Most endeavors involving multiple people or organizations require coordination—commonly referred to as Project Management. Over the past decades, traditional planning and top-down coordination have revealed their limitations, especially when faced with evolving requirements and the detailed complexity inherent in many processes. In response, many forward-thinking corporate teams—particularly in Information and Communication Technologies and related fields—have adopted Agile Software Development methodologies. This approach to project management supports the evolution of requirements and solutions through the collaborative efforts of self-organizing, cross-functional teams, while consistently addressing the needs of customers and users.

Agile project management has proven to be equally beneficial for businesses beyond the traditional software industry and is steadily gaining popularity across a wide range of sectors. However, Agile is often mistakenly equated with “ad-hoc” planning or a lack of planning altogether—an unproductive misinterpretation. Instead, new Agile methodologies must be thoughtfully developed based on existing principles, so they can be adapted to various subjects, technologies, and team structures.

This article introduces a minimal agile coordination methodology, designed for broader use across diverse and irregular teams. It is particularly suited for teams that need to coordinate key stakeholders for effective collaboration within a project, for committed open-source communities, or for any group aiming to minimize time spent on meetings and coordination—yet still benefit from core Agile principles such as adaptive planning, evolutionary development, empirical learning, and continuous improvement. Striking the right balance between structured practices and excessive time spent in planning is essential.

To successfully introduce agile coordination in unconventional teams, three key elements are required: Work in cycles or iterations, facilitate team collaboration, and encourage individual commitment to tasks.

1. Cycles

All progress is made, tested, presented, and reflected upon within a manageable time span—typically two weeks, though this can be adapted based on the context. Working in short cycles reduces the complexity of planning. While a high-level project plan remains necessary, specific details are addressed as their time comes. Decisions about implementation are made by the individuals doing the work. This decentralizes responsibility and, together with a culture of continuous improvement, empowers teams to learn and adapt effectively. Each cycle includes the following steps:

• Planning: At the start of each cycle, the team defines concrete tasks for the upcoming iteration.
• Implementation (and testing): The team collaborates to complete the planned work.
• Presentation of results: At the end of the cycle, the team presents its outcomes. This can include a broader group of stakeholders.
• Reflection: The team reflects on what went well, what didn’t, and how to improve. This fosters process changes and helps build a shared team culture.

2. Collaboration

The success of agile methodologies depends on strong team collaboration. It’s essential that everyone works toward a shared goal, supported by clear communication and transparency. Team members are treated as experts in their fields. To support effective collaboration, consider these core practices:

One cycle meeting:

At least one central meeting once per cycle is crucial. It wraps up the previous iteration with presentations and reflection, then transitions into planning and task commitment for the next cycle. This should be an active session where everyone contributes.

• Physical space: Meeting room
• Virtual space:
  • Open Source solutions: Jitsi, Mumble
  • Proprietary solutions: Hangouts, Skype

Communication channel:

A single, inclusive communication channel is vital. It should be a shared space where all conversations, questions, and requests for help can take place—fostering team interaction and a sense of unity.

• Physical space: Daily stand-up meetings in the office.
• Virtual space:
  • Open Source solutions: XMPP, Matrix, IRC
  • Proprietary solutions: Slack, Skype

Task board:

Every team member must be able to see at any given moment who is currently working on which task. A perfect solution is the Kanan board, for each iteration cycle, showing the tasks, who is working on which, and the status of achievement. Team members move tasks in different columns, whether these issues haven’t been touched yet (to do), in progress (doing), open for review and done.

• Physical space: A KanBan board on the wall
• Virtual space:
  • Open Source solutions: Wekan, Gitlab
  • Proprietary solutions: Trello, Github

3. Self-commitment and self-organization

Empowerment is a core ingredient. Team members take responsibility by choosing tasks themselves, estimating the time and effort required. Rather than being assigned work, the team collectively decides what matters and how to divide the workload. Decisions should arise from within the team, which manages and organizes itself.

In a nutshell – how to guide the process

Make sure to start with a clear plan, breaking it down into high-level tasks along with a timeline for execution and resource estimation. Bring these high-level tasks into the shared space for discussion and refinement—such as a task board or issue queue in your chosen software tool—and continuously define and develop them further together with the team over time.

Hold bi-weekly meetings with the entire team. Use these sessions to review what was accomplished in the previous cycle and to reflect on team dynamics. Always ensure that there are enough well-defined tasks that can realistically be completed within a single cycle. During the meeting, team members can move the tasks they commit to into the Kanban board. Each task marked as “in progress” should have a clearly assigned owner, and all completed work must be reviewed by another team member to ensure quality and shared responsibility.

Repeat this rhythm, continuously evolving and improving—both as a team and as individuals participating in it. Congratulations: you now have an agile team, even in unconventional contexts.

• Reviewed and with valuable input by: Josef Dabernig
• Special thanks to OneOffTech
• Kanban board image by Jeff Lasovski