1. Agile Software Development Plan Template
  2. Agile Software Development Plan Example
These large user stories are generally known as epics. Here is an epic agile user story example from a desktop backup product: As a user, I can backup my entire hard drive. Because an epic is generally too large for an agile team to complete in one iteration, it is split into multiple smaller user stories before it is worked on.

Everyone's talking about Agile, but can it fit your business needs?

Example of Agile software development At a high level, the project teams would spend 15% of their time on gathering requirements. 20% of their time on design (2 months). 40% on coding (4 months) and unit testing. 20% on System and Integration testing (2 months). At the end of this cycle, the. Sep 06, 2018  Hi, Agile Methodology is a people-focused, results-focused approach to software development that respects our rapidly changing world. It’s centered around adaptive planning, self-organization, and short delivery times. It’s flexible, fast, and aim.
Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.
Join For Free

Software development projects use different types of software development life cycle (SDLC) methodologies, depending on their nature and requirements, which basically define the way that the software development work is organized.

The two main approaches are the traditional, waterfall method and the agile software development method. How are they different from each other, and which one should you choose for your project?

The Agile Software Development Method Uses an Iterative and Team-Based Approach

One main difference between the traditional and agile methodologies is the sequence of the phases in which the software development project is completed.

The traditional method uses a linear approach, where the stages of the software development process must be completed in a sequential order. This means that a stage must be completed before the next one begins.

These stages usually comprise the following:

  1. Requirements gathering and documentation
  2. System design
  3. Code and unit testing
  4. System testing
  5. User acceptance testing
  6. Bug fixes
  7. Product delivery

On the other hand, the agile methodology uses an iterative and team-based approach. Its main objective is to quickly deliver the application with complete and functional components. Instead of completing the software development tasks in sequence, they are completed in sprints that run from around one to four weeks and where a list of deliverables is completed in each sprint.

The tasks that do not get completed within the sprint are then reprioritized and included in future sprints. This also means that the different stages of the software development life cycle can be revisited as needed.

You may also like: 3 Styles of Agile: Iterative, Incremental, and Evolutionary

The typical agile approach involves the following stages:

  1. Project initiation
  2. Sprint planning
  3. Demos

With the traditional method, the details of the entire project have been visualized and defined before the project starts. In contrast, the agile methodology allows for more flexibility in that changes can more easily be made even after the project starts.

It is best employed if the scope of the project cannot be clearly defined in advance. This also means that making unplanned software development changes with the traditional method is costlier than with agile.

The Agile Method Requires More Customer Involvement

Customers are highly involved in the early stages of the software development process when employing the traditional methodology. More specifically, their input is needed during the requirements gathering phase, as they must provide a detailed description of what their requirements are with regards to the software application to be developed and how they envision it to function.

However, they have limited involvement after the software development process starts, aside from attending status meetings, doing reviews, and providing approvals. They usually get to see the product in its entirety after a software development life cycle is completed.

In contrast, the customers are highly involved in every stage when employing the agile development process. They can review the application at every phase and make suggestions for improvement. As a result, the customers are more engaged in the entire software development process, in turn ensuring that they are satisfied with the finished product.

You may also like: 3 Key Tactics for Scrum Teams to Connect With Customers

The Traditional Method Has a More Formal Documentation and Review Process

Each phase of the development process is properly documented and reviewed when using the traditional approach. On the other hand, due to the quick delivery time required with the agile method, changes are usually made directly on the code, with the developers just adding comments and annotations.

Which One Should You Choose?

When choosing the methodology most suitable for your software development project, some of the things you should consider are:

If you need to quickly release a basic product that you can later build on and add more features to, then the agile methodology may be more appropriate for your project.

It works best if you have a startup, which means that you have limited resources but need a basic software application to get your business up and running. Likewise, this approach is suitable for small-to-medium-sized software applications.

On the other hand, the traditional method is better suited for projects in large enterprises where the specifications and requirements must be clearly defined before the project commences.

Although the project may be divided into smaller components, each of which is developed with the agile approach, this comes with the risk that the individual components may not be compatible with each other once they are integrated to complete the final product.

Finally, the agile software development method requires a high level of collaboration among the stakeholders involved, where each stakeholder must be readily available for input or feedback. In this regard, if you’re working with various groups (software developers, vendors, testers, customers, and others) that do not work in a single physical location or that may have limited availability, then the traditional approach may be the better option for you.

While both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, the agile approach really should be considered whenever possible, as it provides more benefits, especially for startups. It enables a complete functional software application to be released faster. It is also more cost-effective, as making changes is less costly than with the traditional approach. Budgets can also be determined on a per-sprint rather than a per-project basis.

Moreover, because the customer is highly involved and changes are constantly made to the application, a higher quality of work is achieved. With the use of technologies such as webcams, VoIP, and others, a high level of interaction is still possible even among remote teams. In this regard, this collaborative nature of agile fosters trust between the customer and the software development team.

Conclusion

In summary, the software development method most appropriate for your project will depend on factors such as schedule, cost, quality, and the other resources available to the project. As such, it should be the first decision that you and your software development team make. By organizing the different stages of your project efficiently, you can better ensure its successful completion — that is, a project that is developed on time, within budget, and where the customers are happy.

Further reading

Like This Article? Read More From DZone

agile methodology ,software developent ,waterfall is dead ,adopting agile
Published at DZone with permission of Denisse Morelos . See the original article here.
Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.
30 Dec 2013CPOL
Introduction to Agile software development methodologies and how to apply them. It is about how to work together to achieve a common goal. This article focus on how technology team work together well to plan, build and deliver software.

Introduction

This article is a basic introduction to Agile software development methodologies and how to apply them. It is about how to work together to achieve a common goal. This is not only suitable for software developers but also for Team Leaders, Project Managers, Product Managers, Development Managers, Testers, QA Managers, QA Engineers, Technical Writers, UX Designers, anyone involved in the delivering software. This article focuses on how technology teams work together well to plan, build, and deliver software. It does not talk about code or specific technologies, or only about Microsoft tools. Hope this will improve your professional life and the effectiveness of your team.
The need for professional behavior: does our industry know what it means to behave? The definition of a software developer: who sits in a room, spends some time, and code comes out. We get very confused about deadlines, dates, estimates, and all of the things we are supposed to be doing, and we do them badly. Now that's not unusual. Our industry is still young.

Background

Winston Royce's Waterfall Model

'From the 1970 IEE paper 'Managing the Development of Large Software Systems'
There are two essential steps common to all computer program developments, regardless of size or complexity. There is first an analysis step, followed by a coding step. Then we introduced the five most important steps:

Agile Software Development Plan Template

Step 1: Program Design Comes First
Allocate processing, functions, design the database, define database processing, allocate execution time, define interfaces and processing modes with the operating system, describe input and output processing, and define preliminary operating procedures. Write an overview document that is understandable, informative, and current.
Step2: Document the Design
The first rule of managing software development is ruthless enforcement of documentation requirements.
Step 3: Do It Twice
The second most important criterion for success revolves around whether the product is totally original. If the computer program in question is being developed for the first time, arrange matters so that the version finally delivered to the customer for operational deployment is actually the second version in so far as critical design/operations areas are concerned.
Step 4: Plan, Control, and Monitor Testing
It is the phase of greatest risk in terms of dollars and schedule. It occurs at the last point in the schedule when backup alternatives are least available, if at all.
Step 5: Involve the Customer
It is important to involve the customer in a formal way so that he has committed himself at earlier points, before final delivery.
A careful reading of Royce's paper reveals:
Unfortunately, for the process illustrated, the design iterations are never confined to the successive steps.

What are all this stuff?

The answer is :

Agile development is not a methodology in itself. It is an umbrella term that describes several agile methodologies. At the signing of Agile Manifesto in 2001, these methodologies included Scrum, XP, Crystal, FDD, and DSDM. Since then, lean practices have also emerged as a valuable agile methodology and so are included under the agile development umbrella in the illustration later.

Original signatories

Manifesto for Agile Software Development

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Twelve principles behind the Agile Manifesto

We follow these principles:
  1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
  2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
  3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
  4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
  5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
  6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
  7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
  8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
  9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
  10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
  11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
  12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Please click here for further detail on Agile Manifesto.
Many developers have lived through the nightmare of a project with no practices to guide it. The lack of effective practices leads to unpredictability, repeated error, and wasted effort. Customers are disappointed by slipping schedules, growing budgets, and poor quality. Developers are disheartened by working ever-longer hours to produce ever-poorer software.

DSDM

The DSDM (Dynamic Software Development Method) was developed to fill in some of the gaps in the RAD method by providing a framework which takes into account the entire development cycle. The main features of the DSDM method are as follows:
  1. User involvement
  2. Iterative and incremental development
  3. Increased delivery frequency
  4. Integrated tests at each phase
  5. The acceptance of delivered products depends directly on fulfilling requirements

FDD

FDD is a wrapper methodology, in that it allows you to apply a method to manage projects at a very high level, but it still allows you to use other methodologies at a lower level. FDD's focus is on being able to set estimates and schedules and to report on the status of a project as a whole, or at a very granular level, but it doesn't prescribe a specific method to apply in order to create the schedule, leaving that up to you to decide. The idea is that you can look at your project and state with some certainty what the project status is, whether you are on time, slipping, early, and so on.

Lean

Lean Thinking is a way of approaching system optimization focusing on reducing waste and improving the overall flow of value through a system. Lean has a rich history in manufacturing and has gained popularity in software development circles in recent years.
Lean comes from Lean Manufacturing and is a set of principles for achieving quality, speed, and customer alignment. There are seven Principles of Lean Software Development:
  1. Eliminate Waste
  2. Build Quality In
  3. Create Knowledge
  4. Defer Commitment
  5. Deliver Fast
  6. Respect People
  7. Optimize the Whole
Applying these principles to the work of delivering a software product is not an end goal. One is not said to 'Do Lean'; rather one uses Lean principles to guide decision making and to choose techniques that will improve a system overall. For example, the practice of TDD (Test-Driven Development) builds integrity into software by inspecting it at the point of creation, thus supporting the Lean principle of building integrity during the creation process.

Plan

In Plan Driven Development a project is successful if it goes according to plan, so in software development it depends on the requirements stability, on having clear and fixed requirements. As you probably know, that is a luxury most software projects don’t have.
In plan-driven methodologies, it is less costly to change requirements during the design stage and it is more expensive to adapt to changes when construction has already started. So, a lot of energy is put into the planning phase. But software development is different. There is no guarantee that a good design will make construction predictable.
'Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen.' - Edward V. Berard
The Agile approach is to break the dependency on requirements stability and come up with a process that takes into account changes. It does that by using Adaptive Planning and Evolutionary Design.
Adaptive planning implies going through the project cycle many times, re-planning, and re-adapting often.
Evolutionary design can be achieved with the help of practices like Self Testing Code, Continuous Integration, Refactoring, and Simple Design.
One is value-driven (Agile) and another is plan-driven (traditional). This is not to say that plan-driven approaches have no value; it is to say that in Agile, we make them explicit and discuss them often.
Both Agile and plan-driven approaches have situation-dependent shortcomings that, if not addressed, can lead to project failure. The challenge is to balance the two approaches to take advantage of their strengths in a given situation while compensating for their weaknesses.

Plan vs. Agile

The fundamental difference between Plan driven development and Agile driven development lies between two significant differences. First one, in the Plan driven model the team will deploy one increment of software at the end of the project. But in Agile, the team will deploy a very small change of the software or more frequently. The second one is sequential verses concurrent activity. In Plan driven development, a process starts after successful completion of another. But in Agile we plan all the time.

Agile Software Development Plan Example

“Plan your work, then work your Plan” by Martin Fowler and Neal Ford
Ability to changes
Visibility
Management teams that work well with Plan-driven approaches also tend to work well with Agile approaches
However, management teams that lack the ability to work well with Plan-driven approaches may lack the focus required of Agile

Agile

The principles and values of agile software development were formed as a way to help teams to break the cycle of process inflation and mainly focus on simple techniques for achieving their goals. The goal?? What is the the goal?
OK, the main goal of every software developer and every development team is to deliver the highest possible value to employers and customers. Yet our projects fail, or fail to deliver value.
The key is in Agile technique compressing the five sequences of the conventional software development method - called the Waterfall method - to a one-week cycle. It manages to do this by developing a system through repeated cycles (iterative) and in smaller portions (incremental), allowing developers to test and review during development. Speed, lower cost, and flexibility are key benefits.
'Adoption rates among IT departments are accelerating,' says Phil Murphy, vice president and research director at Forrester in a 2011 report.
The participants in an agile process are not afraid of change. They view changes to the requirements as good things, because those changes mean that the team has learned more about what it will take to satisfy the customer. Agile team members work together on all aspects of the project. Each member is allowed input into the whole. No single team member is solely responsible for the architecture or the requirements or the tests. The team shares those responsibilities, and each team member has influence over them.
There are many agile processes: SCRUM, Crystal, Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), Test-Driven Development (TDD), Feature-Driven Development (FDD), Adaptive Software Development (ADP), Extreme Programming (XP), and more.. However, the vast majority of successful agile teams have drawn from all these processes to tune their own particular flavor of agility. These adaptations appear to come together with the combination of SCRUM and XP, in which SCRUM practices are used to manage multiple teams that use XP.

Extreme Programming (XP)

As developers we need to remember that XP is not the only game in town.- Pete McBreen
Extreme Programming emphasizes teamwork. Managers, customers, and developers. It improves a software project in five essential ways: communication, simplicity, feedback, respect, and courage.
Bmw navigation update 2018 free download
According to Wiki definition: 'Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements. As a type of agile software development, it advocates frequent 'releases' in short development cycles, which is intended to improve productivity and introduce checkpoints where new customer requirements can be adopted.'
Extreme Programming is a set of simple and concrete practices that combine into an agile development process. XP is a good general-purpose method for developing software. Many project teams will be able to adopt it as is. Many others will be able to adapt it by adding or modifying practices.
Kent Beck’s basic idea
What does it mean to say 'Push them to extreme level'? Does that mean something like the following images?

Or

No, that doesn't mean XP. Let us see what that means.
XP is a set of practices that conforms to the values and principles of Agile. XP is a discrete method, whereas Agile is a classification. There are many Agile methods, XP is just one of them.
Having said that, none of the other Agile methods are as well defined, or as broad in scope as XP. Scrum, for example, is roughly equivalent to XP’s Planning game practice, with elements of Whole Team. While there are differences in the details, it is fair to say that Scrum is a subset of XP. Indeed, many Scrum teams augment their process by adding in many of the XP practices such as Acceptance Testing, Pair Programming, Continuous Integration, and especially Test Driven Development.
Of all the Agile methods, XP is the only method that provides deep and profound disciplines for the way developers do their daily work. Of those disciplines, Test Driven Development is the most revolutionary. Following are some good XP practices. I will try to write the details on each the next time.

Scrum

Scrum is an iterative and incremental agile software development framework for managing software projects and product or application development. Its focus is on 'a flexible, holistic product development strategy where a development team works as a unit to reach a common goal' as opposed to a 'traditional, sequential approach“. Scrum asks why does it take so long and so much effort to do stuff. And why are we so bad at figuring out how long and how much effort things will take. Scrum embraces uncertainty and creativity. Because that is how people work. It places a structure around the learning process, enabling teams to assess both what they’ve created, and just as importantly, how they created it.

Scrum Roles

Example
There are these core roles for producing the product:
Public aircraft. VC added and aircraft.cfg edited to allow correct VC views, jetways, wheel levels and wing views. I added PDF B737 checklist, additional G1000 MFD and PFD screens and HGS (HUD). The high quality Boeing 737-800 model and paintkit from TDS. Textured and assembled for P3D4.5 by Chris Evans. Should also work in earlier P3D versions as well as FSX. FSX Civil Aircraft. Included in this category are many civil jet aircraft and planes for FSX.This covers passenger and commercial aircraft from manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus and other smaller commercial aircraft manufacturers. Flight Simulator X: Acceleration takes advantage of Windows Vista as well as DirectX 10. Downloadable content There are many downloads that both versions of Flight Simulator X can use, ranging from free aircraft and paint jobs to commercial, high-resolution scenery. Download thousands of free add-on aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator X on FSX Downloads! General Aviation Planes, Jets, Turboprops, Warbirds, Military.
  1. Product Owner
  2. Development Team
  3. ScrumMaster
  4. Stakeholders
  5. Managers
Product Owner
Development Team

ScrumMaster

Backlog

The product backlog is an ordered list of 'requirements' that is maintained for a product. It consists of features, bug fixes, non-functional requirements, etc. - whatever needs to be done in order to successfully deliver a working software system. In Scrum, it is not required to start a project with a lengthy, upfront effort to document all requirements. This agile product backlog is almost always more than enough for a first sprint. The Scrum product backlog is then allowed to grow and change as more is learned about the product and its customers
The sprint backlog is the list of work the Development Team must address during the next sprint. The list is derived by selecting stories/features from the top of the product backlog until the Development Team feels it has enough work to fill the sprint. This is done by the Development Team asking 'Can we also do this?' and adding stories/features to the sprint backlog.
Conceptually, the team starts at the top of the prioritized Scrum backlog and draws a line after the lowest of the high-priority items they feel they can complete. In practice, it is not unusual to see a team select, for example, the top five items and then two items from lower on the list that are associated with the initial five.

Agile Development Survey

The survey was conducted between August 9 and November 1, 2012. Sponsored by VersionOne, the survey polled 4,048 individuals from various channels in the software development communities. The data was analyzed and prepared into a summary report by Analysis.Net Research, an independent survey consultancy.

Who knows Agile?

Cause of Agile Failure

Barriers to Further Agile Adoption

Greatest Concerns about adopting Agile

Conclusion

A good agile team picks and chooses the management and technical practices that best work for them. When trying to adopt Agile practices, there will be a ton of excuses as why it won’t work. Those who understand the real benefits of the approach – and genuinely want to make the transition – will likely have success. Those who are searching for reasons why it will fail – well, they will likely find them and either abandon the effort entirely or end up practicing what Elisabeth Hendrickson calls fake agile.
In support of this conclusion, let me leave you with some words (Collected from Robert C. Martin):
'In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.' - General Dwight David Eisenhower
It is better not to fixate on any given methodology, because the needs/conditions of the company and project are likely to change regularly, and you need to be flexible in how you approach managing projects if you want them to be successful. No single methodology is a silver bullet, so the trick is to determine which methods work for you and tune your methodology to suit your individual needs. This is what being 'Agile' is fundamentally about.
Not Agile. It’s important to remember that Scrum and Agile methodologies are not a one-time look at a company's process, it’s an on-going philosophy based on continuous improvement.

References

History

Next Article