 |
|
 |
 |
What is Agile Software Development
|
With the turn of the century a new breed of software development methodologies, coined "Agile" were born. The main objective of Agile development methodologies is process improvement to ensure that the IT delivery organization of any major corporation can respond adequately to the changes in the surrounding market allowing the organization to seize golden market opportunities.
In the late 1990’s several methodologies began to get increasing public attention. Each had a different combination of old ideas, new ideas, and transmuted old ideas. But they all emphasized close collaboration between the programmer team and business experts; face-to-face communication (as more efficient than written documentation); frequent delivery of new deployable business value; tight, self-organizing teams; and ways to craft the code and the team such that the inevitable requirements churn was not a crisis. Agile describes a family of software development methodologies based on the four core values identified in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. These values are:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
The above values are manifested through a set of technical and management practices. Agile development, in its simplest form, offers a lightweight framework for helping teams maintain a focus on the rapid delivery of business value (i.e., “rapid return on investment”). As a result of this focus and its associated benefits, organizations are capable of significantly reducing the overall risk associated with software development. The result is a value-driven software development approach fundamentally different from the traditional “waterfall” methodology widely used today.
Numerous surveys and case studies show that the organizations adopting agile development and agile management practices realize a significant gain in various business values, such as:
- Achieve faster ROI (Return on Investment) through rapid release of business functionality.
- Adapt to changing business requirements as business experts and technologists realize the opportunities through frequent interaction.
- Enhance communication and build trust between business and IT, as project teams are able to immediately respond and demonstrate new functionality.
- Reduced development risk with phased integration and continuous user feedback.
- Provide greater visibility and minimize surprises through the continuous delivery of functionality and project data that allow management to react and engage appropriately.
- Take advantage of ongoing learning. Software development is fundamentally a knowledge acquiring as well as a product-producing activity.
- Reduce application costs for future functionality and maintenance activity. The extensive use of automated testing throughout agile development flattens the cost of change curve.
Additional Resources about Agile
Here is a PDF containing numerous resources about Agile Software Development. Some of the resources in this PDF will highlight the relationship between Agile and CMMI.
Click here to download the PDF.
|
|
|
