Table Of Content
Learn the Basic Concepts About Agile Software Development in Detail
It is a known fact that software development cannot be done effectively without having a clear pathway. Those who try to follow any random process always get failure in the end. The reason is that software development is a very critical job that requires you to perform things in an organized manner. Speaking of that, agile methodology is considered to be the best process that provides fast and effective organization of different tasks. It has proven to be very helpful in managing various jobs that often arise suddenly during the development. For beginners, it is very important to know what is agile software development as well as how it streamlines the work even during tough deadlines.
Meanwhile, some people also think that agile methodology can complicate the state of different development tasks. This is certainly a wrong concept because agile methodology gives complete control to the teams to select their own organizing models. It then depends on the leads and managers to smartly pick the process that fits best to their project requirements. They are at the best position to understand how much time is required, hence what type of agile method is needed to accomplish it as well.
In this article, we will take a deep look and understand what is agile software development. We will let you know how this process simplifies the work by giving authority to the teams in terms of tasks and resource organization. If you are a beginner having little knowledge about software development services and processes, read this blog in detail to understand the impact and benefits of agile method in project development.
Let’s first start from the basics understanding what is agile software development in detail below.
What is Agile Software Development?
Software developers use various types of methodologies to perform different development tasks. Most of the time, they get puzzled when sudden challenges arise in the project due to some incorrect measures. This generally happens because of their wrong usage of development processes. They do not keep extra space in their processes that can manage urgent or sudden tasks like these. As a result, they get panicked by dealing with these situations which eventually extends their project completion time.
Agile methodology is precisely crafted for those development teams that regularly face these type of situations. It is a creative process that do not follows any sequential or linear pathway. Instead, it focuses on the agile approach to deal different tasks according to the priority and resource availability. That is what makes agile development different from others, especially in terms of managing sudden challenging tasks that require urgent attention.
Some people also think that agile method is just beneficial for the software development. This is yet another a wrong concept because agile methodology can be applied in any job as long as you have the correct understanding of it. This blog will discuss more about agile method in which we will try to elaborate how agility can help every team to manage their work better.
Why Agile Methodology is Important for Software Development?
As discussed above, software development cannot be done without following a proper pathway. It is considered essential to get quality results in the end, provided you also use the correct strategies as well. However, sometimes, many development processes becomes insufficient in handling different development jobs. This issue mostly arises due to having extra complications in projects. These type of softwares cannot be built easily by following a simple waterfall model. They basically require an advanced methodology that can handle different critical tasks with perfect efficiency.
To manage such difficult jobs, agile methodology is termed to be the best bet for software development. It works with an advanced concept of managing tasks with the given priority. Furthermore, it is not a process that follows a sequential path. Instead, it uses a flexible approach to handle different tasks that needs to be completed on a tight deadline. It also manages the resources very well, allowing team leads to allocate the tasks and their completion time effectively.
Today, agile method is used vastly by teams in all types of software development. They prefer it over other processes due to offering flexibility in resource management. Though it should be noted that skilled expertise is also required to implement the agile process in development projects. Without having a good understanding about it, you cannot get the required benefits of agility, no matter how hard you try to achieve it.
Types of Agile Methods to Work With
Many people think that agile is just the name of a single process in which tasks are designated to particular resources as per the given needs. This is basically a half understanding, because agile methods go further deep down the lane. They are basically divided into different sub branches, so that development teams can select and use them according to their own requirements.
If you do not know what is agile software development or how many types of agile methods are there, take a look at the list given below. It will let you know about the different branches that makes agile process a perfect one for almost every type of website development.
Scrum
Scrum is a part of agile methodology that primarily focuses on delivering work according to the given priority. This means that scrum model allows developers to manage the work with a highly flexible approach. They can easily allocate tasks to different teams, scale resources, define new deadlines and perform other operations very effectively using the scrum model. It is the most popular agile method among the development teams, as they prefer to use scrum model to divide and manage their tasks accordingly.
The scrum model precisely uses the method of sprint to allocate timeline for the task completion. Generally, teams create sprint plans for a week or ten days. This number can also scale up depending on the functional requirements of different teams. They can create sprints for couple of weeks or over a month to complete those tasks that are critical. This is the major reason why scrum is termed to be a highly flexible model that allows development teams to manage various tasks efficiently.
Kanban
Kanban is also a part of agile methodology, but is quite different from the scrum model. It runs on the concept of visual analysis. This means that Kanban model continuously monitors the status of the project, giving team leads and managers a live view of different tasks. This model is based on a famous three word process i.e. to do, doing, and done. It covers the whole concept of Kanban process, allowing every project manager to know how the model broadly works with a three step process.
Generally, project management platforms like Asana, Trello, Jira and more others are used to implement Kanban process properly. These softwares are pretty good in designating the tasks to different people. Furthermore, they provide correct information about the current state of different tasks. This means that managers can easily track the status of development, QA testing and more other operations easily with these management tools. However, most of them are available at paid pricing, which is why they are called commercial project management products.
Lean
Lean refers to a project management process in which development teams work on a defined process. However, this process also makes sure to improve the quality of results continuously, so that end product can be finalized according to the given software project requirements. The main purpose of Lean methodology is to eliminate waste information and create quality solutions that can enhance the value of software projects. Furthermore, it also focuses on delivering the results fast, so that a project can run from different phases quickly.
Some people think that Lean methodology should not be included under the umbrella of agile process. They think that agile is purely based on a flexible working approach, and Lean just does not fills that requirement. Well, this is certainly a wrong concept because Lean also allows developers to select and execute tasks according to the emerging priorities. The only difference is that Lean has set some benchmarks to complete different phases, no matter how much time is required.
Extreme Programming (XP)
Extreme Programming (XP) shares many similarities with the scrum model. It has a deep focus on continuous development while ensuring quality at every stage. This means that tasks are aligned in a sequential manner, yet they are done according to the emerging requirements in this process. Once a task has been completed, the team is advised to quickly move onto the another one, so that fast paced work can be done all the time.
Extreme Programming also uses sprint model to execute different tasks. It prefers to keep the timeframe of sprint up to two or more weeks, so that all the programming jobs can be performed effectively. Meanwhile, XP has also got some core supporting processes that should be understood by every project manager. This includes different practices such as planning, small releases, customer acceptance test, test driven development and more others.
Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
Just like the name suggests, DSDM is a creative model that allows development teams to execute different tasks dynamically. This model consists of eight basic principles that are defined particularly to finalize the whole project according to given needs. The roles, requirements and objectives are clearly defined in this model to keep the concept easily understandable. However, as the nature of agile process is known, DSDM precisely focuses to handle different dynamic jobs as well.
This is the major reason why this process has been given the name of dynamic systems development. It perfectly reflects the nature of the process how it handles the emerging requirements with the best of available resources.
Final Words
That takes us to the end of this article in which we have discussed about agile software development in detail. It is an important methodology that should be understood properly by every software developer. They cannot only simplify their work using the strong processes of agile methodology, but can also improve the results to a good margin by precisely following the instructions defined in agile. Moreover, agile methodology helps to bring discipline in your time, and prepare the guys to become flexible in managing any type of task that comes with a tight deadline.
Meanwhile, if you are looking for a software agency that can work professionally using agile development methodology, get in touch with us today. We have plenty of experience in developing different types of websites and software projects, rightly by following the correct practices of agile method.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
| What is agile software development? Many beginners want to know what is agile software development. It is a process that refers to a method in which developers can easily manage tasks by prioritizing them according to the given demands. It offers a flexible, yet very effective approach to understand and execute different tasks by managing different tasks properly. |
| Why agile methodology is important for software development? It has been seen many times that developers remain confused while creating different types of software solutions. The agile methodology helps them to work with an approach that is both flexible and manageable under all circumstances. |
| How many types of agile methods are there? There are different types of agile methods available to work with. From Scrum to Kanban and Extreme Programming (XP) to Lean methodology, there are different sub-processes of agile that could be useful for developers, provided they also have the right skillset as well. |
| What makes agile method different from others? Agile process is different from others due to offering flexible approach in working. It do not works with a predefined approach, instead uses a dynamic model that can cope with any emerging requirement as soon as possible. |
| Which platforms are termed best for implementing agile methodology? Agile methods can be best implemented by using specific platforms. Some of the top names among them includes Jira, Asana, Trello, Assembla, Slack and more others. |