What is Agile Methodology?

Agile methodology is a set of principles and practices for developing software. It focuses on delivering working software frequently, using small time increments, and responding quickly to change.

The approach solves the problem of requirements evolving during projects, which often results in products that no longer align with customer expectations.

Mapping customer vision into specific requirements is not straightforward. Requirements often evolve as projects progress, creating misalignment between deliverables and expectations.

Agile delivery solves this by iterating on product solutions and showing each iteration to customers. Customers provide feedback, ensuring the product matches their needs throughout development.

Agile methodologies require cooperation across multiple teams. Cross-functional teams include software engineers, business analysts, product managers, and customer representatives collaborating to build solutions meeting requirements.

How do teams break down Agile products?

Teams divide projects into small sections, each focused on producing tangible results. Once a section completes, customers receive demonstrations and deliver feedback used to update or generate new requirements.

Agile's primary benefit is inherent end-user focus. Keeping customers included and informed throughout development ensures the product created matches what customers want.

How does Agile reduce development risk?

Agile management saves businesses from expensive, lengthy projects that create products misaligned with customer needs. End-user focus throughout development keeps customers engaged and loyal despite new market competitors.

How does Agile improve code quality?

The iterative approach builds software in logical stages. Code quality improves as it is progressively refactored through each iteration cycle.

While each Agile methodology shares a common framework and goal, their techniques for completing tasks can differ greatly. Here’s a look at three methods.

What is the Scrum approach?

Scrum methodology relies on daily standups where teams meet briefly each morning. Each member provides updates about previous accomplishments, current plans, and obstacles faced.

Teams work in two-week sprints with specific goals like producing new software features. Only tasks relevant to the sprint goal are added. At sprint end, new features are presented to customers for feedback before the cycle begins again.

What is the Kanban approach?

Kanban uses a backlog instead of sprints—an ordered list of tasks to complete. Most important tasks head the list, and developers complete each task before proceeding to the next.

The product owner maintains and sequences the priority list. This internal colleague acts as the customer representative and contact point, ensuring accurate task prioritisation.

What is an Agile retrospective?

Retrospectives examine what parts of the process went smoothly and which areas need improvement. Most Agile methodologies conduct retrospectives at certain intervals or after completing specific project portions.

Teams implement new strategies from retrospective findings in the next project phase. This continuous examination improves overall workflow over time.

Agile and DevOps complement each other rather than compete. DevOps combines software development and IT operations to provide principles for continuously delivering software.

How does DevOps compliment Agile?

DevOps shortens development lifecycles, making it faster to develop, test, and release working software. By automating tests, code releases confidently and frequently into production, enabling more frequent customer demonstrations and faster Agile feedback loops.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Ensuring that the right people are talking and working collaboratively is more important than the tools and processes they use.

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Due to the iterative nature of the development process, continuous changes mean documentation can quickly become out-of-date. To ensure the most current processes and goals are being focused on, working software is the primary measure of progress, while still supporting documentation as a single-source of truth.

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Constant renegotiation of contracts slows progress. Instead, the focus should be on working closely with the customer to best understand their requirements.

Responding to change vs. following a plan

Planning is useful, but sometimes requirements and priorities change. The team should be flexible and able to respond to change.

All Agile processes share a core set of roles essential for successful delivery.

The customer role in Agile

The end user or customer is who the software solution is built for. Direct customers should be consistently included in demonstrations to provide accurate and timely feedback.

The product owner role in Agile

The product owner represents the customer or end user, receiving and addressing questions when customers are not present. For internal products, the product owner becomes the voice of users.

The development team role in Agile

The software development team collectively develops each part of the required solution. Agile teams are typically smaller than 10 members. Scrum recommends no more than nine, including product owner, scrum master, and developers.

Before Agile, software development teams followed processes that were collectively known as the waterfall model.

Waterfall relies on 100% accurate requirements remaining completely static. It does not accommodate feedback during development cycles. As customer requirements and technologies evolved, this inflexibility became increasingly incompatible with software development.

When did Agile emerge?

Throughout the 1990s, more flexible software development approaches emerged and eventually fell under the Agile umbrella. The iterative approach replaced waterfall as the dominant methodology.

Agile focuses on collaboration and continuous iteration to reach product goals. Several methodologies provide specialised interpretations of the four core principles, but all share the same intent.

The goal is reaching product objectives through continuous cooperation, demonstration, and integration of feedback.