Nailing Communication for Agile Success

 For agile trust and communication are the crucial points for the success of the project. To obtain the complete trust of each other in a team, agile teams have to thrive for good quality of communication. Along with the importance of good and thoughtful strategies, planning, people, technology, processes, configuration, and structure agile also implies the importance of communication and why efforts should be taken for improving your communication quality. The importance of communication in agile can be seen from the daily scrum, retrospective, and stand-ups that are the daily, weekly or scheduled meetings dedicated to increasing communication within teams and improving them by sharing their experiences. Agile indicates that quality communication can not only bring success to agile projects but any project. In every phase of an agile project, communication skill is important so let’s see it briefly.

Before Starting of Project

The need of good communication is required even before the start of the project. With good communication the process of selling a new product or idea to the customer becomes easy by understanding their needs, the requirements they are trying to achieve, and how big efforts are required to make these dreams come true.

Good communication leads us to answers about the current state of the client when they want to be at end of the project and by what time they are expecting it. With this communication, we can understand the project completely and create an almost accurate picture of the clients defining the product.

At the Start of the Project

As communication with a client is important similarly communication with team members on the requirement of the project is also important as they are the ones who will bring the dream of a client into reality. A good communicator can explain all the details and scope of the project to the team along with its timeline and contracts. With good communication we can ensure everyone involved in the project is on the same page and understand their roles, ensuring everyone’s complete involvement and avoiding conflicts.

At start understanding user stories, their acceptance criteria, and placing them in priority also requires a better way of communication. Quality communication helps in maintaining the pace of building features that can be utilized by users instead of only being built out of scope.

During Project

When the project is going on constant communication between team members is a must part to obtain a quality result. In agile to have so sprints and other events are organized but still agile emphasizes having open communication between team members for more quality and success of a project.

As we know the importance of good communication in agile projects let’s move towards some tips to follow for obtaining better communication skills as a person.

Tips for Improving Communication Skills

Be Clear and Concise

When you are communicating with someone or a team, be clear about the message or goal you what them to know. Make sure that they understand the meaning of your words correctly and are clear with the idea of what actions they need to take. Provide them with the right amount of data not too much to confuse or not less to create an obstacle.

Be Completely Attentive

When you are not the speaker in the room be sure to be attentive to what others are saying. Would you like it if anyone is busy with their phones when you are speaking? No. Then the same applies to you. This inattentiveness gives an idea of absent-mindedness to others about you which is not a good habit of communication.

Don’t Make Jokes at Others

Always respect people when talking to them whether by giving full attention to listening to them or avoiding giving any personal comments to them. Avoid making jokes out of something especially about that person as you might not know what can make someone uncomfortable.

Wait for Your Turn

Always remember you are not the only important person in the room. When others are talking let them have the spotlight while when it’s your turn you will be in the spotlight. Don’t cut others during their speech just because you feel your point of view is important to be explained on the topic. You can explain your concern or decision even after the end of your speech. Always wait for your turn to speak.

Say the Right Things

Don’t give too much or hold too much of the information. Say positive things first to get others' full attention. It’s not necessary to be too smart while talking but being confident with the right words will do the job. For saying the right words always try improving your vocabulary as repetition of the same words continuously loses the interest of listeners.

As you know the importance of communication in agile project success and also got the tips to improve it follows them and makes your team and project a success with good communications.

About Advance Agility

We, at Advance Agility, are the new-age Agile Coaching, Consulting and IT services company. We enable end-to-end Digital Transformation. Agile execution is integral to our being. We are doing SAFe implementation with small, medium and large organization across the globe. Our vision is to be the leading Agile execution player globally. To keep adding value at every process stage. We are on a mission to empower our clients, move from concept to cash in the shortest sustainable lead time by adopting human centric approach to business agility. Embracing the change is in our DNA. Things that keep us apart are Quicker and Seamless execution with End-to-end gamut of services. Our Global presence and Stellar Track Record give us an edge over our competitor.

Connect with us at advanceagility.com to learn about SAFe and SAFe Implementation. We provide various SAFe certification courses along with DevOps, Scrum, Agile Coaching and more trainings. Write to us at contact@advanceagilty.com for any agile training or consulting needs. We are always looking for competent agile trainers as well. So if you are a good trainer or want to become one, do get in touch with us to that we can learn, grow and achieve together.