Agile 101: Iterations
Tom Mochal, PgMP, PMP, TSPM is the president of TenStep, Inc., a methodology development, consulting and training company. Tom won the Distinguished Contribution Award from the Project Management Institute for his work spreading knowledge of project management around the world. He is a speaker, lecturer, instructor and consultant to companies and organizations around the world.
When first adopting Agile, you may need to start with 30-day iterations as you deal with the culture change. As the Agile model takes hold, the iterative cycle will likely be shortened for subsequent projects. However, larger projects may require longer iterations to accommodate additional coordination and integration.
Most organizations understand that the days of the five-year, monolithic project are over — and have been for some time. The better approach is to break large initiatives into a set of smaller, easier-to-manage projects. Short projects are easier to manage than large projects because fewer things can go wrong, fewer people are involved, and there is less time for scope changes, among other factors.
The Agile model takes this basic understanding further by stating that even the days of the six-month development cycle are over, as is the three-month cycle and maybe even the one-month cycle. Partial solutions should be up and running rapidly, with short iterative cycles designed to deliver working code that is built up to a final solution. In the Scrum model these short iterations are called “sprints.” The term "sprint" gives you the impression that the team runs hard for a short period of time, and then catches a quick breath before undertaking another short sprint.
Agile iterations implement complete …
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