
Agile working method in software and football
Last updated: December 02, 2022 Read in fullscreen view



- 02 Nov 2021
What is Terms of Reference (ToR)? 1093
- 27 Oct 2020
8 principles of Agile Testing 1013
- 01 Aug 2024
The Standish Group report 83.9% of IT projects partially or completely fail 924
- 18 Oct 2021
Key Elements to Ramping Up a Large Team 892
- 03 Apr 2022
Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) 884
- 21 May 2022
"Fail Fast, Fail Often, Fail Forward" is the answer to Agile practices of software success 618
- 13 Apr 2024
Lessons on Teamwork and Leadership from Chinese story book "Journey to the West" 603
- 20 Jul 2022
Software Myths and Realities 589
- 02 May 2022
What Is RAID in Project Management? (With Pros and Cons) 535
- 09 Oct 2022
Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Agile Methodology 528
- 13 Jan 2020
Quiz: Test your understanding project cost management 498
- 14 Jun 2022
Example and Excel template of a RACI chart in Software Development 473
- 18 Dec 2023
The Cone of Uncertainty in Scrum & Requirement Definition 438
- 27 Jan 2020
Should a project manager push developers to work more hours due to mistakes of manager schedule setting? 389
- 12 Oct 2020
The Agile Manifesto - Principle #8 366
- 12 Aug 2022
What is End-to-end project management? 303
- 07 Jul 2022
Managing Project Execution Terms 293
- 03 Jan 2023
Organizing your agile teams? Think about M.A.T (Mastery, Autonomy, Purpose) 289
- 17 Oct 2021
Does Fast Tracking increase project cost? 279
- 02 Nov 2022
Frequently Asked Questions about Agile and Scrum 272
- 26 Sep 2024
Successful Project Management Techniques You Need to Look Out For 271
- 10 Apr 2022
Agile self-organizing teams: What are they? How do they work? 269
- 09 May 2022
Build one to throw away vs Second-system effect: What are differences? 250
- 06 Jun 2022
Change Management at the Project Level 230
- 16 Jul 2022
What are disadvantages of Agile Methodology? How to mitigate the disadvantages ? 228
- 07 Oct 2020
How To Manage Expectations at Work (and Why It's Important) 226
- 22 May 2022
What are common mistakes that new or inexperienced managers make? 226
- 10 Apr 2024
The Parking Lot Method: Unlocking a Simple Secret to Supercharge Your Productivity 224
- 15 May 2022
20 Common Mistakes Made by New or Inexperienced Project Managers 202
- 01 Mar 2022
Why Does Scrum Fail in Large Companies? 192
- 01 Aug 2022
Is planning "set it and forget it" or "set it and check it"? 189
- 28 Nov 2023
Scrum Team Failure — Scrum Anti-Patterns Taxonomy (3) 180
- 03 Jul 2022
Manifesto for Agile Software Development 173
- 02 Dec 2021
3 Ways to Avoid Scope Creep in IT Consulting 163
- 01 Dec 2022
Difference between Set-based development and Point-based development 160
- 02 Jun 2024
Reviving Ancient Wisdom: The Spiritual Side of Project Management 142
- 21 Oct 2022
Virtual meeting - How does TIGO save cost, reduce complexity and improve quality by remote communication? 132
- 10 May 2022
Levels of Teamwork 126
- 07 Dec 2023
12 project management myths to avoid 120
- 30 Nov 2023
Project Managers, Focus on Outcomes — Not Deliverables 119
- 24 Nov 2023
The project management paradox: Achieving MORE by doing LESS 109
- 01 Jun 2022
How Your Agile Development Team is Just Like a Football Team? 108
- 02 Nov 2022
Difference between Change Management and Project Management 100
- 21 Jun 2024
Dead Horses and the Escalation of Commitment 96
- 10 Oct 2022
Should Your Business Go Agile? (Infographic) 90
- 23 Jun 2024
Best Practices for Managing Project Escalations 88
- 05 Jun 2023
Fractional, Part-Time (virtual) or Interim CTO: Who Will Cover Your Business Needs? 81
- 01 Mar 2024
10 Project Management Myths 66
I have been thinking of writing something about Agile Teams for a long time and its correlation to football, given that I have played professionally in the past. In this article I will try to give some insights on the analogy between football and software development as far as agile management is concerned.
Nowadays almost every software development team is working in Agile, so you can also call them Agile Software Development Teams. Myself being not an IT guy, the first time I heard about Agile I wondered what it was. I am a person who if I do not understand something right away, I tend to do whatever I can to understand it. So, I went full speed and learned all I could from my team what Agile was and how it is impacting today’s IT project workflow. I learned from them that Agile is a new, modern word of delivering quality work by constant monitoring and collaboration between team members.
I played football (professional level) for about 10 years, until I broke my knee when I was 18 years old. Nevertheless, I have learned some very important lessons from the time when I used to play. Discipline, hierarchy, respecting the opponent, being a team player, and of course being part of an Agile team. Well, now they call it Agile but back in the days and even now in almost every team sport is just the normal way of playing the game, which means sharing and working together to achieve a common goal, that of winning.
Just like a football team, an Agile software team has different individuals who each play a certain and specific role in order to win the game, or complete a project. They have to play together, interact with each other and help each other in many different occasions. Same for football, software and digital communications (everything that needs a team of different individuals and professionals). In football before every game, the coach comes up with a game plan, and the whole team knows exactly what to do, and usually every member of the team knows his tasks and their relation to the overall game. In software, the Agile teams have a list of the requirements, features and functionality that the client wants to have in the final product. Being that a website, application, TV Commercial, or a platform.
As the game is in full speed, the coach makes sure to change or rethink the strategy on the field with the final goal to win. This is influenced by the opponent, the conditions of his team and other factors such as possible injuries, and eventual expulsion from the field of a certain player. In software it works more or less the same, as the PM (Project Manager) or TL (Team Leader) breaks down what went well and what did not go according to the planning. In software you do that after every Sprint (usually 2 weeks where every member is assigned with specific tasks to complete) or during the stand-up call or meeting you have every morning with your team.
The final and most important lesson out of this is the importance of being a team player, and if you want to be successful each member of the team needs to understand the role, tasks and responsibilities. This is the same in football, software and everywhere where people work in teams. The commitment of every individual inside the group (team) is what makes a team and eventually a company work!