Your Most Frequent Agile Software Development Questions Answered

As you may know, for most companies today, rapid software development is essential, given the environment of ever-changing expectations. More and more companies realize the value of Agile. In contrast to traditional methods, this methodology allows for fast adaptation to customers’ expectations; provides a framework for products of the highest quality and helps to develop a viable version of a product relatively fast. Sounds good right?

Should you be intending to give it a try, or just get to know a little more about it, we got you covered. Here are some of the top Agile software development questions that help you get a better picture about the process.

Is Agile only used in IT?

It originates from IT; however, several diverse industries have adopted the methodology in some way and shape, including but not limited to the finance, automotive, healthcare & pharma, and engineering industries.

What is Agile?

Simply put, Agile development software is a collection of best practices; namely, that the development process is broken down to pieces in a way that each development cycle adds an additional functional feature to the software. The Agile software development methodology has 12 basic principles, laid out in the Agile Manifesto.

1. Are there multiple Agile methods?There are indeed. Agile has various flavors; some of the more popular ones include Scrum, Lean, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), Crystal, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) and Feature-Driven Development.
2. Which one suits my project best?This always depends on your specific goals, the product and the company itself. There’s no one-size-fits-all here; you should take the time to examine which methodology is the most appropriate for your project.
3. What makes this approach better than traditional methods?Agile software development methodology allows for a user-centered development process. The software is quickly released, and customer feedback can be built into subsequent versions
4. Is it the customers who tell what the product should look like?Yes and no. They’re not telling what and how you should develop, instead what they need and consider important in a given software. That feedback should define the product itself. Agile helps by shifting the development process from feature-centered to user-centered
5. Is this method faster than other ones?Chances are it is, especially in contrast to more traditional systems. Agile software development allows you to build a functional raw version, that could be used to gather feedback from users that will later be built into the software until it meets their maximum satisfaction.
6. Do customers get a half-baked product?They don’t. What they get is a minimum viable product (MVP) with usually one initial feature. Think of sharing photos as a feature on Instagram. One basic, yet fully viable feature is not much, but can be used as a starting point for further development.
7. How long does the Agile software development process take?It always depends on the very complexity of the thing that’s being built. The advantage here is that an early version can quickly be released to the public.
8. Can you save money with this project management methodology?Most certainly you can, though in an indirect way. Since Agile software development allows for releasing a very basic version of a product, no time and money is spent on developing features that eventually will turn out to be useless. Continuous feedback helps you better understand your target audience, thus making marketing more effective and simultaneously cutting its costs.

Closing Words

Agile is indeed an effective method of running projects, and not just in software development. However, there are some prerequisites for it to work. One is a company structure that allows for cross-functional teams. Another is choosing the right framework for a particular project. In order to make things nice and smooth, try implementing the approach in smaller tasks to see what issues arise that need to be changed or improved upon.