Tackling Software Development Challenges with Agile Methodology

Before we dive deep into agile development methodology and how essential it is in the world of software development, it is important to understand software development in it’s basic sense. 

According to IBM research, “Software development refers to a set of computer science activities dedicated to the process of creating, designing, deploying and supporting software”. In the present times, we are all surrounded by software; especially since the boom of the mobile industry. One study suggests that the number of people using mobile phones worldwide was around 5.11 billion in 2019. 

That’s huge!

Over the past two decades, the digital world has seen massive change. Technologies of all kinds have been on the surge in every sector. Irrespective of the software type, the approach and development process involves the same things at the foundation level. And as we mentioned before, choosing the right system and style of management is the key to success when developing software. 

With years of research and trials and errors, experts have come up with several types of software development methodologies, a structure designed to effectively plan and control the procedure of creating a specialized information system to achieve the desired goals. These methods highlight the process of building software at every stage of development.

In this article, we focus on the Agile Software Development methodology and how it helps tackle the most common challenges in software development.

Challenges in Software Development

Rapid Technology Advancement

Technological advancement comes as a blessing. But at the same time, technology evolving at a phenomenal rate leads to an added pressure for software development professionals to leverage these upcoming technology trends in software product development to gain a cutting edge over competitors and stand out in the market. Catering to the latest technology requirements is often challenging. 

Poor Project Infrastructure

An unestablished project environment is always a common challenge in terms of its impact on project delivery. This could mean a lack of high performance software development tools, powerful computing platforms, inefficient data storage architectures etc. Such hindrances bring down productivity and performance of software development teams and impact the overall result.

Internal Conflicts or Communication Gap

There can be several reasons behind such conflicts or gaps like working under high performance pressure, different mindsets, difference in job roles and the very opposite nature of development and testing. In order to best handle this development teams must have a clear understanding of the problems that lie ahead of them and a roadmap to overcome them.

Time Constraints

Software development is a time game. A fast-paced, rapidly developing technology world also means stricter deadlines. And developers often have to work under immense pressure to meet them.  This often brings down efficiencies of the development team and leads to mediocrity in terms of quality.

But all these limitations can be overcome by implementing Agile Software Development methodology that enables a project to provide better estimates, deliver stable systems, keep the customer informed, create a clear understanding of the task ahead, identify pitfalls in time, and allow ample time for adjustments.

Tackling challenges with Agile Software Development methodology 

Agile methodology promotes the continuous iteration of development and testing throughout the software development life-cycle of the project. In this method, both development and testing happens concurrently. 

The approach employs continual planning, learning, improvement, team collaboration, evolutionary development, and early delivery, making it one of the simplest, flexible, and most effective processes to turn a vision for business need into a successful software.

Agile method proposes incremental and iterative approach to software development. The process is broken into small individual models which different teams work on. This means that even when the teams work separately, there needs to be some level of congruence between them. It automatically tackles the issue of internal conflicts and miscommunications. For the project to proceed efficiently, everyone needs to be well-informed and on the same page. 

Since, there are multiple teams involved, the efficiency level also increases. Development process is iterative, and the project is executed fast, keeping in check with the needs of the market. 

The Agile Software Development methodology opens space for the innovative and creative minds to bring the best out of what they have at hand. This means that the principles of Agile Development can be implemented on teams and leveraged by the upper management to analyse productivity and enhance the overall working infrastructure.

“Statistics say that by using agile development methodology, on average, the time to market is 39% quicker and the competence of your team is increased with a productivity higher by 21% than the average.”

One huge advantage of Agile methodology is that when companies take the time on the front end to plan a project using Agile techniques, they can estimate the cost of a project to determine whether they should continue. It is the holistic approach of this method that makes software development successful. The teams follow a concept that is still evolving, making this one of the best ways to work in a culture of continuous improvement.