Cours de Agile

Agile Development is a methodology in which developers and other cross-functional teams champion efficiency, communication, short feedback loops, and quality in their software development projects. It advocates adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continual improvement, while encouraging rapid and flexible response to change.

Agile Development was a term coined in 2011 by American software engineer Jim Highsmith. As such, the relatively new methodology may seem like a buzzword. However, many organizations have put Agile practices into place to keep up with increasing consumer demand for higher-quality products—and more of them. Agile Development is important for learners interested in keeping up with this increasingly preferred methodology.‎

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary of an Agile Project Manager is $92,121 per year. The benefits of learning Agile skills go beyond pay though: one report shows 88 percent of people who adopted Agile said they were better able to manage changing priorities, while 81% mentioned increased productivity—two factors indicating a lesson in Agile can better equip learners to contribute to any team.

Other rewarding roles related to Agile Development include Agile Product Owner, Business Process Analyst, Agile Coach, Business Insights Manager, Scrum Master, Developer, and others that are related.‎

Courses on Agile Development offered through Coursera equip students with knowledge on Agile practices and principles; applying evidence-based approaches to development; how to define what’s valuable to the user; how to write a design brief; and more.

Lessons on Agile Development are taught by instructors from major tech names and universities such as University of Virginia, Atlassian, University of Minnesota, and other organizations. Learners can enjoy exploring Agile Development with instructors specializing in Digital Innovation, Science and Engineering, and other disciplines. Course content is delivered via video lectures, readings, quizzes, hands-on projects, and other types of assignments.‎

The skills or experience you may already need to learn Agile project management include basic knowledge of the Agile Manifesto’s four values, which focus on individuals and interactions versus processes and tools, working software versus documentation, customer collaboration versus negotiation, and response to change versus following a plan. If you already have a broad and basic knowledge of the 12 principles behind the Agile Manifesto, you may have the skills necessary to learn Agile. It may also help to understand the basic Scrum methodology and vocabulary, such as knowing what sprints are, before learning Agile.‎

The kind of people who are best suited for roles in Agile may have a broad interest in change management, social psychology, business philosophy, and Agile principles in general. The type of people who may enjoy their roles in the Agile field will understand why this new management approach emerged and have a passion for keeping up with the most current, best, and most efficient approaches to project management. People who may be best suited for Agile roles will comprehend the differences between traditional and Agile organizations. The best types of people for roles in Agile project management will be interested in efficient communication instead of producing excessive team emails and calling countless team meetings. They may enjoy roles in Agile because they will want to produce tangible, working results in an iterative manner (repeating, tweaking, and improving after each step of the process). In addition, the type of people who are best suited for roles in Agile project management may want to develop meaningful products and services through related cutting-edge techniques, such as design thinking and user experience design (UXD).‎

Learning Agile may be right for you if you plan to further your career in project management or leadership in a company. If you are going to work in the software development industry, learning Agile may be right for you because the industry focuses on Agile and Scrum software developments and methods. Studying Agile project management may also be right for you if you plan to become a Scrum master in one of the many organizations that have adopted the Agile methodology to help streamline and boost team performance and deliver improved customer satisfaction. Agile may be right for you if you need to learn to iteratively identify and test practices in your company from frameworks such as Scrum, XP, and Kanban to your team’s work.‎