Agile Delivery for Enterprise Projects: Practical Governance

Enterprise organisations often resist agile delivery because they associate it with lack of planning, unpredictable budgets, and insufficient documentation for audit purposes. These concerns are legitimate — and they describe bad agile implementation, not agile principles. Well-executed agile delivery in enterprise environments combines iterative development with the governance, documentation, and predictability that enterprise stakeholders require.

The framework we apply at redskios for enterprise projects addresses these concerns directly. Sprint planning produces a documented plan with clear scope commitments. Fortnightly demos give stakeholders tangible evidence of progress. A maintained product backlog, prioritised by business value, provides visibility into what is coming and what has been deferred. Definition of done includes documentation, testing, and security requirements — not just "code complete." Budget tracking is continuous, with scope-budget alignment reviewed at every sprint boundary.

For public sector projects and other engagements requiring formal governance, we supplement agile delivery with steering committee alignment, formal milestone acceptance, and documentation packages that satisfy procurement and audit requirements. The delivery remains iterative and adaptive; the governance wrapper ensures accountability and transparency. These are not contradictory goals — they are complementary practices that produce better outcomes than either pure agile or traditional waterfall in enterprise contexts.