Are you looking to increase your team’s productivity and efficiency? Learning how to develop software using the Agile methodology is the key!
Not only does this method help speed up production, but it also keeps everyone in sync, ensuring successful delivery from start to finish.
This guide will discuss precisely what agile software development is and provide tips on using it for maximum benefit.
So get ready – The world of agile awaits!
Let's talk about Agile
Agile is a mindset based on the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto that has evolved through collaboration between self-organized, cross-functional teams. This approach allows us to respond effectively to uncertain change while creating solutions.
The authors of the Agile Manifesto chose the word “Agile” because it represents adaptability and response to change, which were essential to their approach. Agile development is a way to cope with uncertain and turbulent environments successfully.
It may sound like an improvisation, but on a day-to-day basis, it is more to be focused on the pending tasks, the solutions we need, and the process to reach those solutions. It is a technological pragmatism where we know what is happening in the project, the steps to follow, and the decisions needed to solve it and deliver a finished product.
The first line of the Agile Manifesto encapsulates the whole idea of agile software development:
“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.”
Agile is a powerful tool for understanding the environment and foreseeing possible challenges along our path.
Agile Methodologies
Agile methodologies are the conventions the team develops to follow Agile values and principles.
At this point, you probably wonder: “I believed that Scrum was an Agile methodology?”.
Although Scrum was born as a team methodology, it became a framework when it was generalized and used by other teams.
So Scrum can be part of a methodology. Still, it IS NOT the methodology: it is a framework that fits depending on the context of each project.
The most used Agile methodologies are:
- Scrum
- Lean software development
- Extreme programming
- Crystal
- Kanban
- Dynamic systems development method
- Feature-driven development
Agile Software Development
Agile Software Development is an umbrella term for a series of frameworks and practices based on values and principles. Working in this way anticipates the need for flexibility and applies pragmatism in delivering the finished product.
When we approach software development in this particular way, it is generally good to live by these values and principles and use them to help decide the right things to do in a given context or setting.
When a team is collaborative and self-organized, it does not mean there are no managers, or they aren’t needed.
An Agile software development team
Agile teams are multidisciplinary and composed of diverse people with the right skills to do the job. Because the focus is on delivering working software, the team has to complete end-to-end functioning applications. To do this, the team members have to collaborate.
They frequently meet to ensure everyone is aligned on what they are building, who is doing what, and exactly how the software is developed.
In addition to developers, software development teams can include quality assurance (QA) engineers, databases or back-end developers, designers, and analysts, depending on the type of software project.
Click to see How to apply Agile Scrum to marketing teams
The manager's role
Managers are responsible for ensuring that team members have or can obtain the right skills for the project. They also help create the environment in which the team will be successful.
Their job is also to let their teams figure out how to deliver the requirements or products and show up and guide when teams try but can’t solve problems.
When most teams and organizations start Agile Software Development, they focus on practices that help with collaboration and organization of work.
Another series of equally essential practices are techniques directly related to software development so that teams manage to face uncertainty and achieve new solutions in the technical part.
Being an Agile software developer
An Agile software developer focuses on sustainable development rather than being the hero.
Adopting this all-agile mindset takes a lot of discipline on a personal level. But in addition to this, the work culture within the company must unite, follow and support teams, from training to building them with the best talent and technical skills.
Dreamwork is all about teamwork. Developers build strong relationships with project, design, QA, and operations managers because creating or sustainably developing software means connecting to all stages of project development.
The finishing thoughts
The core reason Agile works is its flexibility and adaptability.
It defines all the answers up front as you do in other methodologies but breaks the problem into digestible components that you then develop and test with users. If something isn’t working well or as expected, Agile lets you adapt quickly, get back on track, or even change paths if needed.
Today, businesses need high software competency to deliver exceptional digital experiences in a competitive world. To do so, they need to attract and keep great talent to build great software is a priority. Agile development helps businesses do both.
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