint, our development team will detail how to implement tasks in the backlog effectively. To estimate workload and improve future planning, team members will assign point values to each task during print planning. Tracking total points accumulated across sprints ensures everyone understands the effort and capacity involved. This allows the leader to calibrate future sprint goals, hence promoting team effectiveness.

Daily Meeting: We also hold daily stand-up meetings during the sprint to update our work progress and identify bottlenecks. To further improve the quality of our work and deliverables, we use the Pair Programming approach. This collaborative method taps into multiple perspectives, leading to the most robust solutions and improving overall software quality.

Sprint Review: At the end of the sprint, our team will review what we achieved and need to improve.

Retrospective: This meeting is also held at the end of the sprint to help all members share honest feedback on tasks, the project overall, and any challenges encountered. We then collaboratively brainstorm solutions to address these roadblocks, ensuring we’re better equipped for upcoming sprints.

2. Kanban

Kanban is another fundamental Agile framework that teams should consider if they want to visualize their workflow.

Using physical cardboard or software, teams organize manageable pieces of work in named columns (i.e. To Do, In Progress, and Done). This allows teams to track where each item of work is located in the workflow.

Described as a team-level PM approach by Portman, Kanban is still widely adopted at other levels because teams working on Kanban mainly focus on making work in process (WIP) as small as possible. Teams optimize the product development process to minimize the average time to complete a task (or called the “lead time”).

Kanban mostly drives teams toward limited WIP rather than commitments to iterations. So teams can make good use of the framework when facing fewer changes and uncertain factors.

3. Extreme Programming (XP)

Like Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP) enables the project work to be implemented over short development timeframes, called “iterations”. Accordingly, it helps Agile teams adapt to changes in user requirements, even in the advanced stage of the product development cycle. And it also contributes to improvements in a product’s quality.

But what sets it apart from other types of Agile methodology is its main focus on technical aspects – that is, high-quality code. Accordingly, developers get instant feedback and improve their code by working in pairs and testing code (both manually and automatically). Project managers hold daily standup meetings to receive feedback on work progress and impediments. Meanwhile, product owners and other stakeholders base feedback on acceptance tests and a product’s performance in each iteration.

These traits of XP encourage productive teamwork and constant compliance with important rules to enhance code quality and deliverables.

4. Scaled-Agile Framework (SAFe)

SAFe is an Agile methodology that helps you implement agile practices at an enterprise level. One of the focal features of SAFe is an Agile Release Train which gathers multiple Agile teams sharing the same business and technology missions. With this PM approach, you can improve coordination between teams, develier value faster, and be flexible to changing market demands.

It works through three core ideas as follows:

Three Pillars: SAFe organizes work around three levels: Teams (delivering features), Programs (coordinating different cross-functional teams on a common goal), and Portfolio (managing the flow of value across all programs).

Agile Principles: The methodology integrates core Agile principles like customer focus, continuous improvement, and fast feedback loops.

Lean Thinking: This approach also adopts some Lean practices like just-in-time delivery and waste reduction to optimize workflow.

5. Scrum at Scale (S@S)

This Agile methodology is popular for scaling SCRUM across the entire organization. Based on fundamental Scrum principles, Jeff Sutherland (also the father of Scrum) and Alex Brown developed S@S that focuses on building a scaled network of Scrum teams to develop high-fidelity deliverables.

The flowchart above illustrates how important components take place in two key cycles: the Scrum Master Cycle and the Product Owner Cycle. These cycles are essential in defining “what” (the product) is created and “how” (the process) to develop it.

Further, S@S introduces additional structures like Scrum of Scrums of Scrums or Executives Councils for larger deployments. It also aims to provide more guidance on scaling SCRUM events like Sprint Planning or Backlog Refinement for larger teams with complex dependencies.

FURTHER READING:

1. How to apply Scrum into your Software Development Company

2. The Importance of Scrum to a Software Product

6. Large-Scale SCRUM (LeSS)

Large-scale SCRUM is an Agile framework designed to scale SCRUM to extremely large, complex projects. As such, this Agile methodology allows you to adapt the core principles of SCRUM to various teams working on a single product.

Accordingly, it works with a single SCRUM team as a foundation. As the project scales up in both size and complexity, additional SCRUM teams are brought in. These new teams should be introduced gradually to ensure a seamless transition and avoid disrupting the ongoing work.

Even with various teams, the core principles of Sprints, Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Reviews, and Retrospectives are still the same. It’s because these practices will ensure an iterative and consistent development process.

There are two key configurations of LeSS: Basic LeSS and LeSS Huge catering to different team sizes. Here’s a breakdown of when to use each:

Basic LeSS (2-8 teams, 10-50 members):

This framework is ideal for those new to scaling SCRUM, as it maintains a simpler structure and allows your teams to learn and adapt to the LeSS approach.
It’s well-designed for projects with moderate complexity and dependencies between your teams.

LeSS Huge (8+ teams, 50+ members):

This variation is suitable for those familiar with SCRUM and ready for scale to a much larger size while ensuring agility.
It adds extra roles like Area Product Owners who manage product backlogs for certain areas within the larger product.
This framework also keeps everyone aligned and focused by integrating mechanisms to coordinate sprints and reviews across teams.

7. Nexus

Nexus is an Agile framework that leverages the core principles of SCRUM to help multiple SCRUM teams work more effectively towards a unified product goal. Accordingly, this methodology synchronizes Sprint cycles across all connected teams as follows:

Nexus Sprint Planning to define the work for the entire synchronized cycle.
Daily Stand-up Meetings to share progress and identify dependencies between all connected teams.
Integration Events to incorporate work from these teams.
Review and Retrospective Meetings to assess work progress and discover where to improve for the next sprint.

So, what is the difference between LeSS and Nexus? They’re both for scaling SCRUM to handle larger projects with multiple teams. However, they take slightly different approaches. Here’s how:

Feature	Nexus	LeSS
Focus	Coordinate the work of various SCRUM teams and add new roles for coordination.	Core principles and scaling for larger teams
Team Structure	Possibly include feature and component teams with specialized skills	Cross-functional feature teams that work on all aspects of a product
Scaling Option	Single configuration for 3-9 teams	Basic LeSS & LeSS Huge
Complexity	Genrally easier to adopt initially because it requires less upfront change and may handle existing team structures	More complex to execute because of cross-functional teams and possible organizational changes

8. Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)

DSDM is another popular Agile framework that significantly underscores iterative development and rapid prototyping.

This approach involves working with real-world users to define their needs, get early feedback, and create the most essential functionalities. For this reason, you can accelerate time to market, enhance user satisfaction, increase team productivity, and mitigate risks of project failure.

While DSDM promotes flexibility, it also emphasizes a level of governance to maintain control and ensure project success. Accordingly, this Agile methodology follows the following key stages:

Feasibility Study: This involves evaluating the project’s viability, identifying its scope, and anticipating possible risks.

Business Vision & Prototype: This involves establishing the project’s business vision and building a basic prototype to collect early user feedback.

Functional Model & System Design: This involves defining detailed features and design the software architecture based on the feedback.

Development & System Build: The actual software development takes place in short iterations, with constant testing and user feedback.

Implementation & Review: This involves deploying the final product and conducting a post-deployment review to identify areas for improvement.

9. Feature-Driven Development (FDD)

FDD is an Agile methodology that breaks down projects into small, testable functionalities. It focuses on the iterative development cycles of software features and constant integration. Further, it enables you to create status reporting continuously. This helps you track work progress and results better. For this reason, those adopting this Agile approach can deliver a high-quality solution on time and within budget.

Here are some of its core activities:

Develop a Feature Model: In this phase, you’ll build a model that outlines all project features, core concepts, and relationships between these features.

Build a Features List: All project stakeholders collaboratively define a detailed list of features that the final product should provide. Each feature needs to be user-centric and deliver a clear business value.

Plan by Feature: You’ll create a detailed plan for each feature. This plan should clarify the tasks, dependencies, estimates, and who will be responsible for developing the feature. Also, it should ensures clear expectations, and effective execution.

Design by Feature: This phase involves designing each feature by focusing on technical specs and implementation details.

Build by Feature: This is where activities like coding, testing, and integration take place. Here, regular reviews and pair programming are essential to ensure code quality.

10. Crystal

Developed by Alistair Cockburn for IBM in 1991, Crystal is an Agile methodology that prioritizes people and how they work together over processes and specific tools. In other words, this approach is about building an environment where your team members can work effectively together, instead of getting bogged down in following a pre-defined process or using tools.

Accordingly, Crystal involves a collection of Agile frameworks as follows:

Method	Team Size	Designed For
Crystal Clear	6 or less	Short, well-defined projects where a fixed budget and close collaboration are priorities
Crystal Yellow	7-20	Small to medium projects with a focus on user feedback and automated testing
Crystal Orange	21-40	Medium projects that may last around 1-2 years and provide new releases every 3-4 months
Crystal Red	40-80	Medium to large projects where the crew is divided into sub-teams based on needs. Here, these teams can combine Agile with traditional software development methods.
Crystal Maroon	80-200	Large projects that allow your teams to flexibly customize development methods. This helps your teams meet the specific needs of software being developed.
Crystal Diamond or Crystal Sapphire	200+	Extremely large projects with high-risk factors, potentially involving human life

Which Agile PM Approaches Fit Your Digital Transformation and Projects?

Agile project management is on-trend. This methodology is predicted to thrive in the future. This is attributable to digitalization which opens more avenues for changes and new trends. However, newcomers to Agile may find it confusing to choose the right framework for your business. So how can you select the most suitable Agile PM approach for your companies?

Your choice depends on various elements. To facilitate your selection of the proper PM solution, Designveloper suggests some important questions as follows:

What is your Agile ambition? Every path to agility is different and challenging. So setting a strong goal and well-defined plan is advisable. Your Agile ambition should derive from your company’s practical needs instead of blindly following your competitor’s strategies. Also, you should realize how impactful Agile transition is for the company’s culture and operating model.

Is your Agile ambition realistic? Becoming agile and developing enterprise-level agility are two different stories. Various leaders are under heavy pressure of making whole companies agile while they are in the kickoff phase of agility. The sound advice is they should start small and smart first with some basics (e.g. Scrum or Kanban) and then move organizations up to high-level agility.

Which level does your company work on? Agile methodologies are mapped out into three levels with Team Level as the most basic one. When companies scale up toward Product or Program Level and Portfolio levels, they will adopt extended or advanced versions of fundamental frameworks.

Designveloper’s Final Words

Today, whether to drive project work, albeit partial or entire, towards agility is no longer the common question for many organizations. Instead, when and how to implement that ambition provoke more concern among business leaders. There’s no the same path to business agility for all companies. Depending on your company’s strategic vision, goals, and other important metrics, your business can apply and customize standard frameworks.

But when going agile, multiple organizations confront existing challenges such as resistance to changes or inconsistencies in Agile practices. Therefore, no matter which types of Agile methodologies are applied, it’s advisable to develop the Agile mindset beforehand.