• The Agile Iron Triangle is a redefined version of the Traditional Iron Triangle, which was developed for rigid project management methodologies like Waterfall and the critical path method.
• There are three main components to the Agile Iron Triangle: value (customer value), quality (product quality) and constraints (project scopes, budgets and timelines).
• The Agile Iron Triangle is popular with software development teams, but many Agile teams and project managers in manufacturing industries also use it to help teams make important decisions.

Facts & Expert Analysis About Agile Iron Triangle:

• Iron Triangle development: The Traditional Iron Triangle was developed by Dr. Martin Barnes in 1969. The original triangle, which was used to aid product development, determined that project scopes are fixed, but timing and cost could vary.
• Agile development: In the early 2000s, the Agile movement began to explode. As a result, the Agile Iron Triangle was developed. The Agile Triangle differs from the original in that all areas of a project — including the original scope (constraints) — can be altered to meet changing markets and new customer demands.
• Use cases: Though it’s predominantly used in software development, operations and manufacturing, Agile teams can use the Agile Iron Triangle in many industries. If you need help making key decisions that can impact customer satisfaction and product quality, the Agile Triangle is for you.

The Agile project management triangle was developed to help project teams navigate the Agile software development process. The Agile Iron Triangle focuses on value, quality and constraints as a way to track product development. In addition to focusing on these three areas, the triangle also accounts for collaboration between software developers and stakeholders.

The Agile Iron Triangle is broken down into three areas: value, quality and constraints. These three focus areas coincide with Agile’s belief that Agile projects should be adaptable and put the customer first. Below, we’ll look at each of the three components.

• Value: The value portion of the triangle relates to stakeholder and client expectations, such as what they want, when they want it and how much it will cost. Agile frameworks, like Scrum, embrace feedback from stakeholders and clients to measure success. While listening to the client’s feelings about the product and project can be challenging, it will help leaders determine if they’re on the right path.
• Quality: The quality aspect focuses on the quality of the deliverable. Sprint reviews are held so that the latest product iteration can be demoed to stakeholders and clients. During these meetings, which ensure better collaboration, clients can determine if the product quality is sufficient for that stage of development.
• Constraints: The constraints section centers on traditional methods (scheduling, scope and cost). These can help when measuring success. Due to the flexible nature of Agile projects, the constraints portion of the Agile Iron Triangle doesn’t get as much attention as the value and quality aspects. However, constraints are still important indicators of project success.

Each Agile team member plays an important role in the use of the Agile Iron Triangle. The key players are as follows:

• The product owner (PO): The product owner is responsible for the project’s vision and defines the value in the Agile Iron Triangle. By prioritizing key features through backlog refinement, the PO can ensure customer value.
• The Scrum Master: The Scrum Master manages the quality aspect of the triangle. They guide the team, lead daily meetings and retrospectives, and ensure that key Agile principles are followed.
• Development teams: Along with the PO, the development team works to keep the constraints portion of the triangle in check. The dev team must closely monitor the scope, timeline and resources, while also being aware of the customer value and quality aspects. They can achieve this by receiving customer feedback and collaborating with key stakeholders and clients.

After software development evolved thanks to Agile principles and guidelines, traditional project management and the Traditional Iron Triangle took a back seat. Still, many continue to complete projects using traditional methods, like the Waterfall approach, the critical path method, critical chain project management and others.

The traditional version of the triangle focuses on three areas: scope, schedule and cost. Project managers, clients and stakeholders have used these three areas of project constraints for years to determine whether a project was a financial success and whether customer expectations were met.

Below, we’ll explore the Traditional Iron Triangle’s constraints in more detail so you can better understand how each area helps determine project success. Remember that these constraints also make up part of the Agile Iron Triangle.

• Cost: The triangle’s cost component refers to the budgets set for the project based on the original scope and business goals. Many factors, including resources, timelines, scope changes and more, can determine whether a budget is increased or decreased during a project’s lifecycle.
• Scope: The project scope is determined before a project starts and outlines the who, what, when, where and why elements. Scopes can cover two areas: product scope, which explains what the product must feature or do, and project scope, which covers the project management methodology, the processes that should be followed, the budgets and the project timelines.
• Schedule: A project manager is tasked with creating project timelines and milestones with stakeholders, clients and the entire project team. It’s important to remember that changing schedules once a project begins will impact project costs and the entire project scope. If the project isn’t managed correctly, it could lead to scope creep.

While the Agile Iron Triangle’s overall goal is to help deliver customer value and satisfaction, the Traditional Iron Triangle aims to help ensure product quality. By making sure that budgets are followed, schedules are met and scopes stay within predetermined boundaries, the quality of the product can be secured.