How to Implement Agile Development Methodology and Not to Fail

Agile development with outsourcing

This post will explain the Agile development methodology, its performance, what types it has, and other essentials.

Many experts, resources, documents, and meetings are required even for a small software development project. The question is, how to forecast and resolve potential issues that would probably arise? 

the agile methodology

Agile methodology and its frameworks

For these purposes, IT organizations use agile software development methodologies. They effectively speed up software delivery while being adaptable to change. We’ll have a closer look at Agile software methodology, approaches, and practices in this post and other essentials.

The Agile Methodology: Notion, Benefits, and Core Ideas

The Agile Manifesto defines Agile as a set of standards whose main aims are to make continuous improvements and provide a functioning product as soon as possible. This IT development methodology has many undeniable benefits that will be a plus for both customers and software building teams. We’ll list the most common Agile advantages below:

Effective risk mitigation and control. Because Agile concentrates on iterative delivery, there is always the opportunity to debug and enhance the performed project part after each iteration. 

Improving Customer Satisfaction. Customers participate actively in the Agile-based building process, whereas they are typically involved in the planning stage during the traditional development flow. 

Improved control. Project managers have better influence over the project workflow because Agile projects are transparent. As a result, throughout the development lifecycle, quality is assured, and all interested parties are engaged in the process. 

Precise metrics. Compared to traditional models, Agile software development approaches employ more relevant and accurate indicators (e.g., lead time, cycle time, weak spots identification, etc.) to assess project performance.  

Exclusive quality. The development team may focus on quality and cooperation by breaking down a large product into smaller components (sprints, Kanban activities). Furthermore, regular quality assurance testing and assessments after each iteration allow your team to identify and fix bugs early.

Benefits of agile development

The vital advantages of Agile

The core ideas of all Agile frameworks are as follows: 

  • Create a proper atmosphere for the project’s development.
  • Supply the most necessary tools.
  • Everything may be altered at any time throughout the development flow. 
  • During the project development, customers and engineers must cooperate. 
  • Concentrate on the demands of the consumer rather than the instruments. 

The above principles have helped to popularize Agile, resulting in the development of Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and other frameworks based on Agile concepts. 

The Essence of Agile Frameworks

The Agile frameworks support the software creation workflow utilizing various development strategies. The Agile approach differs from its frameworks in that it’s also more official and adheres to stringent norms. 

Let’s discuss the most popular Agile frameworks.

Scrum relies heavily on customer engagement and meticulous planning. It’s an excellent choice for MVP development that needs regular enhancements. 

Agile Frameworks

Scrum functioning scheme

This Agile framework is grounded on sprints (defined time intervals) when developers create a specific product feature. Such sprints begin with planning and conclude with delivering a predetermined product part.

The Crystal is the most basic and widely used Agile software development framework. It is more concerned with how team members connect than with tools and methods. The business priorities and project’s necessity determine the future strategic plan and team composition. 

Crystal concentrates on: 

  • Minimizing obstructions
  • On-time project delivery  
  • Increased client engagement
  • Flexibility 

Kanban focuses on task competition without making a sprint backlog. The process goes the following way.

Kanban board

There are some assignments to do on the Kanban board. The Project Manager adds a new card with a task on the board once the staff works on the existing tasks. Stakeholders may see how long it takes to implement a feature by moving cards across the board. This way, a project’s duration may be predicted.

What is The Agile Team Composition?

Roles in the Agile team might alter depending on the project size, its peculiarities, and the chosen framework. Each employee can take on one or more roles or responsibilities and change them at any moment.

We’ll enlighten the primary responsibilities of each team member on the example of Agile Scrum staff composition.

Agile Scrum staff composition

  • The team lead supervises the team, provides the appropriate atmosphere and resources, and eliminates project barriers. 
  • The staff member is in charge of developing and delivering the project. 
  • The project manager presents the consumer’s ideas clearly and maintains the Product Backlog, being responsible for project execution. 
  • The stakeholders are clients, sponsors, future users, or anyone participating in the development process. 
  • The architect in charge of the project’s architecture. 
  • The integrator is in charge of system integrations after sprints are finished.

The Agile Development Workflow

The Agile software engineering approach is an iterative one. It means the team is going on to the next step after each iteration until all demands are satisfied. Let’s find out more about the critical stages of the Agile development lifecycle.

Agile development workflow

Requirements. The specialists concentrate on the essential features that consumers utilize while eliminating rare ones. 

Design. The designers construct a UI mockup to demonstrate an app prototype. 

Development is about designing and building software in compliance with accepted specifications. It is the most time-consuming development phase because it is at the heart of the entire project. 

Testing comprises QA testing as well as bug reports. The QA team runs tests to guarantee that the program is bug-free and consistent with the modifications made by the developers. 

Deployment and implementation. The product is then put on servers and distributed to consumers for beta testing or actual usage. The final version is created after gathering initial feedback and fixing bugs. 

Review and distribution.   It’s time to show ready-made solutions to clients and stakeholders once all previous development phases have been completed. 

Feedback. The team gathers feedback from consumers and utilizes it to enhance the solution in subsequent versions.

Bottom Line

Agile development methodology helps IT staff deliver the project quicker to end consumers. However, its implementation will pass appropriately if you entrust it to a skilled software development company. The specialists will give the responses to all your disturbing business questions and help you bring into life the Agile methodology principles to enhance your company flows. 

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Yuliya Melnik

Yuliya Melnik

Yuliya Melnik is a technical writer at Cleveroad. It is a web and mobile app development company in Ukraine. She is passionate about innovative technologies that make the world a better place and loves creating content that evokes vivid emotions.