7 Agile Software Development Methodologies

Agile software development methodologies are a group of development techniques or methods that enable software development using various types of iterative development techniques.

These methodologies work on the basis of continued evolution of requirements and solutions that occurs by establishing collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams.

A way of encouraging the well-managed and organized project management process, these methodologies allow for recurrent inspection and revision of the tasks.
Giving a scope to adapt the best engineering practices, these methods also assist in the delivery of high-quality software products.

What’s Agile methodology?

Agile is a project management method that divides a project into smaller parts known as sprints. This flexible approach adopted by teams allows them to review and make changes after each sprint.
What is the Agile Manifesto?

In 2001, seventeen software developers developed the Agile Manifesto. It has four values and 12 principles to guide a more adaptive, team-based software development process.
Four Agile Management Principles.

Also Read:- An Analysis of the Effects of the Agile Model in Software Testing

In Agile project management, there are four key principles, often called the pillars:

1. People First: Agile teams value people and interaction more than processes and tools.
2. Working Software Matters: The emphasis is on the development of functional software as opposed to thorough documentation. The main objective is to get the software functioning properly.
3. Customer Involvement is Key: Customer feedback is highly valued in Agile. Collaboration with the customer is the key element as a customer actively directs the software development process.
4. Adaptability Wins: Agile methodologies focus on adaptability. Teams can easily change the strategies and working process without affecting most of the project plan.

What are the 12 Agile principles?

Based on the above 4 values, 12 Agile principles were proposed. These principles are very adaptable and can be tailored to meet the team’s requirements. These 12 principles:

1. Customer collaboration is the key to Agile methodology. It proposes early changes and frequent updates to customers.
2. Agile methodology is highly adaptable. Changes in requirements at a later stage are not a big deal in Agile methodology.
3. Frequent delivery of value to the customer decreases the churn rate.
4. Break down project silos. In Agile, there is collaboration that pushes people to work as a team.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Goal-oriented teams perform better in Agile methodology.
6. The best type is face-to-face communication. Connect through methods like Zoom calls, even in the case of distributed teams.
7. Measure progress by working software. Value the function of software over everything else.
8. Maintain a sustainable working pace. Agile is fast but need not be very fast which can result in teams getting burnout.
9. Continuous excellence improves agility. Leveraging the good work of one sprint to the next.
10. Keep it simple. Agile favours simple solutions to complicated issues.
11. The highest value is created by self-organized teams. Proactive teams become valuable assets.
12. Reflect and readjust for better efficiency. Agile teams hold retrospective meetings to learn from past experiences so as not to repeat mistakes.

Also Read:- Agile VS DevOps: Difference between Agile and DevOps

Importance of using agile development methodologies.

In the field of software development where things constantly evolve and change, traditional methods such as the waterfall model prove to be too restrictive. Agile development methodologies are the preferred choice for various reasons given below:

1. Adaptability: Agile development methodologies allow you to change strategies easily during software development without jeopardizing the entire flow of the project. Unlike the waterfall approach, phases here are not very interdependent. Hence, Agile provides a more flexible project management philosophy.

2. Team Collaboration: Agile encourages the use of direct interaction and overcomes project silos. Even in remote working conditions, it lays stress on more face-to-face team interactions using the power of technology, enhancing more collaborative teamwork.

3. Customer Focus: In software, teams can closely accommodate the needs of customers. Agile is designed to ensure that customer feedback is incorporated quickly. This is important because pleasing customers in the software development industry matters a lot. Working with customers enables Agile teams to align features according to their needs, and once those requirements change, a seamless transition into another project is enabled by the flexible nature of an Agile process.

While there are a number of different methodologies available, some of the common ones used are as mentioned below:

1. Scrum
A light-in-weight project management framework, this is an excellent tool for managing and controlling iterative and incremental projects.
Owing to its simplicity, demonstrated efficiency, and ability to act as a wrapper for different engineering projects, Scrum has been able to win a huge clientele in the market.
Now, scrum has been demonstrated to scale to numerous groups crosswise over expansive associations with 800+ individuals.

2. Lean
Originally developed by Mary and Tom Poppendieck, Lean Software Development is an iterative software development methodology that owes a lot of its standards and practices to the Lean Enterprise development, and other organizations like Toyota.
Lean methodology works on the following principles:

• Eliminating the waste
• Intensifying learning
• Choosing as late as permissible
• Delivering as fast as possible
• Strengthening the team
• Building integrity
• Seeing the whole

Lean methodology underscores the speed and productivity of improvement work process, and depends on quick and solid input amongst software engineers and clients.

It focuses on the effectiveness of the utilization of group assets, attempting to guarantee that everybody is gainful however much of the time as could be expected.

3. Kanban
This methodology is used by the organizations that focus on continual delivery without overburdening the development group.
Like Scrum, Kanban is a procedure intended to enable groups to cooperate all the more successfully.
It works on three basic principles that include:

• Work flow for the day i.e. seeing every item as informative in context of each other
• Limiting the amount of work in progress (WIP)- defining the expected work delivery from every team at a particular time
• Enhanced flow i.e. taking up the next thing on priority in backlog once the current task is completed

4. Extreme Programming (XP)
Extreme Programming  or XP, originally written as Kent Beck, has risen as a standout amongst the well-known and disputable agile methodologies.
A disciplined way to deliver high quality software products, XP advances high client association, rapid feedback loops, ceaseless testing, nonstop planning, and close collaboration to deliver software products frequently.
The first XP formula depends on four basic principles that include simplicity, communication, criticism, and mettle.
As well as twelve supporting practices that include planning the game, minor releases, customer acceptance testing, simple design, pair programming, test-driven  development, re-factoring, continuous integration, collective code ownership, coding standards, metaphor and sustainable pace.

5. Crystal
The Crystal methodology is a standout amongst the most lightweight, versatile ways of software development.
Comprising of a number of agile methodologies like Crystal Clear, Crystal Yellow, Crystal Orange and others, its exceptional qualities are driven by various factors like group estimate, framework criticality, and undertaking needs.
Like other methodologies, Crystal also focuses on early product delivery, high client association, versatility, and removal of distractions.

6. Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
Dating back to 1994, Dynamic Systems Development Method methodology was developed to meet the need of delivering an industry standard project delivery framework.
It has advanced to a level of developing into a tool that can act as a foundation for planning, managing, executing, and scaling agile process and iterative software development projects.
This tool depends on nine key rules that include business needs/esteem, dynamic client association, enabled groups, visit conveyance, coordinated testing, and partner cooperation.
The major focus of DSDM before delivering the final product is to ensure that a product is fit to meet the business needs.

One must try and complete all the critical works and project using this methodology.

It is also important to include some of the lesser important tasks in each time-box so that they can be replaced with higher-priority work as and when required.

7. Feature-Driven Development (FDD)
Originally developed and articulated by Jeff De Luca, Feature-Driven Development (FDD) is a client centric and pragmatic software process.

As the name indicates, features as use cases are used to the Rational Unified Process and user stories are to Scrum, which are the primary source of requirements and the primary input into your planning efforts.

Driven on the basis of model, FDD is a short-iteration process that begins by setting up an overall model shape followed by a series of two-week “design by feature, build by feature” iterations.

FDD follows eight practices to complete the entire development process:

• Domain Object Modeling
• Developing by Feature
• Component/Class Ownership
• Feature Teams
• Inspections
• Configuration Management
• Regular Builds
• Visibility of progress and results

Specifying very small tasks to be attained, FDD enables better work management by calculating the product’s delivery on the basis of tasks accomplished.

Adaptive Project Framework (APF):

The Adaptive Project Framework, which can be referred to as Adaptive Project Management (APM), has a dynamic approach to project management. It grew from the idea that anything can happen out of nowhere in a project. Think about it as a mechanism that copes with surprises. This approach is primarily aimed at projects in which typical methods of project management may fail.

The realization that project resources are unstable is what APF runs on. Changes in budgets, timing adjustments or project team members are very well dealt with. Finally, APF takes a different approach—it describes what resources the project has at a particular point in time instead of those it initially had. It is about the ability to be flexible even in a state of uncertainty.

Extreme Project Management (XPM):

XPM is the ultimate destination for intricate projects that are full of uncertainties. XPM is characterized by the permanent adjustment of processes towards desirable results. Imagine a project where strategies evolve every week and that is completely normal.

Flexibility is the key here. This approach benefits from constant changes, trial-and-error solutions to problems, and many iterations of self-correction. It’s almost like learning how to navigate the labyrinth—the catch is that your path constantly shifts as you proceed.

Adaptive Software Development (ASD):

ASD enables the teams to quickly adjust their operations when the project needs change. This approach is based on permanent adaptivity. The project unfolds through three main phases: speculate, collaborate, and learn. The exceptional aspect of these stages is that they occur at the same time, not one after another.

Teams involved in ASD often concurrently experience all three phases. The non-linear framework enables phases to overlap thus making it a dynamic process. ASD’s fluidness allows for a higher probability of timely identification and resolution of problems as compared to established project management approaches. It is like dancing through the project, varying your steps in real-time.

Also Read:- What is Agile Testing? Process, Methodology and Strategies

Conclusion
The basis aim behind every agile software development methodologies is to ensure that a high quality software product is delivered within stipulated time.
Therefore, no matter what tool or methodology you use, your priority continues to remain the delivery of superior quality product.

FAQs

1. When should you use Agile?
Use Agile when customer satisfaction is a top priority and you want to engage them throughout.

2. How does agile differ from scrum?
Agile is a software development technique that breaks down large, complicated projects into small sprints. Scrum is a form of Agile Methodology with the same principles and values that incorporates some unique elements on top.

3. What is the Agile framework?
The Agile framework is an iterative approach. With each sprint, teams assess and reflect on what could be improved so that their strategy will change for the next sprint.