How would you approach stakeholders who demand immediate updates on project progress in an Agile setting?

Agile Principles: Explain the principles and practices of Agile, including the importance of iterative progress and regular updates through sprint reviews and retrospectives. Value of Sprints: Highlight the benefits of focusing on sprint goals and avoiding interruptions to maintain team productivity and project quality. Continuous Delivery: Educate them on how Agile allows for continuous delivery and regular incremental updates, reducing the need for constant immediate updates.

Stakeholders will be concerned about the progress of the projects because of the obvious reasons. Have we thought of what could be the underlying reasons ? Assuming previous experience of late deliveries, not clear definition of expectations and lack of communication , many others. Building trust and effective communication can resolve all of such issues. Discussing the project timeline, understanding the Agile model and deliverables in each iteration will clarify on how the team works. Updating them by regular review meetings and sharing with them the azure query link or the dashboard with the progress will generate transparency. Making them understand the efforts required by each team in different stages in SDLC is also important.

Regular Reporting: Implement regular reporting mechanisms such as sprint reviews, demos, and progress reports that provide stakeholders with timely and detailed updates. Information Radiators: Use visual tools like Kanban boards, burndown charts, and dashboards to make project progress visible and easily accessible.

Almost all the modern tools for managing Agile projects have options to build real-time dashboards. With robust integrations, real-time dashboards can be built in different BI tools as well. A good project manager would rely on these pre-built dashboards and share those with the stakeholders. These dashboards act as single source of truth for all the information that the client stakeholder or an executive would need. We extensively use Azure DevOps for project management, with interactive dashboard built using Power BI.

Project Management Tools: Leverage Agile project management tools like JIRA, Trello, or Asana, which allow stakeholders to view real-time progress and updates. Automated Reports: Set up automated reports and notifications that provide stakeholders with up-to-date information on project status without requiring manual intervention.

Clear Communication: Establish clear communication channels and timelines for when stakeholders can expect updates, such as after each sprint review. Agreed-Upon Cadence: Agree on a cadence for updates that aligns with the sprint cycle, ensuring stakeholders know when to expect progress reports and demos.

Inclusive Meetings: Invite stakeholders to attend sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives to involve them directly in the project’s progress and decision-making process. Feedback Mechanisms: Create channels for stakeholders to provide feedback and ask questions, fostering a collaborative and responsive environment.

Stakeholders must be provided proactive updates regularly without delays. Based on the intensity and complexity of the project, the updates could either be daily or weekly. Executive updates should be provided at least once a month. Stakeholders must be involved more in requirement refining and user acceptance testing. This makes them feel connected and it becomes easier for them to decode the updates sent to them periodically.

Regular updates is already one of the core aspect of Agile. Inspite of that when stakeholders demand immediate updates then the reasons could be: # Lack of trust in the Agile process. # Previous negative experiences with Agile projects. # Unclear expectations of Agile delivery. # Some other unknown reason Once identified, transparent communication becomes pivotal. Set up tailored communication channels, such as a project dashboard or regular status emails. Educate the stakeholders on the benefits of Agile principles. Explain that while regular updates can be provided, the nature of Agile development means that progress is often best measured in short intervals. Ultimately, building trust is the Key to Stakeholder Confidence.