The agile methodology has been a very renowned approach – celebrated for its flexibility, adaptability, and collaborative nature. However, with changing times the needs of the organization change and so do many other associated parameters, such as size, complexity, ideology, and much more. In such situations, organizations can sometimes outgrow the original Agile methodology. However, this does not mean that Agile would no longer be helpful or relevant for the organization. It just means some tweaks are needed to keep up with the change.
These tweaks are what is called the Hybrid Agile Methodology.
The Hybrid Agile Methodology
Hybrid Agile methodology combines the elements of Agile with other methodologies, such as waterfall, lean, etc. This, in turn, builds a customized approach that would be, in a way, tailor-made for the organization, to fit their unique needs and requirements. They help leverage the strengths of different approaches while also enabling the mitigation of their weaknesses. With the hybrid approach, agile retains its iterative and adaptive nature while specific elements from different methodologies get incorporated into the mix, so any hurdles the organization faces while working with Agile would be easily overcome.
Suppose an organization is facing challenges with aligning the processes towards their long-term goals and needs a little more structure in their planning and implementation. To solve this, they could retain the iterative cycles of Agile and merge them with the structured planning and implementation of Waterfall, creating a unique hybrid agile model that works for them.
This makes the overall methodology even more flexible than just Agile alone and can be fully customized to meet the complexity, stakeholder needs and demands, organizational constraints, time or scope challenges, etc. as and when the situation demands and is feasible.
What are the benefits of the Hybrid Agile Methodology?
There are five key benefits of adopting the Hybrid Agile Methodology:
- Unique tailored approach
- Optimized resource allocation & utilization
- Increased predictability
- Better risk management
- Enhanced communication
Let’s take a look at each of these.
Unique Tailored Approach
Every organization’s requirements would be unique, so a one-size-fits-all approach might not work each time. A hybrid agile model, in contrast, is tailor-made to meet the organization’s specific needs. Instead of sticking to a rigid ideology or methodology, it takes bits and pieces from different approaches to create something that is customized to the needs at hand. This adaptability makes the hybrid agile approach a lot more efficient and effective than the traditional agile methodology.
Optimized Resource Allocation & Utilization
With a hybrid agile methodology, an organization could optimize its resource allocation based on the priorities and constraints it faces. If they have high-risk projects coming up, more resources could be allocated to strategic planning and business analysis to begin with. The resource allocation can also be tweaked further as the projects move along and in case situations or requirements change.
Increased Predictability
While the first thing that comes to mind when talking about agile is flexibility and adaptability, a hybrid agile methodology can bring valuable predictability to the environment. This becomes increasingly important when one is faced with very tight deadlines or budgets. Hybrid agile methodology is significantly more predictable than traditional agile, offering users even more agility and flexibility.
Better Risk Management
Since hybrid agile methodology brings together elements of different, the risk associated with project delivery would be better managed and mitigated. By itself, agile ensures that teams are agile and responsive to dynamic environments & changing requirements, bringing in suitable elements from other methodologies, and making it even more efficient at risk management and mitigation.
Enhanced Communication
Agile has been renowned for emphasizing clear and transparent communication among team members and stakeholders. Adding elements from other methodologies makes it even better at improving communication. Processes would be better streamlined, more collaborative, and would be supportive of communication across the board.
How to Implement a Hybrid Agile Methodology?
Implementing a hybrid agile methodology needs meticulous planning, collaboration, and an open mind to consider and embrace new possibilities.
Start off by assessing project requirements, what is the need at hand, what are the constraints, and what are the objectives & goals that need to be achieved. Engage all the stakeholders and get their opinions and ideas as well.
Based on everybody’s inputs, define the approach you would like to get – which elements from which methodologies the team and stakeholders would like to incorporate to build a hybrid agile model that works for your requirements.
Train and support all the stakeholders to embrace the change. There could be a learning curve and some incubation period before everything starts running smoothly.
Overall, focus on building a culture of continuous improvement. Review everything regularly and tweak the hybrid agile methodology accordingly. Collect honest feedback from everyone involved and course correct.
Agile and Scrum can help organizations transform and keep up with changing times. The more one focuses on collaboration and innovation, the better the organization can get in staying relevant and prevent becoming obsolete. The hybrid agile model helps organizations achieve exactly that – resilience, flexibility, adaptability, and relevance.
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