Introduction to Agile

The history of the Agile approach

With the growing popularity of applications and systems and the digitization of enterprises, programming teams faced challenges such as the rapid pace of work, the multiplicity of projects, and changes in business requirements during product development.

In the early 2000s, a group of programmers who were looking for new ways for software development formalized an agile approach by signing the Agile Manifesto. It assumed a greater focus on the value, by emphasizing the role of cooperation and responding to changes. 

Agile vs traditional approach

The cascade approach distinguishes several stages as per the schedule. First, you need to plan your work, perform the necessary analyzes and create projects, then it is time for the development and testing of the solution, and only at the end of the implementation.

Thanks to iterativeness, Agile’s approach assumes that there is no need to wait for the end to carry out implementation. This is an alternative approach that was brought to live out of the need for more flexibility in project management.

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How do you start with Agile?

Agile transformation should be well thought out and thoughtfully planned. It’s worth asking yourself about goals – why do you want to use Agile methodologies? What benefits do you want to achieve? Is everything in Agile clear to you? Certainly, the basis is the attitude and willingness to continuously develop. Meetings, training, consultations, and probably also certifications await you in the future.

You will need to bet on education, but you should also be aware that the effects may not be visible from the first week of work. Agile framework, if implemented properly, brings benefits relatively quickly, but much depends on the organization itself, the project, and even the attitude of individuals. At each stage of agile transformation, you can use the knowledge of Agile Coaches, who will indicate places for improvement and present good practices in Agile project management.

Benefits of implementing Agile

• Increased team flexibility
• Accelerating work
• Improvement of product quality
• Reduced risk of non-compliance with business requirements
• Good team communication and transparency

Choosing an Agile software development framework

The decision to implement Agile is not everything. This is a broad concept, and there is a whole spectrum of tools to choose from, tailored to the needs of the team and the implemented projects.

The most popular are:

• Scrum – a simple framework in which small (3-9 people) teams deliver parts of the product in 1-, 2-week iterations (so-called Sprints The Development Team organizes its work, supported by Scrum Master (responsible for respecting Scrum rules), and Product Owner (who takes care of the Product Backlog and ensures that results meet business requirements).
• Kanban – yet another simple framework, in which there are no iterations and roles, but the importance of visualization is emphasized. Kanban uses boards to illustrate workflows and streamline processes.
• Extreme Programming – this is a framework used in software development. XP focuses more on the aspect of responding to change than other approaches, so it will work well in projects with unclear or changing business requirements

Summary

Agile’s approach can bring numerous benefits, but only if the whole team understands its basics and adheres to them. It is also essential to choose the right framework – Scrum is the most popular, but it is only one of many possibilities.

The agile transformation brought success to many companies and allowed them to deliver products faster. Remember that you can take advantage of support from Agile Coaches or agile IT organizations that implement nearshoring projects if needed.

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Make sure that an outsourcing software development company provides suitable collaboration models based on your development framework of the choice.