Agile methods focus on small increments, iterative refinement, and adapting to circumstances. But what exactly do iterative, incremental, and adaptive mean?
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Adaptive
‘Ability to adjust behavior to fit changing circumstances.’
Adaptability is a core principle of agile methodologies. It emphasizes flexibility and responsiveness over rigid, predefined plans. In the context of agile project management, adaptive refers to the ability of a team or project to adjust quickly and effectively to changing circumstances, requirements, or feedback.
In practice, adaptive means responding to change, rather than following a plan. Unlike traditional, predictive project management where the project plan is fixed early on, agile encourages regular review of a plan – or simply adapting directly to circumstances, with nothing more than a guiding framework. This allows teams to pivot in response to changing priorities, customer needs, or market conditions.
To make this work, agile teams are self-organizing, so they can adjust their roles, processes, or approaches to solve problems or meet challenges as they arise. The team can update their working methods during retrospectives to continuously improve their effectiveness.
When used appropriately, frequent adaptation reduces the risk of large-scale project failure. Issues can be discovered and resolved quickly, and changes made to respond to new circumstances.
Incremental
‘Changing in distinct (usually small and regular) steps.’
In the context of agile project management, incremental refers to the approach of delivering a product or project in small, manageable chunks, called increments. Each increment builds upon what the team has already done, adding new functionality or improvements.
This allows for staged development and continuous delivery of value to stakeholders. Instead of delivering the final product all at once, an incremental approach involves delivering small, usable portions – or ‘increments’ – of the product throughout the project lifecycle. Each increment provides a new piece of functionality that can be tested, reviewed, and accepted.
Incremental delivery happens at regular intervals (at the end of each iteration, or sprint in Scrum). This ensures that progress is visible, and stakeholders receive working features sooner, rather than waiting until the entire project is finished. Over time, increments build up to form a full product, with each iteration improving the product’s functionality or quality.
An incremental approach helps reduce the risk of project failure. Problems arise in a limited context and can be identified and corrected before too much work is completed.
Iterative
‘Repeating a task or series of actions.’
In the context of agile project management, iterative refers to the process of repeatedly refining and improving the product or project through a series of cycles, called iterations (or sprints, in Scrum). Each iteration involves a defined chunk of work (and increment), evaluating it and, if necessary, making improvements in the next iteration. The cycle of iterations continues until the product meets the desired end state – it is ‘Done’.
So, iterations are short, time-boxed periods (often 1-4 weeks) during which a set of tasks or features is developed. After each cycle, the team reviews the progress, gathers feedback, and adjusts the plan for the next cycle. If customer feedback suggests a different direction or new features, the team adapts the product backlog or the project’s direction accordingly.
The goal is continuous improvement. The product evolves based on feedback and learning from previous iterations. Stakeholders provide input after each iteration, allowing the team to adapt and improve the product incrementally over time. This ensures that the final product is aligned with stakeholder expectations and market needs.
By breaking the project into iterative cycles, teams can deliver to a highly constrained budget and schedule commitment. At the end of an iteration, the client can determine the value of the next one based on a clear understanding of the nature of the next increment it will deliver. Iterative and incremental working is a way to manage schedule and budget risk in the face of uncertain technical challenges or customer requirements.
Summary: Adaptive, Incremental, and Iterative
So, to summarize, in agile project management:
Adaptive means having the flexibility to evolve processes, goals, and deliverables to meet changing project conditions and stakeholder needs.
Incremental means breaking down the project into small, deliverable parts that build upon each other, allowing for regular progress and feedback-driven adaptation.
Iterative means building and refining the product through multiple cycles, continuously improving based on feedback, and learning from each one.
Recommended Videos and Articles to Help with Agile Terminology
Carefully curated video recommendations for you:
- Agile Project Management: What is it and Why is it so Important?
- What is the Agile Manifesto? | Video
- Agile Principles: The 12 Keys to Adaptive Project Management
- How to do a Basic Agile Project | Video
- What is the Agile Triangle – Value, Quality, and Constraints | Video
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