🗺️Introduction to the Agile Handbook
Welcome to "Fail Fast" world. This is the Agile Handbook for Tech Fleet.
Video Version
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Get Ready for Your World To Change
In school you are taught to produce a perfect result. You do it in phases. You take your time. You deal with minor constraints. You may work without clients.
To "succeed" in industry environments you have to re-learn and un-learn the ways you have been trained in your education.
Agencies and in-house company teams in the industry operate in completely different ways. Their processes are non-linear. They do UX and development work in parallel. They collaborate across different functions. They gather feedback as they go. They operate in uncertainty.
Changing Your Mindset
A big gap when transitioning into the industry is developing an Agile mindset.
When you learn Agile, your ways of working will change.
Your mindset will shift in how you should be bringing yourself to teams. Your perspective will grow and change over time.
As a UX researcher, UX designer, product person, project management person, or developer, you will be expected to change the way you work.
Companies may expect employees to already be trained in Agile. You will likely be asked to speak to your Agile philosophies when interviewing.
It's crucial to build your Agile mindset in UX, product, and development fields.
TL;DR: What's Agile? Why Should I Care?
Agile is a philosophy and a way of approaching UX work.
Agile teams deliver incremental value as they go.
They do not work in sequential order or phases. They deliver small chunks of usable, valuable functionality to users continuously instead of delivering the full result all at once.
This picture that shows the "incremental value" of Agile vs. the "all-at-once value" delivered in Waterfall:
Waterfall teams (AKA the way you have probably been trained) build nothing but the car they agreed to in the beginning. They build the parts in sequential order. They put the entire car together before they deliver to users or clients. No one sees anything being built until it's launched. No one validates their direction while they are building.
Agile teams take the opposite approach. Instead of building a car in parts, Agile teams build usable things they can test along the way. They deliver value to users in chunks that increasingly solves more problems.
Incremental Value with Agile
Agile delivers value throughout a project, while Waterfall delivers value at the end of a project:
Agile, as such, is less risky than Waterfall. Agile teams verify their direction as they deliver value and change if they need to.
The Agile releases in the "Car" example solve incremental problems and bring incremental value:
A skateboard meets basic needs of transportation.
A scooter is more valuable than the skateboard because it offers more stability while traveling.
A bike is more valuable than the scooter because it lets you travel further and more efficiently.
A motorcycle is more valuable than the bike because it goes fast, travels far, and is safer.
A car is more valuable than the motorcycle because it is safer, fast, holds more travelers, and offers more cargo space.
If, and only if, the Agile team has validated that these results bring incremental value, they will start building towards the next release.
If they learned after delivering something that it doesn't deliver needs, they change their plans.
These are two very different ways of performing work.
Agile teams, because they deliver incremental value, deliver stronger results in the end.
This Handbook Teaches a Foundational Agile Mindset
Welcome to the "Fail Fast" life. This is the new and improved Agile Handbook for Tech Fleet.
This handbook offers introduction to the Agile ways of work. It covers:
Agile philosophies
Traits of strong Agile teams
Living daily Agile life
Deliverables for Agile team success
Tech Fleet is an Agile coaching organization and all teams are expected to operate in Agile ways of work.
All Tech Fleet members should read this handbook to prepare for the Agile mindset before they apply to project training.
Contents of the Agile Handbook
Agile Philosophies
How to build an Agile philosophy mindset
Agile Teamwork
How to build strong Agile teams
Agile Methodologies
How to perform Agile work together
Agile Deliverables
How to produce clarity for Agile teams
Head to the Next Lesson
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