Software development is a dynamic and competitive space. Change impacts the viability of a project, market assumptions need validation, and the project progress requires to be in continuous sync with evolving business objectives.
Moreover, the time taken up in project completion can further add to the variables, making a case for a faster development time frame.
“Evolution is the only constant.”
― Vikram Verma, author of Agile Able
Agile software development, when done right, addresses the aforementioned issues. It can deliver the project faster, with an incremental deliverable. It entails a cross-team effort, and encourages client involvement, resulting in robust and purpose-driven development.
In this article let’s understand how Agile Software Development can help power successful products and fulfill evolving business objectives.
What is Agile Methodology?
Agile is an iterative approach to software development. The following are its integral components.
- Cross Team effort: Unlike top-down traditional organizational hierarchies, Agile development defines a cross-team effort wherein each team member contributes.
- A collaborative effort with the client. Agile software development companies encourage clients’ involvement during the development process itself.
- Moving forward, one step at a time: Each iteration is a milestone in Agile. The development teams look to add value at each iteration.
- Continues learning: Agile emphasizes continuous learning and testing.
Benefits of Agile Software Development
Agile has been conceived as an evolutionary approach to software development, to make better products 一 faster. It acknowledges the unknown variables that are part of a development process and the unpredictability of a final outcome that does not factor in these changing scenarios.
The Agile development process is the answer to address the challenge of unpredictability.
Tangible benefits received by implementing agile methodologies have seen its application across other industries as well. Saab Aeronautics, for instance, has been implementing agile methodologies to develop its multi-role fighter 一 Gripen E.
Agile Methodologies offer the following key advantages:
Dyamanism: Each iteration within Agile is treated as a milestone. There are team meetings, and analyses to make changes in the project development if needed. The backlogs are taken into account as well. This brings versatility to the development process.
Encourages Innovation: Agile is team-centric, wherein each team member adds value to the project. At each step feedback from all stakeholders is received.
Moreover, the process lays emphasis on keeping an open mindset and focusing on the immediate deliverable via sprints.
Retrospective meetings are held which helps development teams to analyze what problems have been faced during the past sprints.
Client involvement and transparency: Agile development allows transparency in the development process and encourages client involvement as a stakeholder during project development.
Clear priorities: With a focus on developing part of the project that is high on priority, Agile development lets the team deliver value early in the project. The product can have an early impact.
Option to pivot: The development process allows the client to pivot, if necessary before the completion of the project. If the variables change and the final outcome does not hold relevance as planned earlier, a mutually agreed-upon termination can be achieved as well.
Agility: Agile brings agility in the development process and fastens deliverables, shortening the time to market.
Forms of Agile
There has been significant innovation in Agile since it has been implemented in development. There are multiple forms in which Agile is used in an organization. Some significant versions are mentioned hereunder.
|
**Differentiator/**Version |
Principal directive |
Key Advantage |
|---|---|---|
|
Scrum |
Scrum prioritizes innovation by teamwork to solve complexities in the project. |
Eases innovation while delivering significant deliverables earlier. Retains the working of the organization. |
|
Kanban |
In Kanban, the focus is on workflow management. Depending upon the work, lead times are reduced. |
Flexible team structures and work time frames facilitate maximum involvement of each team member. |
|
Lean Development |
In Lean development, the focus is on development practices sans wastage. There is a continual effort to avoid all practices that lead to wastage. |
Optimizes the workflow, involving the entire management, and facilitates flexibility in tailoring practics. |
Trends In Agile
Agile is constantly evolving as development teams try to better their deliverables by innovating on working processes. Let’s have a look at the latest trends in Agile development methodologies:
Design Thinking
Design thinking lays emphasis on the user, challenging assumptions in an attempt to develop products that empathize with the user. The underlying endeavor of this process is to identify strategies to come up with a solution with a fresh perspective, unrealized with the previous approach.
Design thinking strives to develop products for the end-users, with a deeper understanding of their needs and requirements.
Agile at scale
The Agile advantage has been acknowledged and established over the years. Agile has been implemented over the individual level or team level. At this level, it is relatively easy. But given the benefits, Agile is increasingly being implemented pan organization, across multiple teams’ 一 Agile at scale.
One of the most popular scaled agile delivery platforms is Scaled Agile Framework**.**
SAFe is a collection of workflow patterns to implement Agile across an enterprise. It has gained traction, with corporates pushing to achieve greater resilience of workforce 一 by implementing short-term objectives. It lays down principles for a culture to be adopted pan organization.
Machine learning and AI in Agile methodologies
Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning are increasingly gaining traction as tools to gather data during requirement analysis. They provide greater accuracy and automation to fuel a data-driven approach.
Increased significance of VSM
Value Stream Management or VSM is gaining significance as a critical parameter to gauge deliverables. It intends to measure the value delivered to the end customer.
Value streams are everything in software development that can deliver value to the customer. A focus on value streams can result in customer satisfaction and drive growth of the organization.
Agile teams are increasingly focusing on managing value streams to deliver better value to the customers.
Combining DevOps and Agile
Development teams aim at building feature-rich solutions. As the project development moves forward, so do the complexities, increasing chances for unintended, unforeseen, and unfavorable outcomes.
The way around this is testing the software during pre-release stages and managing collaborative workflow during development that fast tracks mean time to development.
DevOps are practices that enable this collaborative work and pretesting, by implementing Agile.
DevOps also shortens development timeframes and aims to deliver software faster.
With tangible benefits, combining DevOps and Agile is gaining traction to deliver quality software.
To Sum It Up
Agile methodologies have been the answer to the dynamism and complexities of software development. It entails a cross-team collaborative approach working towards iterative, incremental, and consumable deliverables that add value to the client at each step.
In this way, Agile Software Development fosters client collaboration with the Agile Software development company with the client’s involvement at each iteration, resulting in a more customer-centric and purpose-driven development. The process also provides an option to pivot, if necessary.
Agile is evolving, with new trends emerging to make it even better. The future holds even more promise for its integration across industries.