What Are Some of the Benefits of the Agile Development Methodology?
Agile, or Agile software development, is a flexible approach to software development project management that is often used in small teams. The term Agile is used in two different senses:
● The philosophy and value system that the team adheres to. Here we are not talking about specific tools and practices, but rather about the principles by which the work is built.
● A collective name for several different flexible methodologies that share Agile values.
Typically, the Agile approach is characterized by working in short iterations of two to three weeks. Within each iteration, a series of tasks are collected: analysis, design, actual work and testing. After each iteration, the team analyzes the results and changes priorities for the next cycle.
Agile is a set of practices that enables technical specialists to respond promptly and flexibly to changes during project development. Agile is not a ready-made instruction on how to act correctly in work processes. Rather, it is a collection of strategies. These strategies allow the team to successfully optimize the product through a series of short iterations and continuous feedback from the customer.
Each iteration typically lasts 2-3 weeks and involves collaborative work from product managers, developers, testers, UX designers, and technical writers. Typically, the product manager serves as the customer’s representative to the team, providing regular feedback to the group.
Agile is primarily about the speed of response from the group of specialists to customer feedback and a fully transparent project work process. Unlike other methodologies, Agile involves parallel development and testing of software. The development of the product always starts with the customer’s description of the desired end result. This is followed by the planning stage, designing the implementation of the project, and obtaining final feedback. During the project, customer expectations may change, so the final result in Agile is always a flexible concept.
Advantages of Agile Development and Implementation
Speed to Market (Time-to-Market)
Often, customers or end-users demand results that work acceptably well immediately (“it should have been done yesterday”). Additionally, in recent years, users have become more knowledgeable about IT products and can evaluate a product (including comparing it to familiar commercial products from digital giants) and provide quick feedback. Therefore, development needs to proceed quickly and efficiently, delivering a product that actually works and is useful to the consumer. This is why commercial and government organizations are increasingly adopting Agile approaches.
Minimization of Product Rejection Risks
Frequent demonstrations of the current version of the product to the customer and users allow for testing the product or its individual features and making necessary adjustments to the development process at any time. If the customer/user’s vision and understanding of the product changes, the developed product can also be changed rapidly.
Flexible Approaches
In the context of government organizations, flexible development approaches allow for solving not only those tasks that are non-obvious or are performed slowly or inefficiently but also those that the organization’s employees are even afraid to approach in a traditional working scheme and that cannot be solved by other methods. By creating cross-functional teams, fostering team spirit, establishing internal horizontal connections between the parties involved in development, and more, the impossible becomes possible.
Transparency of Implementation Progress for All Project Participants
By applying Agile approaches, daily team meetings and product demonstrations to the customer and users make the entire development process visible to both team members and the customer and users. With this approach, the team can immediately identify project bottlenecks, change priorities, speed up, solve problems, or quickly find workarounds. The customer can influence the development outcome, see the pace of work, and be motivated to interact with the team. Sometimes, this proves to be critical for the success of the project.
Revising Team Roles by Reducing the Number of Managers (De-layering or Debossing)
When implementing Agile approaches, the team structure changes. Following the principles of self-organization, the levels of the management pyramid are redistributed in favor of the product owner, and operational organizational functions are largely transferred to all team members with the assistance of the Scrum Master. Other roles become purely functional (and often optional), resulting in cost savings by reducing unnecessary managerial positions and obtaining a convenient horizontal management structure that operates more efficiently.
Focus on Value
When using Agile, a product that is truly needed here and now is created. Otherwise, using functional or classical project management, you can spend a year creating a good, high-quality product in strict accordance with meticulously coordinated requirements, only to find out that the requirements are no longer relevant (or were initially formulated incorrectly, for example, without considering the real “voice of the customer”).
Savings through Rapid Product Demonstrations
If versions of a ready-to-use working product are regularly demonstrated to users and the customer, the customer always has the opportunity to conclude development when the necessary here and now functionality is achieved (this volume may differ from the initially planned and agreed upon). The customer receives the new product faster, at a lower cost, and the team gains additional motivation from quickly and efficiently solving the task.
Prototype as a Requirements Gathering Method
When implementing atypical projects, a new product is created that did not exist before. The customer’s requirements may not be formulated, formulated incorrectly, “unclearly derived,” etc. (as the culture of identifying and formulating requirements in government organizations is not as developed as in the commercial sector). Here, it is beneficial for both parties when developers can show the customer (and end-users) prototypes (sketches, drafts) of the future solution, allowing the customer to work with the prototype and gradually identify and formulate the set of necessary requirements.
High Team Motivation
In some cases, the use of Agile methods allows for an improvement in the quality of life for all team members. Employees become engaged and willing to work efficiently, reducing the risk of burnout and meaningless work. In a creative atmosphere, people work quickly, productively, and with pleasure. They are capable of unconventional and winning solutions and are ready to go the extra mile.
Agile Disadvantages
- The project does not have a clear plan and structure. The end result may be completely different from the beginning. This is a minus for customers who value certainty and strict adherence to certain requirements. For example, for state companies.
- The need for close communication. The customer needs to constantly communicate with the team, update requirements, and look at intermediate results.
- Team commitment. During the work process, it can be difficult to change a developer or manager, since he will have to be immersed in the details of all past cycles and already worked out processes.
- Focusing too much on the little things. Sometimes, while updating, adding and correcting functions, you can lose the overall goal of the project, get caught up in finalizing the little things and forget about the main thing.
- Difficulties with implementation. If the company used a different methodology, building Agile may be difficult. You will need a separate employee or project manager who is well versed in flexible methodologies. And the transition can take a long time.
Principles and Values of the Agile Methodology
The principle of the Agile methodology emerged as a result of a manifesto by a team of developers in 2001, in which they expressed their negative stance towards bureaucracy and conservative approaches to IT. It was then that a team of 17 protesting specialists discussed future software development and concluded that a change in approach was needed for IT projects. At that time, teams were overly focused on planning and documentation, overlooking the opinions of customers and their satisfaction with the product.
The text of the manifesto can be read here. This document became innovative in software development and completely changed the approach to project management, prioritizing human interaction. Today, the manifesto has been translated into 50 languages worldwide and includes 12 key principles and 4 values.
The 2001 manifesto contains four statements about the values of the Agile methodology:
- Interaction with users and customers is more important than any other process in project work.
- The quality of the product is more important than writing documentation.
- Collaboration with individuals is more important than negotiating contract terms.
- Responding to changes during project development is more important than strictly following a predetermined plan.
The main message of these statements is that lively project discussions are preferred over polished presentations and bureaucracy. While regulations are necessary for companies, the most valuable aspect is a flexible approach to work. According to the Agile philosophy, partners should stay connected and engage in project discussions. The most effective forms of communication in Agile include face-to-face meetings, conference calls, video conferences, and interactive boards.
The 12 principles that reflect the essence of Agile are as follows:
- The highest priority in software development is to satisfy the customer’s requirements.
- Regardless of the project stage, the team is always prepared for modifications and additions.
- Frequent releases are necessary, even for a completed product.
- Collaborative work among contract participants throughout the software development process is encouraged.
- The best way to interact within a team is through face-to-face communication.
- Motivating specialists is a vital part of company functioning. It is necessary to create an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust among employees.
- Working software in continuous operation is the primary measure of progress in the business.
- Maintaining a sustainable pace is crucial for successful development, involving managers, developers, and other technical specialists.
- Focus on continuous improvement of design and technical solutions ensures project flexibility.
- Simplicity is an important aspect of Agile work.
- The best products and technical projects are created by teams that possess self-organizing skills.
- To maintain ongoing effectiveness, employees should regularly analyze and adjust their work.
Differences Between Agile and Other Methodologies
First of all, it is important to understand that Agile is a family of methodologies with general principles, but each methodology from this family has its own tools and approaches to work. Therefore, it is not entirely correct to compare Agile with other methodologies directly.
But if we talk not about the main tools, but about the fundamental principles, Agile has several differences from classical strict methodologies like Waterfall:
The ultimate goal of the work can change at any time, and that’s normal. Moreover, you even need to strive for this, since after several months of development, the goals and requirements of clients simply cannot remain the same in an ever-changing world.
You need to spend less time on analytics and planning, since they will need to be done again later. It is better to pay more attention to the technical excellence of the product.
As a result of each small cycle, a finished product should be obtained, albeit without some functions.
New product requirements must be taken into account and added in subsequent work cycles.
Project timelines must be flexible, with room for delays and changes.
The manager must take an active part in the work of the team throughout the entire cycle, and not come at the beginning with requirements and at the end with an audit.
Differences between Scrum and Kanban Agile Methodologies
The Agile-based methods group includes several elements: Kanban, Scrum, Lean, and Extreme Programming (XP). In this article, we will focus on the two most popular frameworks among the ones mentioned above: Kanban and Scrum.
Scrum
First, the product owner, usually the customer, creates a set of requirements for the product. He passes it on to the developers. They divide the work into stages – sprints, usually lasting from one to four weeks. During one sprint, the team completes a specific layer of work that leads to a result – the sprint goal. Work is taken from the project backlog – a list of stages that need to be completed. Based on it, the sprint backlog is compiled.
Ideally, the sprint goal should be atomic, that is, the output should be a ready-to-use product. After the sprint, a review and retrospective takes place, tasks are revised if necessary, and then a backlog is formed for a new sprint.
Events help to complete tasks and not deviate from the goal: daily synchronization, prioritization, working with the backlog, planning. The Scrum Master monitors all this – he helps the team negotiate and plan. All this is described in detail in the Scrum guide, the main document of the methodology.
Scrum works well under conditions of uncertainty, but requires the absence of external dependencies. You have to manage the sprint completely yourself – as soon as another team appears that can influence the result, everything breaks down.
Unlike many other flexible methodologies of the Agile family, Scrum is friendly with quarterly planning and reporting. It allows you to promise business specific results within a clear time frame.
Most teams adopt some of the principles of Scrum, although they rarely use it in its entirety. This is where the problem lies – it’s easy to miss something important, break something, and then think that Scrum doesn’t work as a whole. Although in fact the reason is that some specific tool or principle was missing. Therefore, it is important to test different combinations of approaches and try them on for your business.
Boosty Labs also uses the SCRUM model in its work, which allows it to be fast and flexible and learn faster. SCRUM framework helps Boosty to be involved and self-organized.
Kanban
Many companies now use a tool for this methodology – a Kanban board, such as Trello. But in fact, the methodology itself is much broader. Work on the project consists of six principles:
- Visualize all tasks on a special Kanban board. If a new task appears, immediately add it to the board.
- Limit the amount of work in the process – each column of the board should contain no more than a certain number of tasks.
- Manage the flow of work – track how tasks move across the board.
- Use only explicit rules for adding and moving tasks that are clear to all participants.
- Introduce feedback loops – sets of meetings that help you better understand the work process.
- Improve processes wherever possible.
Kanban is much softer than Scrum. It allows you to start where you are now: take the principles already present in the company and gradually improve them. Theoretically, it can even be combined with other methodologies, such as Waterfall.
But you need to understand that making a board and posting tasks on it is not Kanban. The remaining principles must also be observed in order for the methodology to be of real benefit.
The disadvantage of Kanban is that it does not fit well with quarterly planning. Tasks in it are completed in a single stream, and it is difficult to assign specific deadlines and provide clear results and reports. Individual efforts of the team manager are required.
Differences between Kanban and Scrum Tools
Kanban does not fully align with Agile values. This approach does not have the principle of self-organization, but it focuses on delivering results and ensuring transparency at all stages of development. Implementation occurs gradually, without significant changes to the company’s current processes. Business processes not only become more efficient but also substantially improve. The Kanban model is used in software development, support, product releases, and overall business operations.
Where Are Agile Methodologies Used?
Agile is an ideal approach for startups and small bespoke projects. Then most of the disadvantages disappear – the lack of structure does not interfere, the customer is interested in close communication, the team rarely changes, and implementation takes less time.
But if the project is large-scale and drags on for many months, the disadvantages already come to the fore and prevent the project from being implemented as needed.
If we talk about business areas, initially Agile was created specifically for use in software, game and interface development teams. Now it is used by Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Spotify, Ericsson, Dell, Adobe and most other IT companies, both industry giants and very small startups.
But then other companies appreciated the benefits of Agile. For instance, Saab (involved in fighter jet manufacturing), General Electric, and John Deere (manufacturing agricultural machinery) have adopted Agile methodologies. Nowadays, Agile flexible methodologies are the standard for most modern projects.
How to Determine If Agile Is Suitable for Your Team
Despite the popularity of Agile project management, it doesn’t make sense to use it for every technical product development. For example, creating a simple website or mobile application can be done based on a client’s technical requirements alone.
This raises a reasonable question: How can you determine if your team needs an Agile methodology when working on a project? To answer that, the future software or product development should meet the following conditions:
- The project is technically complex and multifunctional, requiring continuous testing.
- Long development and implementation processes are planned.
- The product is fundamentally new in the market.
- The project scale significantly exceeds the capabilities of the working group.
- If the client is interested in a long-term phased development of the project.
In general, Agile tools are ideal for startups and small innovative organizations.
How to Implement Agile Approach
The philosophy of the Agile methodology is most challenging to implement in companies where established management and specific channels for external and internal communication have already been formed. The exact implementation algorithm always varies, so below is only an approximate step-by-step guide:
Choose a specific process transformation method. In addition to popular options like Scrum and Kanban, which have numerous educational materials available, there are other types of strategies, such as Lean, XP, TDD, Crystal Clear, FDD, and more. The key is to select the one that best meets the business’s needs.
Prepare the necessary educational materials and train the staff. This may require engaging external consultants, such as Scrum Masters and new project managers who already have an understanding of Agile principles.
Organize an updated workflow process. Here, it is necessary to assign roles to all specialists and select tools for implementing the Agile strategy.
Select software for analyzing the success of the new strategy. Specialized services can help evaluate the team’s performance and plan future achievements in the assigned tasks. Examples of such software include Focus Factor and Velocity.
Test the Agile strategy on a pilot project. After completing the trial development process, you can identify the team’s weaknesses and shortcomings of the chosen methodology. Remember to maintain a flexible approach and constant interaction with the team at each stage of work. The outcome of the pilot product development will indicate whether applying Agile in your company is justified at all.
How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Strategy after Implementing the Test Project
Obtain feedback on how successful the new product turned out to be and whether it met the client’s expectations.
Analyze with other members of the working group which processes can be improved to enhance performance.
Examine the financial expenses and calculate whether the new strategy is cost-effective.
Determine whether the deadlines for each iteration were met.
Conclusion
If you successfully implement a new Agile strategy, the quality of newly developed products will significantly improve, and communication among employees will become easier and more effective. Amidst high competition, Agile will help your company gain a clear advantage.