Is Your Agile Process Broken?
Even after successfully using Agile on a project or two, things have become more difficult on your team’s last few efforts. Sprints aren’t getting completed on time; too many bugs are being found in production instead of testing, and – most importantly – the customer is unhappy. After some self-examination, you ask yourself this important question: Is your company’s Agile process broken?
What follows are a few ideas on how to troubleshoot an Agile process that – for whatever reason – has fallen off the rails. Maybe these insights spur a valuable discussion among your team?
Don’t Forget the Importance of Planning
While Agile is a nimble methodology – especially compared to an older example like the Waterfall – that doesn’t mean it is wise to forego the planning process before a project starts. The roles and duties for the entire team need to be sharply defined. Expectations for everyone – including the customer and/or product owner – also need to be clearly detailed.
Make sure the customer understands the concept of dependencies. They want a certain feature to be completed as soon as possible, but other portions of the application may need to be finished first. This needs to be a key part of any Agile project planning session.
Keep Communication Channels Open
Regular communication remains a vital part of any technology project – Agile or not. This includes interaction between the software engineers and their project manager or Scrum Master, as well as between that latter role and the client. This helps ensure everyone is aware of the current project status, so no surprises later in the project cause unnecessary tension.
Slowly Release Features to Build the Project
While one of the main reasons Agile and DevOps are so popular in the IT world involves the desire to make the software development process faster and more efficient, that doesn’t mean your team needs to work so fast that quality gets forgotten. Plan your sprints so they are small, manageable and meaningful. This lets the customer get finished and working functionality into their hands as quickly as possible without sacrificing the excellence of the final product.
The most important point to realize is “doing Agile” without the right level of planning and foresight will likely lead to creating bad work, only faster. Understanding this concept is the first step towards ultimately fixing any broken Agile process.
Work With a Leader in Software Solutions
When you need additional insights on the software development process, talk the experts at SDE USA. As one of the world leaders in the application engineering space, we understand Agile, DevOps and the latest in technology. Schedule some time with a leader in software solutions as soon as possible.