What Is The Agile Development Method?

The practice of ad-hoc software development is what many companies such as small software development firms and start-ups tend to start off with. This could have its pros and cons. In an ideal situation this can be effective for the development of small software projects.

However, effective processes to turn a vision into a business need for software solutions requires a well thought out plan. Otherwise, an absence of clear structure can ultimately lead to a failed software project and money down the drain.

Why Use Agile Methodology?

In regards to organizing, structuring, and planning the process of software development, a set of principles and rules must be put in place to avoid setbacks and optimize efficiency. The waterfall model, which is a traditional software development methodology, is well known to fully complete a phase before the next phase can begin. In this model, software testing starts only after the development is complete. This results in a lack of flexibility and an overall slow pace. 

Nowadays, individuals are looking to use agile development methodologies to replace traditional development methodologies. The essence of an agile development methodology proposes incremental and iterative approaches to software design. Both development and testing activities are concurrent, which encourages flexible responses to change and allows for quicker project finalization.

Software Development Methodologies

1.Extreme Programming (XP): an agile software development methodology that aims to produce higher quality software and improve responsiveness to changing customer requirements. The goal is to find ways to write high-qualitative software quickly with a focus on small releases within 1 to 3 weeks. This is ensured with continuous testing, constant interaction between team members and customer collaboration.

2. Scrum: an agile development methodology that’s based on continuous learning and adjustment to changing factors. It’s exceptional for short iterations to produce small increment deliverables while being structured to help teams naturally adapt to changing conditions and user requirements. Release cycles are quite short with approximately 1 month duration each, which allows companies to constantly learn and improve. Daily scrum meetings are held by a scrum master who manages the software development lifecycle.

3.Lean Development: an agile development methodology based on the lean production concept and also used for iterative processes. Communication is vital for this methodology, it relies on the collaboration between customers and software developers. Among the key principles of this framework is optimizing development time and resources, while emphasizing individual decision making.

4.Crystal: an agile development methodology that mainly focuses on flexibility and people’s interactions. Since this methodology relies more on people than on processes, teams have a lot of autonomy to work in the way they deem most effective. Simplicity and flexibility are emphasized especially when it comes to the adaptation of software projects and processes to particular present-day problems.

With that said, agile software development methodologies help businesses for planning and delivering creative work. With the development of software in small increments within short iterations, there’s no wonder why IT professionals are using these processes to overcome obstacles and discard hindrances.

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