Editing UNITA Agile Management Guide (section)

== Agile project management in UNITA ==

The UNITA Alliance enlargement from 6 to 12 partners requires a more disciplined working method while avoiding useless formalities. To achieve this, UNITA decided to draw inspiration from an existing method: the PM AGILE method.  
This method, strongly influenced by the LEAN philosophy, encourages adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery and continuous improvement. It encourages rapid and flexible responses to change. To understand the difference between an agile approach and a traditional one in project management, the iron triangle provides a clear explanation.

=== The iron triangle in project management ===

The difference between agile and traditional approach is that with a traditional approach, scope is fixed and won’t change, but the time and cost can change. This means that projects can often deliver late or over budget affecting quality negatively. In agile approaches, the pyramid is inverted. Time and cost are fixed (e.g., time-boxed short cycles called Sprints), but the scope remains variable and can change. This ensures quality remains stable by prioritizing high-value features within constraints.  
With some adaptations, it can provide an efficient working method and mindset for our challenging objectives in the next 4 years.

Key characteristics of Agile are:
* Focus on delivering value early and frequently. Decisions are based on what is known.
* Close collaboration between all parties involved. Continuous stakeholder involvement at all levels.
* Plans are created with the involvement of team members.
* Incremental development with short cycles.
* Scope management by continuous (re)prioritization of the Work Items. Embracing change, continuous learning and improvement.
* Just enough documentation and control.

This method aims to continuously improve and streamline all project processes.

=== What is AGILE for UNITA? ===

This type of project management encourages collaboration and continuous improvement. It is referred to as an agile team.  
AGILE consists of dividing the project into several phases or cycles, and the various project activities are broken down into several specific, simple and prioritised actions.

==== 1. Definition of an AGILE TEAM ====

Agile teams work in a highly collaborative way, adopting the most effective communication techniques for their situation and striving to work together as closely as possible.  
The aim is to ensure that:
* Everyone feels part of the team, moving in the same direction.
* The team includes all the people needed to complete the task. An autonomous team must have the skills and knowledge needed to get the job done. Specialists may be called in if necessary.
* Each team member contributes according to his/her means. The team is made up of multidisciplinary members;
* The team is self-organised. The people best placed to plan and organise the work are those who actually do the work. This results in more accurate estimates, more realistic deadlines and greater team commitment to the plan;
* The team maintains a steady pace; everyone works closely together, avoiding discouragement.

==== 2. Definition of an ACTION ====

# An action may be defined as the result of a breakdown of a general activity in specific and simple operations, to be executed within one month, with a clear outcome.
# An action is defined and detailed by an explicit specification sheet (cf the UNITA’s project management tools)

==== 3. Definition of a CYCLE ====
# Every month (at least), the task co-leaders plan, organise and coordinate a meeting with all the members of the task: the task meeting. A cycle is defined as the period between two task meetings. During this period, the team must work on the action(s) chosen at the meeting at the start of the cycle. At the end of the cycle, the actions are reviewed at the next meeting. Based on the progress made, the team then decides what action to take next: continuation, reorientation, stopping, etc. The team implements the decisions taken on the actions in progress during the next cycle.
# A week before the task meeting, the co-leaders meet to prepare for the meeting and draw up the pre-minutes. They make these pre-minutes available to the task team members.
# Depending on the actions to be implemented, they may decide to divide the work into sub-groups and schedule interim meetings.

=== Reference material ===

Although this Management Guide is self-contained, interested readers may deepen thier knowledge about Agile project management in the Agile PM2 guide, which extends and enhances the PM2 Methodology with Agile principles and practices.

Other bibliographic references:  
'''Articles in english to help you understand and go further'''
* *Agile processes: a unifying approach for the future of projects*. Casanova, P. (2013). Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2013—EMEA, Istanbul, Turkey. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
* *The iron triangle and agile*. Nagappan, R. (2020). Available at: [https://uxdesign.cc/the-iron-triangle-and-agile-7b66d3c72a51]
* *A Catalogue of Agile Smells for Agility Assessment* — Telemaco, Ulisses; Oliveira, Toacy; Alencar, Paulo; Cowan, Don. IEEE Access, 2020, Vol.8, p.79239-79259
* *A critical examination of recent industrial surveys on agile method usage* — Stavru, Stavros. The Journal of Systems and Software, 2014-08, Vol.94, p.87-97
* *AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: MODEL, METHODS, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES* — Džanic, Amel; Toroman, Amel; Džanic, Alma. Acta Technica Corvinensis, 2022-10, Vol.15 (4), p.95-100
* *An evaluation of the degree of agility in six agile methods and its applicability for method engineering* — Qumer, A.; Henderson-Sellers, B. Information and Software Technology, 2008-03, Vol.50 (4), p.280-295
* *Challenges of adopting agile methods in a public organization* — Jouko Nuottila; Kirsi Aaltonen; Jaakko Kujala. International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management, 2016-01, Vol.4 (3), p.65-85
* *Collaborative agile learning in online environments: Strategies for improving team regulation and project management* — Noguera, Ingrid; Guerrero-Roldán, Ana-Elena; Masó, Ricard. Computers and Education, 2018-01, Vol.116, p.110-129
* *EVALUATION OF THE MOST USED AGILE METHODS (XP, LEAN, SCRUM): RELATED TO THE CONCEPT OF TOYOTA QUALITY* — Nathan-Regis, Bodje N'Kauh; Balaji, V. International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 2012-01, Vol.4 (1), p.23-23
* *Systematic Literature and Expert Review of Agile Methodology Usage in Business Intelligence Projects* — Wulandari, Hapsari; Raharjo, Teguh. Journal of Information Systems Engineering and Business Intelligence, 2023-11, Vol.9 (2), p.214-227
* *The Role of Psychological Safety in Implementing Agile Methods across Cultures* — Thorgren, Sara; Caiman, Elin. Research Technology Management, 2019-03, Vol.62 (2), p.31

'''Conference papers in english'''
* *Agile Methods: The Gap between Theory and Practice* — Conboy, Kieran; Eckstein, Jutta; Baumeister, Hubert. *Extreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering*, 2004, p.316-316
* *An Ideal Process Model for Agile Methods* — Visconti, Marcello; Cook, Curtis R.; Bomarius, Frank; Iida, Hajimu. *Lecture Notes in Computer Science*, 2004, p.431-441

'''Book'''
* *The Scrum Guide* — Jeff Sutherland & Ken Schwaber. Scrum.org; URL: [http://www.scrum.org/Scrum-Guides]
* *Succeeding with Agile* — Mike Cohn. Addison-Wesley; November 2009. ISBN: 0321579364
* *Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business* — David J Anderson. April 2010. ISBN: 0984521402
* *Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process* — Kenneth S. Rubin. Addison-Wesley Professional; 5 August 2012. ISBN: 0988262592
* *Lean vs Agile vs Design Thinking* — Jeff Gothelf. Gothelf Group; 2017. ISBN: 13:978-1541140035

'''Book in french'''
* *La boîte à outils de la conduite du changement et de la transformation* — Autissier, David; Johnson, Kévin J.; Metais-Wiersch, Emily; Moutot, Jean-Michel; 2019
* *La boîte à outils du chef de projet* — Maes, Jérôme; Debois, François; 2023

'''Website'''
* [https://pm2.europa.eu/pm2-methodologies/pm2-agile_en]

'''Youtube material'''

'''In english'''
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9QbYZh1YXY&t=63s what is Agile ?]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD_qJmTMjag Agile principles and values in five minutes]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iccpf2eN1Q How the agile methodology really works]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ_vnqvW4DQ What is Agile Methodology?]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLARQSoNAlc&t=41s What is Agile Development Methodology?]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj9QBNku7KI Introduction to PM2 Project Management Methodology WEBINAR]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y1kGlfdVDE Introduction to PM2 Methodology]

'''In french'''
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weP6BLvfzG8 L' Agile qu'est ce que c'est et pourquoi choisir ce mode pour conduire un projet ?]