A Peek into the Agile World
This article is aimed at understanding the agile software development methodology. It includes agile values, key phases of the agile software development life.
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Key takeaways
- This article is aimed at understanding the agile software development methodology.
- Iteration ‘In the third phase, the software development team works to deliver functional software based on iteration requirements and all the received feedback.
- Some of the many benefits of adopting agile methodology are increased flexibility, productivity, transparency, and higher quality deliverable, decreased risk of missed objectives, and increased stakeholder engagement and satisfaction.
Introduction #
This article is aimed at understanding the agile software development methodology. It includes agile values, key phases of the agile software development life cycle, the key principles of agile development, and agile methodologies. It will also through light upon how the agile process will work for you in particular, along with the most common agile challenges and best practices to follow.
The goal of agile is to swiftly adapt to continual change and deliver functional software as fast as possible. Agile methods support a disciplined project management process with regular and frequent inspection and adaptation, a philosophy that promotes accountability and teamwork, and best practices aimed at rapid delivery of high-quality software.
Agile Development Cycle #
Agile means being flexible and being open to frequent changes in order to deliver working software as quickly as possible. The agile development methodology was born particularly with the purpose of rapid development and deployment of software.
Agile is relevant in an ever-changing and fast-paced industry such as software development but not limited to it. In the context of the software development life cycle (SDLC) model, Agile is a mix of iterative and incremental process models that focus on process flexibility and customer satisfaction by quick delivery of working software products.
Agile Values #
The four values of the Agile Manifesto are:
Original diagram for Techfastly by Vin Patel.
The agile methodology gives more preference to individuals & interactions, working software, collaboration, and quick response to change over processes, tools, documentation, and planning.
Phases of Agile Software Development Lifecycle: #
Agile methods are being widely adopted in the software industry. However, agile may not be suitable for all products. It may not work for handling complex dependencies. Agile models depend highly on customer interactions; if the interactions are not clear, then the team can deviate from the goal. -. There is a very high dependency on individuals as minimum documentation is generated. Transfer of -knowledge to new team members can be pretty challenging due to lack of documentation. An overall plan/roadmap, an agile leader, and agile project management practice are mandatory for successfully implementing any agile software development project.
Agile works wonders if there is a realistic approach to software development, where functionality can be developed rapidly and demonstrated. Agile works well where resource requirements are kept to a minimum. Agile is suitable for fixed or changing requirements and where there is a need to deliver early partial working solutions. Agile gives flexibility to developers enabling concurrent development and delivery within an overall planned context.
The graphic below represents the entire agile lifecycle and each of its phases.
Original diagram for Techfastly by Vin Patel.
Original diagram for Techfastly by Vin Patel.
- Concept ‘In the first phase of the cycle, projects are envisioned and prioritized.
- Inception ‘In the second phase,?experienced team members are identified and initial environments and requirements are discussed along with funding.
- Iteration ‘In the third phase, the software development team works to deliver functional software based on iteration requirements and all the received feedback.
- Release ‘In the fourth phase, the quality assurance testing, documentation, internal and external training, and final release of the product are completed.
- Production ‘The fifth phase comprises the production and ongoing support of the software.
- Retirement ‘The sixth phase the retirement phase removes the system release from production, when a system has to be replaced with a new release or when it becomes obsolete,
The 12 Key Principles of Agile Development Cycle #
The main facts and related information of agile development was outlined in the original Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
The12 key principles that guide agile project management even today are listed below:
Original diagram for Techfastly by Vin Patel.
Agile Methodologies: #
A few popular agile methodologies explicitly used in the IT industry as favorites are Scrum, Lean, and Kansan.
? Scrum? Scrum is an agile software development process that helps to manage software projects. It is an iterative, incremental framework for developing a product or managing work. Scrum teams adapt to rapidly changing requirements and priorities. Scrum allows a potentially shippable functionality every iteration (or sprint). Scrum challenges users to focus on improvement. Sprints provide stability to address the ever-changing needs that occur in every project.
? ***Lean?***A Lean-Agile process considers the elements of both continuous delivery and continuous improvement, optimized across the full value stream. The Lean methodology gives confidence to teams to deliver quickly by managing the overall flow, limiting the amount of WIP (work-in-process) to lessen context switching and improve focus. One of the basic differences between Lean and Agile is that Agile follows a bottom-up approach, while Lean follows a top-down approach.
? Kansan - Kansan is a popular software development methodology adopted by agile teams. Kansan has its own advantages for teams of all sizes, such as shortened time cycles, planning flexibility, lesser bottlenecks, visual metrics, and continuous delivery. This methodology requires complete transparency of work and real-time communication. Work items can be viewed on a kansan-board, allowing agile team members to view every piece of work at any time.
Other agile methodologies used widely are listed below:
? Scrumban — Extreme Programming (XP)
? Crystal Clear Methods — Agile Unified Process (AUP)
? Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)
? Feature Driven Development (FDD)
? Rapid Application Development (RAD)
? Adaptive Software Development (ASD)
? Dynamic System Development Model (DSDM)
How will the Agile Process Work for You? #
Every methodology has its own merits and demerits. Agile methodology is a good choice when customers, as well as stakeholders of the project, are available to give inputs, and when functional parts of software are needed quickly. The whole purpose of agile is flexibility to accommodate changes in the project requirements rapidly.
Following these practices will ensure that your organization gains agility in its full capacity:
? Hold regular stand-up meetings - The development team usually conducts daily scrum meetings to track regular progress, identifies any impediments to task completion with open communication, checks on accountability, and keeps track of the progress of iterations. The aim of the meeting is to track and help resolve identified impediments. Client stakeholders may attend the meeting, if required. They may take up any issues or questions offline after the meeting.
? Sprint review, demonstrations and acceptance -At the end of every sprint, the development team demonstrates completed product to the client. During a meeting only completed modules/products will be shown or discussed. If any module is not complete or partially done it will be taken up during the next sprint. If the product meets the requirement and there are no outstanding defects, it will be deemed as accepted.
? Get Feedback and Share - Gather structured feedback from stakeholders and customers for future development and share it with the development team before the next iteration commences.
? Be Agile - Make changes to the process based on received feedback to ensure iterations improve compared to the earlier ones.
Common Agile Challenges & Best Practices #
Some of the challenges faced in the agile arena and best practices to resolve the issues are listed below:
Table: 1 Agile Challenges & Best Practices
| # | Agile Challenges | Best Practices |
| 1 | Customer’s dream products | Single product owner per product |
| 2 | Customer’s Story | Get requirements right |
| 3 | When will we get there? | Estimation, planning and expectation setting |
| 4 | We have a problem! | Command and control |
| 5 | All together now? | True collaboration |
| 6 | Is that a bug? | Defect management, test automation |
| 7 | Didn’t we change that requirement? | Managing change and traceability |
| 8 | Regression is not the better part of valor? | Robust continuous integration |
| 9 | Do I have a clear vision? | Meaningful measures, metrics, dashboards and improvement |
Conclusion #
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has it on record that more than 70% of organizations have incorporated an agile approach, and agile projects are 28% more successful than traditional projects.
As a project management methodology, Agile is highly interactive and allows rapid adjustments throughout the life of a project. It offers reduced risk, repeatable processes, allows for immediate feedback, provides quick turnaround, and drastically reduces complexity.
Some of the many benefits of adopting agile methodology are increased flexibility, productivity, transparency, and higher quality deliverable, decreased risk of missed objectives, and increased stakeholder engagement and satisfaction.
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