What are agile methodologies?

Project management uses different methodologies to increase its efficiency and decrease errors. There are several methodologies and some companies don't use one in particular but many of them to manage their projects every day. 

In this case, we'll focus on agile methodologies; when we talk about agile methodologies we refer to those tasks and procedures that allow us to transform our projects. They also allow the company to manage its projects in a flexible, independent, and efficient way by reducing costs and increasing productivity. 

There are many reasons why these methodologies are so important and why they should be used; some of these reasons are: 

• They improve the motivation and engagement of the team. This is so because agile methodologies allow all the members of the team to know the status of the project at all times.  
• They allow you to save time and reduce costs. They help you stick to the established budget and deadlines. 
• They allow you to work faster and more efficiently. This is so because employees make partial deliveries of the product so they can deliver new versions in less time. 
• They allow you to eliminate the unnecessary characteristics of the product thanks to partial deliveries.
• They improve the quality of the product because there's constant interaction between developers and customers, making the product what the customer wants and needs. 
• They help detect errors or problems quickly during the project. 

After knowing these characteristics, we have to take into account that agile methodologies help IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.

There are several agile methodologies and they are led by an established pattern in the  AGILE MANIFESTO. This manifesto was written by several authors and establishes 12 principles that agile software should be based on; they are grouped into four important values:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation.
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
4. Responding to change over following a plan.

But, which are the most used agile methodologies at present?

• EXTREME PROGRAMMING: this tool, known by its acronym XP (eXtreme Programming) is a methodology based on a group of rules for software development in changing environments; therefore, it's focused on continuous feedback between the customer and the developing team. XP is based on simplicity and aims at satisfying customers. 
• SCRUM: this methodology works with the iterative and incremental lifecycle where the product is released periodically by applying the good practices of collaborative work; this teamwork helps solve the problems that may arise during the project quickly. SCRUM is especially suitable for projects in environments in which you need to get quick results; it's based on the following aspects: INNOVATION, PRODUCTIVITY, FLEXIBILITY, and COMPETITIVENESS.
• KANBAN: it comes from the Japanese word that means “VISUAL CARD”, and requires real-time communication about the team's capacity. Applying KANBAN is very easy and, thanks to that, task planning and assignment become easy too. It's made up of a board where you can see the processes of the workflow which must have at least three columns (pending, in progress, finished) and the "visual cards" should go through each of these stages until they are completed. 

In conclusion, agile methodologies share some characteristics, try to achieve the interaction between the members of a group to satisfy customers. These methodologies are not only used for software development but can also be used to manage any type of project. They are based on three main pillars: INSPECTION, ADAPTATION, and TRANSPARENCY.