Know Top Agile Methodologies For Software Development And The Myths Surrounding It

For last couple of years agile has been the top trend in the market with more software developed this way. Apart from software development, agile is followed by all the departments of the software companies who are looking for latest resources and progress in the field. Agile is all about iterated method. With this method you will be able to keep in touch with the evolving environment and keep on delivering quickly to add value to the business. By hiring agile developers it will become possible to build better projects.

Some of the top agile methodologies which you can follow for software development are:

- Scrum

Scrum is considered as one of the best agile methodologies used in the market to build complex projects. This helps in to build high-quality software projects. By using it, developers will be able to easily manage a complete single project by breaking down complex tasks into smaller ones. The smaller tasks can then be divided among team members to get it done.

It all starts with 2 week sprints and begins with a sprint planning meeting. It comes with a sprint backlog. What will be the tasks performed and how it will be done is mentioned. Daily stand-up meetings are conducted on daily basis once the sprint starts and project progress is informed.

Generally, all the processes are managed and controlled by scrum master. It is the duty of the scrum master to make sure the project is carried out the right way and the goal is achieved. There is a sprint review and retrospective session at the end of each sprint.

- Kanban

Another important framework which is used for agile development is Kanban. It works as a tool to organize the team and the tasks and helps to make everybody work together efficiently. You will be able to see the daily task load and tick the completed tasks by putting it in a different section. You will be able to measure the efficiency of each employee using this tool.

There are three basic principles which makes this framework work and they are:

• Visualizing the daily tasks
• Limit the number of tasks in progress
• Enhance the flow

With Kanban you will be able to prioritize your tasks. The team members get to change the work in progress as it is quite flexible without having to disturb the rest of the team. There will be only single task in the process for each team member.

The tasks to be done can be seen on the ‘visual cards’ using Kanban board. Every task comes with different status and it has to pass through them. The last status for any task is ‘done’ and once it is achieved a new task from the backlog is added to start work with. Each work is improved and team efficiency is boosted through retrospectives after each project. 

- Extreme Programming

Another important framework used for agile project management methodology is Extreme Programming(XP). This is used to improve responsiveness and software quality based on the changing customer requirements. By using this framework it becomes easy to speed up the process of software development and launch the product in less amount of time. 

The best thing about XP is its feature of planning and for software development lifecycle it takes care of four phases like designing, coding, testing and listening. XP works on the idea of making two programmers working together where one programmer writes code while describing it to the other one so that the second one comes up with new ideas. Normally XP is used to build something which can then become part of a bigger structure and carry out further coding.

Why go for Agile Software Development Methodology?

Here we saw the top three agile development frameworks or tools which can help with agile software development.

There are a number of benefits of choosing agile and they are:

- Stakeholder engagement

Agile brings in a number of opportunities for engagement for team and stakeholder. This happens before, during and after the sprint. The collaboration between the team and the client keeps on increasing as clients are involved during every step of development. This helps the developers to understand the clients better and they have a clear idea about the company vision of the client. This helps the team to deliver results early at every stage of development and this in turn help the stakeholders have better trust on the team. This in turn encourages the stakeholders to get involved in the project more.

- Transparency

By opting for agile methodology, team gets to involve clients throughout the different stages of project development. This helps in planning review sessions, prioritizing features of the software, planning iterations, building new features, etc. So by offering transparency over project development, clients also get to know the progress taking place in the work.

- Predictable delivery

With schedules in place, it will become possible to deliver new features quickly in the software and that too with better chances of predictability. This way the team gets more time to carry out beta testing before the planned release to make sure that it offers value to the business.

- Predictable costs and schedule

In case of agile development, sprints come with fixed duration and this means there will be defined amount of work which can be completed in the time and so the costs will be fixed too. As the estimates are offered to the client before the sprint takes place, the client will have a better idea about how much he will have to spend on the each feature. This will help the client to make decision regarding the features he can have in the project based on priorities and the number of iterations it can have.  

- Space for change

The development team has to work towards delivering an agreed amount of work or say said feature in each iteration. Still, it is possible for the team to re-prioritize iteration and bring in the product backlog in it to place in the next iteration. This way changes can be introduced in the product within few weeks through iterations.

- Focus on business value

Through this method it becomes possible for the client to decide the features they want to see in the project. This in turn helps the team to know what features are important for business. This then helps the developers to focus on that feature and add value to the business.

- Focus on users

To define product features, agile makes use of user stories. By focusing and understanding the needs of the users, it will become possible to keep on delivering more value through each feature rather than working on a whole IT component. This leads to come up with the step of beta testing after each sprint in order to gain feedback from the users and make changes accordingly. 

- Improves quality

With agile development, the whole project can be broke down into smaller units and for the team focusing on these smaller units becomes easy and they get to offer high-quality solution. Such kind of quick iterations can help with testing and reviewing features, thus improving the quality and fixing bugs on time.

Agile Software Development Myths

Over the years a number of myths have surfaced over agile development methodology. This has led a number of businesses to think about whether to choose it for software development or not. These myths are for sure untrue and hold no base. If we compare agile with waterfall, it is a fact that developers following agile have defined plans than what waterfall holds. Again, they plan for smaller target which means they need to plan more, more often.

So here are the top myths that surround agile software development methodology:

- The design is just the outer layer

Some believe that the design which constitutes the UI of developed software is just an outer layer and all the important things reside below in the codes. It is not worth of giving much attention. But, the fact is that the only beautiful apps and websites attract the users. The user-friendliness of the software only makes them hooked to the software and makes them take actions. It is considered as the foundation of everything you do then.

- The best solution will help you succeed

This is not always true. Having the best solution is not going to bring you success in a fortnight. When it comes to working on a particular project, the main aim of agile developers stays to bring out the best possible solution ever. How the final product will work is not determined by a single factor rather, a number of them contribute together.

- Software developers have nothing to do with marketing

This is one of the other myths which are taking rounds around. This is completely false. Most of the software developers well understand the need of marketing for your software solution. A good number of software development companies have their own team of marketers who will work with the project from start to end till you reach your goal.

- Once the project is released, developers become free

This is absolutely not true. Many businesses think that developers will not work for you if any issues come up after the website or application is developed. When it comes to opting for agile approach, it is all about taking the immediate action based on the current state of the project. In case any error or bug is spotted in the project, the developers will work immediately to solve it. It is a fact that developed software is bound to have bugs and so the role of developers will not end once it is developed.  

- Agile developer faces issues with new framework, technology or practice

Now this is completely untrue. There is nothing like this. Even if the developer is not familiar with the technology, he will do the preparation for the same from beginning. Again, problem can surface from anywhere. So it can be caused from the existing technology or framework too. So the main objective of agile developers is to see that they are flexible with things and move ahead by finding a solution.

- Waterfall is best; it is always better than agile

We have no argument over the fact that waterfall approach is good for software development. It is no doubt good too when you compare with agile methodology. But, it is also to be noted that waterfall method worked well few years back. The businesses are changing, competition is increasing, the number of software solutions in the market is booming and, this all contributes to the fact that software development needs a more sensible, flexible and personalized approach. This can be done only through agile. You cannot fix all the requirements of the software development in advance and limit yourself. You need a solution which helps you to learn and modify with each step. You need to have a flexible solution which lets you adapt with the changing needs.

- Designers should only design, leave coding to others

You cannot be completely stereotype when it comes to software development. Don’t think that designers cannot write a few lines of code. They cannot do that well. They may not be as good as the developers, they may make mistakes while coding, there can come big challenges in the way but, they still can manage things. When it comes to coding, keep them in team too.

Conclusion

The number of developers opting for agile software development methodology is increasing. The method is said to offer a number of benefits to the development team as well as the clients. Still, a number of myths keep on surrounding it and it has been seen as to be untrue. As developers and business people, having an idea about those myths is important too.