Did you know that agile projects are often 36% more successful than traditional projects are? This means that an agile approach is two times more successful than that of a traditional plan.
Over time, the software development industry, along with others have experienced radical changes. In response to ever-changing customer demands, agile development methodologies have grown in favor.
But what are these agile methodologies, and why are they so popular? We’re going to explore the purpose of agile development as well as its growing popularity among development and project management teams. We’ll also provide an overview of some of the most common agile methodologies.
The Project Management Institute says that over 70% of organizations use agile methodology. By understanding the purpose and popularity of agile development, industry professionals can better assess whether it’s a suitable approach for their organization’s needs.
“Clients are always adapting their business to the constant changes in the market. Agile gives them the tools they need to change or adjust direction as they are moving forward. Collaboration is key for large projects to be successful. Agile ensures that collaboration happens.”
What Is Agile Development and What Are Its Key Principles?
So, what are agile development methodologies? An agile approach is a set of principles for software development. In short, it helps to emphasize iterative and incremental progression.
This also includes a time-boxed approach, close collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams, and constant adaptation to change.
This methodology was first described in the Agile Manifesto in 2001. Overall, each type of agile development approach currently in use will include some basic principles and features as well as improvements to the original version.
There are 12 main principles of this type of development. They are:
- Customer satisfaction is the main priority
- Deliver on a more frequent basis
- Collaboration between teams and developers
- In person conversation is most effective
- Projects are often built around individuals that show motivation
- Consistency of quality
- Simplicity is essential
- Self-organizing teams produce the best designs
- Keeping up with a viable work pace
- Check in with users on a regular basis for feedback
- Teams that can self organize and produce value
- At regular intervals, teams reflect on increasing effectiveness and adjust accordingly
John Rabito, EVP and practice leader for MMI’s agile division, is an expert on building agile teams and says that agile is the key to efficiently keeping up with today’s volatile tech landscape. “Clients are always adapting their business to the constant changes in the market. Agile gives them the tools they need to change or adjust direction as they are moving forward. Collaboration is key for large projects to be successful. Agile ensures that collaboration happens.”
What Is So Different About Agile Development Methodologies?
Agile Development is an alternative to the waterfall model, which is more of a traditional approach to software development that emphasizes a linear progression and consists of certain phases. These include gathering requirements, design, implementation, testing, and maintenance.
The phases must be completed in a certain order before you can continue to another phase. The problem with this approach is that it can be inflexible and does not account for change in an efficient way. That approach also doesn’t serve progressive business models too well.
In contrast, agile development is much more flexible and responsive to change. It emphasizes iterative and incremental development. This means that projects are often completed in small pieces or increments rather than all at once.
Agile methods allow for constant feedback and adaptation based on customer needs. Additionally, the agile methodology is not a single approach. It’s more of an umbrella term for a number of different approaches.
Each of these approaches consist of different practices. However, they all share the same underlying philosophy of agile development. This is one of the reasons why businesses prefer this approach.
Why Is Agile Development So Popular?
There are many reasons why agile development has become so popular in recent years. One of the main reasons is that it helps organizations to better respond to changes and customer demands.
In traditional waterfall development, changes can be very costly and over time, become too time-consuming. But in agile development, changes can be made quickly and easily as the project is developed in smaller chunks.
You can even think about it in terms of communication improvement within organizations. Since we’ve been using traditional waterfall development as an example, with this method, there is often a disconnect between different departments within an organization.
However, with agile, everyone is working together towards the same goal. This can help to improve communication and reduce misunderstandings.
The main reason for its popularity though is that it helps to improve project quality. This is probably the most important aspect of development for companies. In the traditional waterfall approach, projects can often go off-track. This is usually due to scope creep or poor requirement preparation.
It’s worth noting that agile development can also help to improve team morale because it also increases ownership and responsibility among team members.
What Are Some of The Most Popular Agile Development Tactics?
These different methods all serve the same purpose but with a bit of a contrasting approach. Popular agile tactics include:
Scrum
Scrum is one of the most popular frameworks you’ll come across. It’s based on transparency, adaptation, and inspection. This type is also the most common method that’s used.
The Scrum framework was made to help teams work together in a more effective and efficient way. This framework consists of three particular roles. The product owner defines the goals and priorities for the project. The scrum master is responsible for ensuring that the team is following the Scrum process and helps to remove any obstacles that they may encounter. The development team develops the product.
Kanban
Kanban is also popular and it emphasizes continuous delivery and incremental change. The Kanban framework helps teams to visualize their work.
This allows them to see what needs done and when. Companies like, Spotify, Pixar and HP use this method for their production planning.
Extreme Programming (XP)
Extreme programming is not as popular as it’s counterparts. That’s because it’s too difficult for teams to want to use it for prolonged periods. However, if you can get the hang of it you could see delivery times cut in half.
Some companies that use this, are Chrysler, and even Ford Motors. The XP framework helps teams to deliver software in a more incremental and iterative way.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
The best way to build expert agile teams that can help you meet your project goals is to work with a specialized staffing firm like Mitchell Martin. Our agile division maintains a strict focus on specialties such as contract or direct placement, building teams or projects, co-managing projects and technology advisory services within the agile landscape. Want to learn more? Get in touch with our agile team today.