The New Methodology- Agile

In the past few years there's been a blossoming of a new style of software methodology - referred to as agile methods. Alternatively characterized as an antidote to bureaucracy or a license to hack they've stirred up interest all over the software landscape. In this essay I explore the reasons for agile methods, focusing not so much on their weight but on their adaptive nature and their people-first orientation.

Agile software development refers to a group of software development methodologies that promotes development iterations, open collaboration, and process adaptability throughout the life-cycle of the project. It chooses to get things into action quickly, rather than to plan at length. The plan evolves as actions are taken. It has some similar aspects to bioteams.

There are many agile development methods; most minimize risk by developing software in multiple repetitions (or'iterations') of short time frames (known as'timeboxes'). Software developed during one unit of time is referred to as an iteration, which typically lasts from two to four weeks. Each iteration passes through a full software development cycle, including planning, requirements analysis, design, writing unit tests, then coding until the unit tests pass and a working product is finally demonstrated to stakeholders. Documentation is no different than software design and coding. It, too, is produced as required by stakeholders. An iteration may not add enough functionality to warrant releasing the product to market, but the goal is to have an available release (with minimal bugs) at the end of each iteration. At the end of each iteration,
stakeholders re-evaluate project priorities with a view to optimizing their return on investment.

Agile methods emphasize face-to-face communication over written documents. Most agile teams are located in a single open office to facilitate such communication. One agile management methodology, Scrum, advocates a team size of 5 to 9. Larger teams than 9 should be split into smaller teams to help make team communication and team collaboration easier.