What is the difference between Agile and "Regular" Project Management?

Regular (or Waterfall) project management is like building a LEGO set using the step-by-step instructions that come in the box. We decide exactly what we will build at the beginning and follow the steps carefully until it's done. It's difficult to make changes once we've started building. This approach is usually called "Waterfall" in the business world because we go from one step to the next like water falling down a series of steps or a waterfall.

Agile project management is a little different. Imagine we're building a LEGO city, but we don't have a set plan or instructions. We decide to start with a few buildings and see how they look. Then, we could add a park, a bridge, or a racetrack, based on what we think would be most fun or what our LEGO people need. We build a bit, then stop and think about what to do next. This way, we can change our plans easily and adapt to new ideas.

In Agile, the project is broken down into smaller parts, and we work on them one at a time. After each part, we review what we did, learn from it, and decide what to do next. This allows us to be flexible and responsive to changes.

So the main difference between Agile and regular (Waterfall) project management is how they handle planning and changes. Traditional project management does all the planning upfront. It doesn't handle changes very well, whereas Agile project management does planning in small stages and is better at adapting to changes.