Agile Workflow: an editable mindmap

Agile Workflow: an editable mindmap

The interactive MindMap canvas for this explanation — every lane, row and arrow above is a real QueryChart diagram you can open and edit.

How to read this mindmap

• Begin at “Agile Workflow” in the centre, then explore any branch that answers your question. The branch colors keep each group of ideas together.
• Curved lines show relationships; arrowheads appear only where one idea leads to another. Select any idea in the editor to change its text, position, or connections.

Backlog

This branch brings together “Gather and refine requirements”, “Prioritise the backlog by value”.

Plan the sprint

This branch brings together “Sprint planning commits to a batch”.

Build together

This branch brings together “Daily stand-ups keep work visible”, “Develop, test and integrate”.

Inspect

This branch brings together “Demo the working increment”, “Stakeholders accept it?”.

Adapt & release

This branch brings together “Release to users”, “Agile is a loop, not a line: feedback from the release and the retrospective reshape the backlog for the next iteration.”.

Connections across the map

Agile is a loop: every release's feedback and every retrospective reshape the next iteration.

The product owner orders the backlog; the team commits to a batch; stakeholders judge the result.

Acceptance is the gate: an unaccepted increment goes back to requirements rather than forward.

Working increments and short loops replace the assumption that a long plan is a good plan.

The retrospective is where the process itself improves, separate from the product's acceptance.

Key relationships and takeaways

• Agile is a loop: every release's feedback and every retrospective reshape the next iteration.
• The product owner orders the backlog; the team commits to a batch; stakeholders judge the result.
• Acceptance is the gate: an unaccepted increment goes back to requirements rather than forward.
• Working increments and short loops replace the assumption that a long plan is a good plan.
• The retrospective is where the process itself improves, separate from the product's acceptance.

When to use this visual

• Introducing the agile loop to a team or stakeholder who has only seen waterfall.
• Auditing an agile practice: the acceptance gate and retrospective are the two steps most often quietly dropped.
• Documenting your team's delivery flow before adopting a tool or scaling framework.

How it works

1. Start at the central topic

   Rename “Agile Workflow” if you want to adapt this map to a specific project or lesson.

2. Develop the branches

   Edit the supporting ideas, then add examples and notes where a branch needs more detail.

3. Connect related ideas

   Draw curved connections across branches; use an arrow only when the relationship has a direction.

Frequently asked questions

What is an agile workflow?

An agile workflow is a way of organising work that delivers value in short, repeating loops: requirements are gathered and prioritised, a team commits to a batch, builds and tests it, demonstrates the result, and the acceptance and retrospective feedback reshape the next iteration. Its defining property is that feedback from each loop changes the next, rather than a plan being fixed in advance.

How is agile different from a waterfall workflow?

Waterfall completes each phase (requirements, design, build, test) before starting the next, delivering everything at the end. Agile runs the phases in short loops, delivering working increments frequently and adjusting the plan from feedback. The canvas's loop shape is the structural difference: a waterfall diagram is a straight line, an agile one is a circle with acceptance and retrospective feeding back into it.

Who decides whether work is accepted in agile?

The stakeholder or customer who will use the work. Agile's contract is that the team delivers working increments often and the customer's acceptance (not a pre-agreed specification) determines whether an increment is good enough. That is why the acceptance decision in the visual sits in the stakeholders row, with a rejection path back to requirements.

What role does the retrospective play in an agile workflow?

The retrospective is the loop's self-improvement step: the team reviews how the last iteration went and commits to one change for the next. It is separate from the acceptance review, which judges the product. Agile without a retrospective is a loop that repeats its own mistakes: the retrospective is what makes the second lap better than the first.

Edit this mindmap in QueryChart

Open this mindmap as your own editable free canvas. Move ideas, add branches, and draw new connections.

Edit this mindmap in QueryChart