Agile – What Kind of Approach Is It & How to Use It in Client Collaboration?

Just a few years ago, Agile was mainly associated with IT project management technologies. Today, it’s much more than that – at j‑labs, we believe Agile is a mindset that transforms the way we think about work, collaboration, and delivering value. Companies that truly understand Agile don’t treat it as simply a set of tools but as the foundation of their organizational culture – we’re happy to use it to collaborate with clients and deliver what’s best in a partnership with agility in mind: our flexibility, business-oriented approach and quick adaptability to changes.

Agile – What Is It, Actually?

To start us off, let’s begin with a quick and simple theory refresher – really, it’s just the basics. Agile originates from the Agile Manifesto published in 2001 by a group of experienced IT professionals. Instead of focusing on complex processes and rigid plans, they prioritized values meant to simplify project work. The Manifesto states that they started placing more value on:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools,
• Working software over comprehensive documentation,
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation,
• Responding to change over following a plan.

To quote the authors, “while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.” At j‑labs we understand perfectly well that code is important, but it’s the people who matter the most. That’s why our philosophy, “Code matters, YOU more,” shapes our relationships with j‑people. This approach quickly became the foundation for not just frameworks like Scrum and Kanban, but the entire modern management philosophy. We believe it’s incredibly valuable to work for real clients and their goals, not just for the sake of writing code. Did you know that Sinch’s SMS Portal—an enterprise-scale A2P communication – was built based on Agile principles?

What Is Agile Project Management? Flexibility (And Not Just in Theory)

We understand that modern businesses require maximum flexibility, and so we adapt to this reality daily. We apply Agile principles at every level of client collaboration.

What Does This Look Like in Practice? Great question – here are a few examples based on our experiences.

#1 Rapid Team Scaling

One of our clients declared they needed two specialists to reinforce their team. However, it later became clear that the project actually required doubling the available resources. Without asking any further questions, we provided additional experts, thus increasing the client’s resources and capability.

#2 Partnership

We often mention that we’re not a typical IT service provider – that’s as true a fact as any. J-labs is your business partner.  We closely collaborate with our clients to understand how to take care of their needs and support their decision making. Our goal is to bring real value, not just deliver an average service. We fully agree with the Agile Manifesto stating that true client collaboration is more important than negotiating contracts or keeping track of documentation.

#3 Transparent Communication

Without open communication, real agility doesn’t exist. Our Delivery Managers act as liaisons between the client and the team, ensuring smooth information flow, solving potential problems, and guaranteeing the project gets executed exactly according to expectation. Or in other words, we work Agile. No bottlenecks, but also no unnecessary intermediaries or meetings held “just because.”

Agile – What Is It All About? It’s a way of thinking!

At j‑labs, we don’t see Agile as simply another tool to implement – for us, it’s a way of working that enhances collaboration and speeds up the delivery of business value. Both our clients and j‑labs team members understand that they themselves shape each partnership’s success.

Thanks to this:

• We adapt to evolving demands. Really. We don’t stubbornly stick to initial plans when dynamic reactivity is needed.
• We optimize resources. The point is to flexibly align with changing client needs. We change our specialists and scale teams – it’s what we’re best at.
• We operate as true partners because trust and transparent communication lie at the heart of our collaboration!

In a world where change is the only constant, Agile methodologies give us a competitive edge, and our clients the confidence they can rely on us. Get in touch!