This is part 8 of a 10-part series I am writing on Agile Project Management, by Jim Highsmith.

The last two phases are Adapt and Close. The Adapt phase is one of the most important phases in an agile project. The team reacts to changes in the business environment, to their performance over the past iteration, to customer changes, and to the quality and progress of the product.

So how does an agile project manager get the information to adapt? Customer focus groups help monitor changes in the business environment and customer needs for the product. Technical reviews examine the quality of both the design and the code that the team has produced. Team self-evaluations show how they feel they are doing overall. And project status reports, what most of us would call metrics, measure various quantitative factors such as quality, delivered features, schedule, and cost.

The Close phase, although it only occurs once per project, is also crucial to high performing agile teams. It is a time to wrap up any outstanding work, such as compliance activities and project documentation. It’s also a time to celebrate the success of the team in delivering a project, allowing them to wind down before being thrown into the fire of the next project.