What is Agile Software production?
A company must always be prepared to evaluate its existing software - and improve processes to enhance its competitive advantage. Information systems (IS) are affecting many management functions and have become essential to survival in the “new global digital economy” (Watson, 2007).
Problem recognition often starts with the notion that a problem can be solved via automation.
It can be proposed by a leader (top-down) or an employee (Bottom-up), seeing a potential for improvement.?
Now, software development is notoriously difficult to manage, and software projects are often behind schedule, it is a fact. Software projects frequently fail; it has been reported that between 50 and 80 percent fail to some degree (Watson, 2007). So an effective software engineering process is desirable.
The processes of developing software have changed quite dramatically over the last 20 years. Software engineering processes are steps in the development of a new information system.?
New “methodologies” have been tested to improve both quality and time to market. A methodology can be defined as a collection of concepts and beliefs concerning software development (Watson, 2007).?
Systems-Development Life Cycle is a “traditional” belief system developed in the 1960s to manage large software projects.?The SDLC methodology is a waterfall method; each step must be completed before moving to the next.?
SDLC contains the following phases; Preliminary Analysis, System Analysis, System Design, Programming, Testing, Implementation, and Maintenance. It is very structured, well documented, organized, and time-consuming (Bourgeois, 2014).?
Projects using SDLC can take many months and years to complete due to its inflexibility. So other software-development methodologies were developed, like Agile Development.
The Agile Development methodology was developed as an answer to the inflexibility of the waterfall SDLC. The idea is to be able to produce quality software faster in smaller teams using demos.???
The agile method is based on the “Agile Manifesto.” The characteristics of agile methods include; Small teams, daily status meetings, short time-frames, and biweekly demos to the stakeholders (Bourgeois, 2014).?
No doubt, the Agile thoughts were a revolution within the development community. We were all (at least I was) at IT school, taught to do step by step SDLM development - and finally present the final product to the stakeholder.?
But it was and still is a very ineffective way. Due to a long time of production and documentation, things often change. The “final” product is suddenly not "up to date."
In my opinion, the most important contrast is the demos to the stakeholders. Now, the CEO can say, “Show me a working demo - forget about the interface and the nice fancy colors - I want to see it work before I spend more money on this project.”?
The CEO and his staff can evaluate the prototype. If ok, "continue the development", or "go back and fix the issues."
There are two primary Agile production methods; SCRUM and KANBAN. They both use phases, but it is possible to move production back to a previous phase if necessary. The work is done in “sprints.” It is a fixed period to complete processes, usually 2 weeks.?
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The difference between Scrum and Kanban lies solely in the release of tasks; SCRUM is regulated, whereas Kanban moves all tasks into production immediately (Development That Pays, 2017).
The SDLC methodology is still used, mainly producing bank, government, and Military applications. The reason is compliance. There are a lot of laws to abide by and documentation required by law (Conger, 2008).?
The Agile Development methodology is widely used in the private sector by both small and large companies as I see it.?
Any drawbacks? Yes, Projects are initiated without time-consuming meetings and documentation but without a detailed specification of the result. Here lies the advantage - and disadvantage. It is the drawback to consider. (Miller, 2013).
Another problem is inadequate experience and understanding with agile methods among the developers. There are different opinions on “what is Agile development.” An example: I previously mentioned “prototyping” in conjunction with Agile development. Some would argue that this is a separate methodology. There are many opinions on the matter. Finally, the right methodology depends on the company - by that I mean “the customer.”??
References (LEARN MORE)
Bourgeois, D. T. (2014). Information Systems for Business and Beyond. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License.
Conger, S. (2008). The New Software Engineering. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247933628_The_New_Software_Engineering
Development That Pays. (2017). Scrum vs. Kanban - Two Agile Teams Go Head-to-Head [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNd1_irOL5k
Miller, G. (2013). Agile problems, challenges, & failures. PMI. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/agile-problems-challenges-failures-5869
Watson, R. T (Ed.). (2007). Information Systems. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Written by: Allan Loumann Lissau MBA, Communications adviser & Recruiter, Facebook specialist, Founder & CEO / Social Image
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