Agile Delivery Approach Selection Foundations

Agile Delivery Approach Selection Foundations is the set of concepts covering the different broad approaches available for structuring agile delivery work, and the criteria used to decide which of those approaches best fits a given team and project. Where team organization describes how a group of people is structured, delivery approach selection describes the different ways that structured team can actually organize the flow of its work over time, ranging from fixed-length cycles to a continuous stream of work items, and the reasoning process used to match a specific approach to a specific context.

This foundation distinguishes between the two dominant underlying rhythms agile delivery can follow — cadence-based delivery, organized around regular, fixed-length intervals, and flow-based delivery, organized around the continuous movement of individual work items — along with named approaches built primarily on each rhythm, and closes with the practical question of how a team chooses between them and adjusts that choice as circumstances change.

Defining Delivery Approaches Broadly

Agile Delivery Approach Selection Definition

Agile delivery approach selection is the overall practice of identifying and choosing among the different structural patterns available for organizing agile work, based on the specific needs and constraints of a given team and project.

Agile Delivery Approach Definition

An agile delivery approach is a defined structural pattern for organizing how work is planned, executed, and delivered within an agile project, providing the concrete operating rhythm through which agile values and principles are put into practice.

Named Approaches

Scrum Approach Definition

The Scrum approach is a cadence-based delivery approach organized around fixed-length iterations, within which a defined set of work is planned, executed, and reviewed before the cycle repeats.

Kanban Approach Definition

The Kanban approach is a flow-based delivery approach organized around the continuous movement of individual work items through a visualized workflow, without relying on fixed-length iterations to structure the pace of delivery.

Hybrid Agile Approach Definition

A hybrid agile approach combines elements of cadence-based and flow-based delivery, or blends agile practices with elements of other project management traditions, chosen when neither a purely cadence-based nor a purely flow-based approach fully matches a team's specific context.

The Two Underlying Rhythms

Cadence Based Delivery Definition

Cadence based delivery organizes work around regular, fixed-length time intervals, with planning, review, and delivery activities synchronized to the boundaries of those intervals rather than triggered by the completion of any single work item.

Flow Based Delivery Definition

Flow based delivery organizes work around the continuous progress of individual items through a defined sequence of stages, with new work pulled in as capacity allows rather than batched into fixed-length planning intervals.

Choosing and Adjusting an Approach

Fit for Purpose Selection Definition

Fit for purpose selection is the principle that a delivery approach should be chosen based on how well it matches the specific characteristics of a team's work and context, rather than adopting an approach simply because it is widely used elsewhere.

Approach Selection Criterion Definition

An approach selection criterion is a specific factor used to evaluate how suitable a given delivery approach is for a particular situation, such as how predictable the arrival of new work is or how tightly coordinated the team's members need to be.

Delivery Approach Adaptation Definition

Delivery approach adaptation is the ongoing willingness to adjust or change a chosen delivery approach as a team's context evolves, consistent with the broader agile commitment to inspection and adaptation rather than treating an initial approach selection as permanent.