Explore project methods beyond Agile—compare frameworks, find the right fit, and build a practical approach that works for your team and industry.
As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods.
The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.
Harrington Emerson, Management Consultant (1853-1931)
Agile is a bit of an outlier in the world of popular project management methods. Unlike frameworks such as PMBOK, PRINCE2, or Six Sigma, it isn’t owned or controlled by any one organization. There’s no single body setting the rules, no official guidebook that everyone has to follow, and no licensing requirements for using the term.
Because of that, the word “agile” gets thrown around a lot, and not always accurately. With no trademark or strict definition to protect it, Agile has been used, stretched, adapted, and sometimes misused in all sorts of ways across industries.
But at its heart, Agile project management is shaped by community consensus. That consensus can be a little slippery—it grows, branches off, and evolves as people test new ideas and share what works.
Agile isn’t set in stone, and that’s kind of the point. It’s a flexible, living way of working that changes as teams, tools, and challenges change.
That said, there are some core Agile practices that have stood the test of time. These practices are well-recognized, widely used, and—when applied in the right settings—have a strong track record of improving project outcomes, especially in software development and other environments where change is expected.
Yes, some Agile branding out there can feel a bit over-the-top (we see you, corporate buzzwords). But don’t let that distract from the fact that Agile includes practical, proven techniques that really can help your projects run better, if you apply them thoughtfully.
As we’ve said earlier in this course, there’s no such thing as a perfect project method. Every project is different, and the best project managers are the ones who stay flexible, think critically, and choose the right approach for the situation.
Our aim in this unit is to help you build a clear, realistic understanding of what Agile can do, how it works, and when it’s worth using. We’ll also look at how Agile and predictive methods can complement each other, even if they take different paths to get things done.
