An Agile Delivery Manager is a professional who oversees and facilitates the successful delivery of projects using agile methodologies. They play a critical role in ensuring that teams follow agile principles and practices to achieve project goals effectively and efficiently. In this blog post, we will explore the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Agile Delivery Managers.

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Main Responsibilities of an Agile Delivery Manager

The following list describes the typical responsibilities of an Agile Delivery Manager:

Balance

• Balance of technical knowledge and business acumen.

• Balance the needs of the project with the constraints of resources and timelines.

Brief

Brief and work with the design team to produce content and advertising.

Build

• Build next level relationships with your peers through scheduled companywide team building events.

• Build strong relationships with clients, help them learn new skills through mentoring and shadowing.

Care about

Care about the wellbeing of the team.

Champion

Champion the use of agile tools and technologies to enhance team productivity.

Clean

Clean, confident, clear data combined with the insights of the team is what drives our decisions.

Coach

• Coach and mentor teams on agile principles, practices, and frameworks (such as Scrum or Kanban).

• Coach teams in agile best practices including self-organization and cross-functional development.

Collaborate with

• Collaborate with other Agile Delivery Managers and teams to coordinate dependencies and ensure alignment.

• Collaborate with product owners and stakeholders to define project scope and prioritize work.

Collate

Collate information such as statistics and client quotes.

Collect

Collect and report on key team metrics to stakeholders.

Communicate

Communicate status of cross-team projects to senior leadership.

Conduct

Conduct post project evaluation reviews, in the form of retrospectives.

Contribute to

Contribute to the advancement and improvement of Agile practices within the organization.

Create

• Create and maintain project plans, timelines, and roadmaps.

• Create a zero-blame culture of trust and openness.

Deal

Deal with conflict and help establish a team culture that allows for constructive criticism.

Develop

Develop and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders and foster a customer-centric approach.

Drive

• Drive a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing.

• Drive continuous improvement of team practices, techniques and approaches to support delivery.

• Drive the creation of the business case, co-ordinate activities across stakeholder groups.

• Drive the teams to continuously improve based on what you learn from tracking team metrics.

Encourage

Encourage and facilitate continuous improvement.

Ensure

• Ensure all projects risks are understood and communicated.

• Ensure clear communication and transparency within the team and with stakeholders.

• Ensure legal and financial project governance is adhered to at all times.

• Ensure the effective delivery of the product.

• Ensure the team follows agile best practices and standards.

• Ensure the team is clear about what's most important and that they are focused on achieving these.

Facilitate

• Facilitate activities to build a team's ability to self-organise and continuously improve.

• Facilitate, coordinate and manage ceremonies such as planning, stand-ups and retrospectives.

• Facilitate the adoption and implementation of agile methodologies within the organization.

Form

Form relationships with other delivery managers and stakeholders across the company.

Foster

Foster a collaborative and empowered team environment.

Help

Help keep the wider team focussed on our half yearly objectives.

Highlight

Highlight delays and blockers to stakeholders as required to assist the delivery function.

Identify

• Identify and facilitate the removal of impediments for the organization.

• Identify and manage risks to ensure delivery is on time.

• Identify and remove obstacles or impediments that hinder team productivity.

• Identify the relevant roles within the team needed to deliver its priorities.

Iterate

Iterate the business case throughout the lifecycle of the project.

Know

Know what an agile delivery mindset looks like in practice (aside from the tools and rituals).

Lead

• Lead agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.

• Lead and motivate your project team from both internal and external stakeholder organisations.

• Lead by example, acting as a servant-leader demonstrate the right behaviours.

• Lead the teams through discovery, delivery and continuous improvement.

Learn

Learn rapidly and loves to develop their skills.

Make

Make sure it is controlled and within budget.

Manage

• Manage and negotiate project proposals and change requests with the IF leadership team and clients.

• Manage client expectations well.

• Manage project risks and dependencies.

Monitor

• Monitor and manage project budgets and financials.

• Monitor and report performance and progress of delivery.

• Monitor project progress and track key metrics, such as velocity and burn-down charts.

Oversee

Oversee delivery of one or two projects, depending on scope and size.

Promote

Promote continuous improvement and facilitate process retrospectives.

Proofread

Proofread copy for contributed blogs and content.

Provide

• Provide guidance and support to the team in resolving conflicts and making decisions.

• Provide proactive coaching to individuals (business and technology) and the team.

• Provide visibility of deliverables to stakeholders and the wider team.

Record

Record and edit film content for micro footage, vlogging and promotional activity.

Seek

Seek to reduce costs and increase organisational efficiency.

Select

Select or take photographs for digital and print channels.

Stay informed about

Stay informed about industry trends and advancements in agile methodologies.

Support

• Support teams in using relevant agile frameworks, such as Scrum and Kanban.

• Support the Product team to plan and execute solutions.

Track

Track record of defining and managing roadmaps of initiatives to meet strategic business goals.

Understand

Understand how to persuade and influence people at all levels within IT.

Update

Update the website with regular news and promotional items.

Use

• Use delivery metrics as an inspect & adapt tool within the team.

• Use these relationships to get and stay informed about relevant activities.

Work with

• Work with the client to ensure a clear vision and user needs are in place for delivery.

• Work with the Product Owner and Team to estimate work and then forecast, track and report budget.

Most In-demand Hard Skills

The following list describes the most required technical skills of an Agile Delivery Manager:

1. Proficiency in agile frameworks and methodologies (such as Scrum, Kanban, or SAFe).

2. Experience with agile project management tools (e.g., Jira, Trello, Azure DevOps).

3. Knowledge of software development processes and lifecycle.

4. Understanding of product development and release management.

5. Familiarity with continuous integration and delivery practices.

6. Ability to apply metrics and analytics for project tracking and reporting.

7. Proficiency in risk management and mitigation techniques.

8. Knowledge of agile estimation and planning techniques.

9. Experience with user story mapping and backlog management.

10. Understanding of agile testing practices and quality assurance.

Most In-demand Soft Skills

The following list describes the most required soft skills of an Agile Delivery Manager:

1. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

2. Strong leadership and facilitation abilities.

3. Ability to motivate and inspire teams towards achieving project goals.

4. Collaboration and teamwork.

5. Adaptability and flexibility to navigate changing project requirements.

6. Problem-solving and critical thinking.

7. Active listening and empathy.

8. Conflict resolution and negotiation skills.

9. Decision-making in fast-paced environments.

10. Stakeholder management and relationship building.

Conclusion

Agile Delivery Managers play a pivotal role in guiding teams through the agile project delivery process. With a combination of technical expertise in agile methodologies and essential soft skills like communication and leadership, these professionals are instrumental in ensuring project success. By fulfilling their responsibilities and leveraging their skills, Agile Delivery Managers contribute to the efficient delivery of projects and the overall success of their organizations.