Agile methods

Agile methods - an adaptive approach

Reacting against the perceived strict regimentation of the Waterfall Model, the Agile model appeared in the 1990s. Its developers believed the Waterfall model was too slow and bureaucratic and did not comfortably accommodate the ways systems/software engineers actually work best. Agile, put simply, is where software is developed progressively with each new release adding more capabilities

It appeared under different names and flavours such as: Scrum (in management), Crystal Clear, Extreme Programming (XP), Adaptive Software Development, Feature Driven Development, and DSDM.

Agile aims to reduce risk by breaking projects into small, time-limited modules or timeboxes ("iterations") with each interation being approached like a small, self-contained mini-project, each lasting only a few weeks. Each iteration has it own self-contained stages of analysis, design, production, testing and documentation. In theory, a new software release could be done at the end of each iteration, but in practice the progress made in one iteration may not be worth a release and it will be carried over and incorporated into the next iteration. The project's priorities, direction and progress are re-evaluated at the end of each iteration.

Agile teams tend to work as a team in a bullpen - an open floor-plan work area that makes face-to-face communications easy. Agile, however, has been criticised for its lack of formal documentation.

(One wonder how well Agile development techniques would work for Virtual Teams.)

Agile's aims and characteristics include:

• Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software
• Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
• Working software is the principal measure of progress.
• Even late changes in requirements are welcomed.
• Close, daily, cooperation between developers and customers
• Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication.
• Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted (rather than micro-managed)
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design.
• Simplicity
• Self-organising teams
• Regular adaptation to changing circumstances

Such flexibility is seen by some as a lack of discipline, but its ability to adapting quickly to change can make it a powerful method of tackling big projects - and ICT is a field where rapid and significant change is the rule rather than the exception! On the other hand, long-term (beyond a couple of months) planning is very hard to do with an Agile approach.

I guess an Agile project manager would be updating his Gantt chart daily :-)

Agile methods have features in common with RAD.