In short:
- Agile project management is a lean, value-focused approach that delivers results through short cycles, continuous improvement, and reduced waste, beyond its software roots.
- Agile works best for cross-departmental, end-to-end projects like customer journeys, employee experiences, and product development, DEVELOR applies it across industries and functions.
- Agile transformation starts with mindset shifts in leadership and empowering talent to act as cultural ambassadors of agility.
- DEVELOR’s New Cairo Agile Simulation gamifies agile learning, offering practical experience in planning, execution, review, and retrospectives to develop both teams and agile coaches.
Martin Kunc, Managing Director of Slovak & Czech branches and agile leader talks about agile project management.
What is Agile Project Management?
Agile project management is a methodology, or an approach to handle some business challenges.
It is LEAN and it eliminates waste. The focus is on delivering the value in short cycles.
The work still has to be done in agile, it isn’t free lunch, it is not a Holy Grail, Mr. Agile will not do the work instead of you.
It has to be done by your team. I strongly believe, however, that this is the right method to bring business value to companies.
Where does Agile Project Management Fit?
The pure agile was invented in the software community and it works perfectly there.
On the other side, Kanban is a method also used in agile and it was invented in production by Toyota.
We were implementing agile methodologies for customer journey management, there it’s perfect, but we were also using agile in shop openings and even in building and maintaining a telecommunication network. In each company, there are projects where agile works the best. The question is, how can you use agile principles in your company?
In DEVELOR we operate in an agile way.
Even though we are on the market already for 27 years, we have lots of behaviours which you would have probably expected in a start-up. The agile manifesto and the agile principles are very core to our beliefs. The biggest projects we are working on are related to product development. To develop a good product, it takes minimum one year and we need to see nonstop some contribution as to how it is being developed, plus it is being done in international cooperation.
Products like the Amundsen Leadership, VUCA Challenge, or even the New Cairo were developed using agile methodologies and it’s absolutely bringing results.
The New Cairo Agile Simulation
The New Cairo Agile Simulation is a game we developed to practice agile.
It is about competition of architectural studios. We train there all the methodologies and theories. People have chance to practice it. We also work with the routines the agile teams are having, so we are having the planning, execution, review and retrospective in several cycles throughout the game. We are preparing the team, but we are also preparing the agile coaches. We believe that gamification is the best way how agile should be taught – it’s fun, but it’s also a great learning experience. Agile transformation is the way to go for many companies.
It starts with management and leadership mindset change. They all need to understand that they’ll have to delegate lot of their decision-making power and somehow they will have to make the organisation leaner.
How to Start the Agile Transformation?
I would recommend to start the agile transformation utilising talents, because they can act as the agile ambassadors and they will start shifting the company culture. It is also critically important to choose the right projects for agile.
These should be end-to-end cross-department initiatives, the great examples would be the customer journey improvements implementation, employees journey or product innovations.
In those cases, agile works very well and it’s a good start for your agile transformation.
You don’t need to be certified in order to start delivering value in agile.
For sure, you should understand the principles, you should follow the values, you should know the tools – you should study them, but it’s not difficult.
It’s a lean version of project management, so it’s meant to be easy, it’s meant to be understood and it’s common sense, in the end.
Use it – it works.
Deliver value in agile project management.
Have fun and enjoy it!
Frequently asked questions about agile project management and agile transformation
Agile project management is a lean, value-focused approach that helps teams deliver results through short cycles, continuous feedback and regular improvement. Although agile started in software development, its principles can be applied to many business challenges where teams need to respond quickly, collaborate across functions and reduce unnecessary work. Agile is especially useful when the final solution cannot be planned perfectly in advance and the team needs to learn while delivering. It helps organizations focus on customer value, test ideas faster and adapt based on feedback. For HR and L&D professionals, agile project management is important because it requires not only new tools, but also new leadership behaviours, team routines and a more empowered way of working.
Companies can start an agile transformation successfully by choosing the right projects, developing the right mindset and involving people who can become ambassadors of change. Agile works best in end-to-end, cross-departmental initiatives, such as customer journey improvement, employee experience projects or product innovation. Leadership commitment is also essential, because managers need to delegate more decision-making power and support leaner, faster ways of working. Instead of starting with theory alone, organizations should help teams experience agile routines such as planning, execution, review and retrospective. For L&D teams, this means agile transformation should combine mindset shift, practical tools and real application in business-relevant projects.
Agile mindset is important because agile methods only work when people are willing to collaborate, learn, adapt and take ownership. Teams need to be comfortable working in shorter cycles, testing ideas, receiving feedback and improving continuously. Leaders also need to shift from controlling every decision to creating clarity, empowering the team and removing obstacles. Without this mindset change, agile can easily become a set of ceremonies without real business impact. For HR and L&D professionals, developing agile mindset is a key part of preparing leaders, teams and internal talents to drive cultural change and deliver value in a more flexible way.
Agile simulations can support learning and behaviour change by giving participants a safe, practical environment to experience agile work instead of only hearing about it. Through a simulation, teams can practice planning, execution, review and retrospective cycles, while seeing how their decisions affect results. This makes agile principles more tangible and helps participants understand both the structure and the mindset behind the method. Simulations are also useful for preparing agile coaches, because they allow them to observe team dynamics, support reflection and guide improvement. For organizations, game-based agile learning can accelerate adoption because people experience the value of agile before applying it to real business projects.
