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Why is Agile Methodology an Important Approach in Software Development

By Utechia - Oct 05 ,2021

Software development has changed over the years. This article will explain why agile methodology is important to improve your team’s work efficiency and success rate.

What is Agile Methodology?

Agile methodology is one of the simplest and most effective processes for turning a vision for a business need into software solutions. Agile is a term used to describe software development approaches that use continuous planning, improvement, team collaboration, learning, early delivery, and evolutionary development. It encourages flexible responses to change. That is, it is a type of project management process used primarily for software development where requests and solutions are self-organising and in which cross-functional teams and their customers develop through a collaborative effort.

The Agile Manifesto is a statement of principles expressing values ​​and agile methodology. Consisting of four core values ​​and 12 core principles, this practice aims to help uncover better ways of software development by providing a clear and measurable structure that supports iterative development and team collaboration.

The general values of the Agile software development manifesto are:

agile methodology

12 principles of Agile:

Benefits of Agile Methodology

The benefits of Agile methodology are directly tied to its faster, lighter, and more involved mindset. In summary, the process delivers what and when the customer wants. Time spent developing in the wrong direction is much less wasted and the entire system is faster to respond to changes.

Faster: One of the biggest benefits of Agile Methodology is speed. A faster software development lifecycle means less time between payment and getting paid. This means a more profitable business.

Increased customer satisfaction: With Agile, customers do not wait for months or years, only to get exactly what they want. Instead, they get iterations of something very close to what they want very quickly. The system quickly adjusts and adapts to changes in the overall environment to improve the successful customer solution.

Values ​​employees: Employees whose opinions are valued are much more productive than those who are ordered to follow a set of rules. Agile Methodology respects employees by giving them the goal and then trusting that they will achieve it. Employees are in the best position to respond to challenges and achieve the goals at hand, as they are the ones who are hands-on and see the obstacles that arise every day.

Eliminates rework: By involving the customer in more than just the need and delivery stages, the project stays on task and aligned with customer needs every step of the way. This means less turnaround and less “on the limb” time between when we do the work and when the customer proposes a revision.

agile methodology

     Agile Methods

  1. Lean Software Development

Lean software development is an iterative Agile methodology that focuses the team on delivering value to the customer through effective value stream mapping. It is a very flexible and scalable methodology, without rigid guidelines, rules, or methods.

The main principles of the lean methodology include:

It builds on fast and reliable feedback between programmers and customers and emphasises the speed and efficiency of development workflows. Lean uses the idea of ​​”pulling” a business product through customer demand. It empowers individuals and small teams to make decisions as it has proven to be a faster and more efficient method than a hierarchical flow of control. It also focuses on the efficient use of team resources and tries to ensure that everyone is as productive as possible for the maximum amount of time. It strongly recommends writing automated unit tests while coding.

2. Kanban

Kanban is based on 3 basic principles:

By defining the best possible team workflow, Kanban supports continuous collaboration and encourages active continuous learning and improvement.

3. Scrum

Scrum is a lightweight agile project management framework that can be used to manage iterative and incremental projects of all types. It has gained increasing popularity over the years for its simplicity, proven productivity, and ability to combine various container applications supported by other Agile models.

While Scrum can benefit a wide variety of businesses and projects, these are the most likely beneficiaries:

You can also click on the link and see Agile Frameworks in detail here:  6 Scaled Agile Frameworks – Which One Is Right For You?

So, Agile methodology is a concept that has become increasingly popular and preferred by companies, as it provides many benefits.

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Software development has changed over the years. This article will explain why agile methodology is important to improve your team’s work efficiency and success rate. What is Agile Methodology? Agile methodology is one of the simplest and most effective processes for turning a vision for a business need into software solutions. Agile is a term […]

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