Agile Development Methodologies: An Essential Guide

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” ~ Bill Gates

At the end of the day, it’s all about efficiency.

Today, businesses are always looking for strategies to stay up with the rapid speed of changing markets and technology. Additionally, development teams have to be more fluid and adaptable than ever before when speed is the word of the game.

The Agile technique is the latest go-to word when structured, organized, higher adaptability and cross functionality is the need of the hour for the organizations. Agile product development approaches are those that follow the tenets and ideals defined in the Agile Manifesto for software development. Agile testing is a mandatory prerequisite for the Agile software development process.

What is Agile Development and Agile Testing?

Before jumping straight into agile development methodologies, let’s understand what agile development is. In simple terms, it is a set of principles which are incorporated as an approach leading to iterative development of a product. This helps vertical and horizontal teams collaborate and incorporate customer comments and accommodate evolving requirements.

Agile testing, an important component of agile development, starts right at the onset of the product development or the kickstart of a project and goes in tandem with the development stages where it offers constant feedback through iterative stages. Know more about Agile testing challenges and the solutions to have a seamless software development.

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Learn Agile development methodology, technique and how it may support your team in consistently developing products that are quicker, better, efficient and stronger by reading on.

What is Agile methodology?

A team of software designers who felt that the conventional development process was overly complex and burdened by documentation requirements came up with the agile development methodologies as a better alternative. Agile development methodology ensures that any changes and improvisations with respect to the original model are successfully taken care of to culminate into a better software. 

While customer requirements might deviate, the procedures and development plans might see some variation from originally planned estimates. Agile development methodology accommodates these changes and implements them efficiently.

Continuous integration is a pivotal element in agile methodology where the software development is broken into iterative small pieces of code, which are continually adopted into the main body of the code. 

The group outlined 4 ideals and 12 rules that govern the Agile mindset in a foundational document known as the Agile Manifesto:

4 Values of Agile Software Development

Here are 4 core values of Agile Software Development:

• People and interactions above procedures and equipment.
• Working software is preferred over thorough documentation.
• Collaboration with the customer during contract negotiations
• Following a strategy over reacting to change.

These ideals contribute to the direction of a development procedure that consistently produces high-quality products and satisfies consumers by addressing their wants and adjusting to change more effectively.

12 Principles of Agile Software Development

The Agile methodology is guided by a set of 12 core principles that promote flexibility, collaboration, and efficiency in software development.
Below is a breakdown of the key Agile principles:

1. Customer Satisfaction through Early and Continuous Delivery

Agile prioritizes delivering valuable software to customers early and consistently, ensuring that the final product meets their needs right from the start.

2. Embrace Changing Requirements

Agile teams welcome changes in requirements, even late in the development process, as it allows them to better align the software with evolving business needs.

3. Frequent Delivery of Working Software

Agile focuses on delivering working software often and in small timeframes. This helps the team get regular feedback and make improvements quickly, ensuring the software stays aligned with user needs.

4. Collaboration Between Business and Development Teams

Agile promotes close collaboration between business stakeholders and developers, ensuring that both teams are aligned in achieving common goals.

5. Empower Individuals with the Right Environment and Support

Successful Agile projects are built around motivated individuals. Teams are empowered by being provided with the right environment, resources, and trust to accomplish their tasks.

6. Prioritize Face-to-Face Communication

While digital communication is useful, Agile encourages direct, face-to-face interactions as the most effective way to convey information within a team.

7. Working Software as the Primary Measure of Progress

The primary measure of progress in Agile is the delivery of working software, rather than detailed documentation or lengthy processes.

8. Maintain a Sustainable Development Pace

Agile teams should be able to work at a constant, sustainable pace, allowing them to maintain productivity without burnout.

9. Focus on Technical Excellence and Good Design

Continuous attention to technical excellence and high-quality design enhances agility and enables faster, more efficient software development.

10. Simplicity is Essential

Agile values simplicity, emphasizing maximizing productivity by minimizing unnecessary work and focusing on essential tasks that bring the most value.

11. Encourage Self-Organizing Teams

Agile promotes self-organizing teams that can determine the best approach to design, build, and deliver software, fostering innovation and ownership.

12. Regular Reflection and Adaptation

Agile teams regularly reflect on their processes and performance, making adjustments as needed to improve their effectiveness and outcomes.

Agile Software Development Cycle

The Agile software development cycle is an iterative process that promotes flexibility and collaboration. It consists of the following key phases:

1. Concept/Planning

In this phase, teams gather requirements and define the project’s goals. It’s about identifying what needs to be built and prioritizing features based on customer needs.

2. Design

Teams create a simple design or framework for the software, outlining how the product will function. The design is kept flexible to allow for changes.

3. Development

During development, the team builds the product in small increments, typically called “sprints.” Each sprint results in a working piece of the software.

4. Testing

After each sprint, the product is tested to identify bugs and ensure that the functionality works as intended. Testing is done continuously throughout the development cycle.

5. Deployment

Once a sprint is completed and tested, the working software is deployed to the customer or user for feedback. Continuous delivery is a key part of Agile.

6. Feedback/Review

Teams gather feedback from customers and stakeholders to understand what works, what doesn’t, and how the product can be improved in the next iteration.

7. Iteration

Based on the feedback received, the development cycle repeats with adjustments. The process continues until the product meets the desired quality and customer expectations.

Key Agile Methodologies

Agile is a covers a number of techniques and procedures. The most common Agile Methodologies are as follows: 

1. Scrum

It focuses primarily on how to handle tasks in a team-based development setting, and it is an agile development methodology. Scrum basically evolved from activities that take place during a rugby round. Scrum promotes operating in small teams and thinks that the development team should be empowered (say- 7 to 9 members). Three roles make up Agile and Scrum, and their duties are described below:

• Scrum Lead: The scrum master is in charge of organizing the team, the sprint meeting, and removing roadblocks.
• Product creator: The product owner builds the product backlog, organizes it by priority, and is in charge of delivering features at each iteration.
• Agile Team: Team coordinates and oversees its own work to finish the sprint or cycle.

Product Backlog in Scrum

The number of requirements (user stories) that need to be finished for each release is tracked in this repository. The Product Owner should keep track of it, prioritize it, and share it with the scrum team. The team may also ask for the addition, modification, or elimination of a new requirement.

Scrum Practices

Scrum methodologies’ workflow:

• A sprint is one iteration of a scrum.
• The list of information needed to produce the final product is called the product backlog.
• The most important user stories from the Product backlog are chosen and added to the Sprint backlog.
• Working together on the specified sprint backlog.
• Team verifies everyday work for accuracy.
• The team provides product functionality at the end of the sprint.

2. Extreme Programming (XP)

The Agile framework for software development processes most closely resembles XP. It strives to build high-quality software while also simplifying the entire process for the development team. XP places a high importance on feedback, communication, simplicity, bravery, and respect.

It works best when,

• The criteria are always shifting.
• Team deadlines are constrained.
• Stakeholders desire to lower risk while meeting timelines.
• Unit and functional testing can be automated by teams. 

Breakdown of software development methodologies practiced worldwide in 2022

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3. Adaptive Software Development (ASD)

In the first decade of the 1990s, Sam Bayer and Jim Highsmith built adaptive software development (ASD). It comprises the notions of continual adaptation, or how to adopt change rather than avoid it. Learn, collaborate, and speculate is the term of the dynamic growth process that is utilized in ASD. Because the business setting is continuously changing, this process is concentrated on close customer and development engagement and ongoing learning. 

ASD offers a non-linear iterative life cycle, in contrast to most software development methodologies, which use a static life cycle, i.e., Plan-Design-Build. Each process can iterate and be altered while another process is being carried out. It suggests rapid application development, which places an emphasis on speed of development to produce a high-quality, low-maintenance product that involves the user as much as possible. The following are the primary traits of ASD:

Speculate:

The major objectives and aims of the project must be established during this phase of its beginning by comprehending the constraints (risk areas) within which it must work. Maintaining coordination between teams during this phase ensures that what is learned by one team is communicated to the others and does not need to be acquired again by other groups from scratch. This phase is where the majority of the development is concentrated.

Learn: 

The last stage involves several collaboration cycles, and the goal is to record all of the lessons learnt, both good and bad. The prosperity of the project relies on this stage.

4. Dynamic Software Development Method (DSDM)

A group of specialists and vendors in the sector of software development built the Dynamic Software Development Method in 1994. Software programs with budgets and constrained schedules are the primary priority of DSDM. It accentuates regular product process delivery, and growth is iterative and gradual.

With the Dynamic Software Development Method (DSDM), a roadmap of continuous and early deliveries can be created for the project. This allows for the implementation of an incremental solution, adaptation in response to feedback received along the way, and verification that the anticipated benefits are being realized.

The DSDM is an agile model that may unquestionably assist companies used to operating on projects to alter their mindset and method of operation in order to increase their ability to create value and shorten time to market.

5. Feature Driven Development (FDD)

The key component of this methodology is “designing & creating” features. FDD, in contrast to other Agile development techniques in software engineering, outlines very precise and condensed work phases that must be completed separately for each feature. Domain walkthrough, design review, promotion to build, code review, and design are all included. FDD creates products with the target market in mind. 

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

6. Kanban

Without adding to the stress of the software development lifecycle, Kanban is a highly visual workflow management technique that enables teams to actively supervise product creation, with a focus on continuous delivery (SDLC). It has gained popularity among groups that use Lean software development techniques.

The three fundamental tenets of Kanban are to visualize the workflow, reduce the amount of work that is in process, and enhance the flow of work. The Kanban technique is intended to aid teams in collaborating more effectively, much like Scrum is. It promotes an atmosphere of active and continuing learning and growth by encouraging continuous collaboration and attempting to establish the ideal process.

7. Behavior Driven Development (BDD)

A behavior-focused agile system development methodology is called behavior driven development (BDD). It was created by Dan North in 2003 as an extension of the TDD methodology. Dan North tried to include non-technical people when creating the system’s technological functionality. Inadvertently leaving out business principles that are already part of the functionality when developing software can occasionally lead to repeated and even serious defects.

BDD uses universal language concepts to facilitate communication inside a software project between persons with and without technical expertise. The BDD development process is built on the writing of test cases and features. These provide the guidelines and requirements for proper system operation. It defines what is necessary for the functionality to start, what will happen next, and what the results will be after it has been completed. Teams who use BDD are better able to communicate needs clearly, find bugs quickly, and create long-lasting software.

Benefits of Agile Software Development

Agile Software Development methodologies are increasingly popular among leaders and developers for several compelling reasons:

1. Enhanced Collaboration: Agile fosters strong collaboration between development teams and clients, resulting in greater clarity and satisfaction.
2. Higher Product Quality: Regular testing allows for early issue detection, leading to higher-quality, well-tested products.
3. Flexibility to Change: Agile enables teams to quickly adapt to shifting client needs and market changes, ensuring timely delivery of relevant products.
4. Lower Risk and Faster ROI: Frequent reviews reduce risks, allowing teams to pivot quickly if issues arise. Agile’s focus on client feedback ensures decisions enhance product value.
5. Continuous Improvement: Agile emphasizes iterative development and regular retrospectives, allowing teams to learn from each cycle and improve processes continuously.
6. Customer-Centric Focus: By involving customers throughout the development process, Agile ensures that the final product aligns closely with user needs and expectations, leading to increased customer satisfaction

Limitations of Agile Software Development

While Agile offers many benefits, it also presents some challenges that teams need to consider.

1. Difficulty in Estimation: Estimating effort for large projects can be challenging in Agile, leading to uncertainties in timelines and resource allocation.
2. Reduced Documentation: The focus on working software may result in less documentation, creating information gaps that can lead to misunderstandings.
3. Customer Dependence: Agile’s need for customer feedback means that unclear input can misguide the project, leading to products that may not effectively meet user needs.
4. Unpredictability: Regular changes and constant feedback can make it hard to predict how long a project will take or how much it will cost, which can lead to adding more work than planned.
5. Burnout Risk: The fast-paced nature of Agile can lead to team burnout if adequate breaks and support are not provided, impacting morale and productivity.

Talk to an Expert

Why Choose Agile Software Development?

Agile Software Development is a popular method because it helps teams deliver software quickly and adapt to changes easily. It focuses on working closely with customers to get their feedback, ensuring the final product meets their needs. Agile also encourages regular testing, which leads to better quality software.

Moreover, it promotes teamwork and allows team members to take charge of their work. This approach reduces risks and makes the development process more predictable, making it a great choice for many companies.

Conclusion

While developing a software, testers need to ensure that agile testing is done across multiple UIs, browsers and devices. BrowserStack Live lets you do interactive testing across different platforms and browsers.

Increasingly, more organizations are adopting Agile methodologies to embrace more efficiency and structure in their cross-team collaborations as the conventional software development methods are running out of market. You might want to check out the highly-efficient and conversant platforms of BrowserStack viz. Percy, Automate and Live to overcome any Agile software development challenges. 

While your organization adopts Agile, BrowserStack Live for Teams might be a very efficient platform to let your team access cross browser testing and access 3000+ real desktop.

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