Back

The History of Agile for Developers – Part 2

Maintenance is the final step of waterfall development and is strictly for keeping existing software features functional. Even if customers have since developed new needs, it is too late to apply them in a waterfall project. These new requirements need an entirely new project, with all of the same problems and downsides as the previous project. The maintenance phase allows no room for software evolution and improvement.

The biggest issues with waterfall development are project time frames and resistance to change. Since each step is fully completed in one pass, adding or changing requirements and features later is basically impossible. Despite the fact that the customer requirements may change as the product evolves, waterfall demands that all of the documentation be set at the beginning. With this resistance to change and the fact that problems allow for fewer solutions, waterfall projects typically take a very long time. Individual products may take years, or possibly even decades to complete. With the accelerated pace that the technology industry evolves, this means that a software product is often outdated before it even reaches customers.

A Need for Change

In the 1990’s, a group of experts in the software development field got together to create a new style of project management. They discussed the problems with existing methods, and how these could be improved upon. First and foremost, software development should be lightweight, hence the name “Agile.” Also, projects should be accepting of change, from customer needs or any other source. In 2001, the Agile Manifesto was drafted and began the process of implementing a new style of project management.

Agile Development

With the barebones Agile Manifesto, goals are simple and straightforward. Instead of a complex list of rules and policies, the manifesto gives a few simple priorities that organizations can apply in their own way. This makes Agile software development very modular and improves the experience for all roles involved, especially the developer.

The biggest change between Agile development and waterfall development is the cycle of steps. Instead of having each step done fully, one at a time, every step is performed for small repeatable iterations of the software development. This allows the team to spend less time in each individual step and gives ample opportunity to improve on previous iterations.
What does the cyclical nature of Agile mean for developers? Most importantly, this means less development time. Instead of spending years working on software before it gets to customers, stakeholders receive new iterations of software every few weeks. Less effort is wasted with each cycle, and so the stagnant delays of waterfall are replaced with fast-paced cycles.

Adaptable Agile Development

In addition to less wasted time, Agile is more adaptable. This gives developers the opportunity to adapt to requests and write code accordingly. Stakeholders can express new requirements or changes, and those get prioritized with the rest of the work for a project. There is never a point at which customers are cut off from requesting new features. Requests just may not make it into the product if they are not deemed a high enough priority.

Since verification is done after every sprint cycle, less technical debt builds up. Developers have the opportunity to take care of smaller bugs soon after they appear. Instead of having vast amounts of broken code, they only have to fix what has been introduced in the most recent sprint. This means that they rarely have the opportunity to build on features that are already broken. Everything is working the way it was intended before the team moves forward.

While the waterfall method is not perfect, it did have good intentions. Early software developers had nothing to base their methods off of, besides hardware. This worked for a time, but it was far from ideal. When experts began to analyze new methods, they came up with Agile. With Agile software development, teams create better code, that more appropriately appeals to customers, and with more efficiency.

<– Continue Reading –>

Our Book Recommendations

We found these books great for finding out more information on Agile Scrum:

Master of Agile – Agile Scrum Developer With 59 Seconds Agile (Video Training Course)

Introductory Offer: Free Course

Master of Agile – Agile Scrum Developer With 59 Seconds Agile (Video Training Course)

What is this course?

This ‘Master of Agile – Agile Scrum Developer With 59 Seconds Agile (Video Training Course)’ provides an in-depth understanding of the Agile Scrum Developer roles and responsibilities

You will explore the Agile Scrum project life-cycle, including how an Agile User Story is created, to how we know when it is ‘done’

This course is aimed at those with or without prior knowledge and experience of the Agile values and principles

During this course you will learn the tools needed to succeed as an Agile Scrum Developer

What will you learn?

You will gain an in-depth understanding of the Agile Scrum Developer roles and responsibilities, and you will be able to

  • Fully understand the role of the Agile Scrum Developer
  • Understand the roles involved in an Agile project
  • Create an effective Product Backlog
  • Effectively participate in Scrum Meetings such as the Daily Stand-up, Sprint Review and Retrospective
  • Identify the roles involves in the Scrum Team

What topics are covered within this course

You will cover the following topics during this course:

  1. An Introduction to Agile Project Management (Developer)
  2. The 12 Agile Principles (Developer)
  3. Introduction to Scrum (Developer)
  4. Scrum Project Roles (Developer)
  5. The Agile Project Life-cycle (Developer)
  6. Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog (Developer)
  7. Initiating an Agile Project (Developer)
  8. Forming the Scrum Team (Developer)
  9. Epics and Personas (Developer)
  10. User Stories and Tasks (Developer)
  11. Implementation of Scrum (Developer)
  12. The Daily Scrum (Developer)
  13. The Product Backlog (Developer)
  14. Scrum Charts (Developer)
  15. Review and Retrospective (Developer)
  16. Validating a Sprint (Developer)
  17. Retrospective Sprint (Developer)
  18. Releasing the Product (Developer)
  19. The Communication Plan (Developer)
  20. Formal Business Sign-off (Developer)
Translate »