Agile Development Methods, and How to Apply Them
The Agile software development methodology is the one that a .Net development company can follow to speed up its project development processes and make them more effective.
Some of the various Agile methods are reviewed below.
- Adaptive Software Development (ADS)
This method was created by James A. Highsmith III. It mainly focuses on the problems related to the development of complex systems. Hence, the method greatly assists in preventing failure of such systems. However, ADS applies less to the tasks set in the development process, and more to the outcome of a software development project. It involves three phases that include speculating, learning and collaborating, and any .Net development company should consider incorporating them in its practice.
- Speculating – This stands for planning of a development process.
- Collaborating – This relates to teamwork that is vital in the development process.
- Learning – This involves recognizing the mistakes made in the development process and taking effective measures to correct them.
- Dynamic Software Development Method (DSDM)
This method was developed after the Rapid Application Development (RAD) in 1994, and applies to the entire software development cycle.
The method comprises of five phases, namely feasibility study, model iteration, build and design, testing and implementation.
- Feasibility study involves carrying out studies to measure the success of the project considering technical, social, economic and legal factors. The .Net development company Iflexion conducts a feasibility study in each Agile-driven project, as this helps in ensuring the project will be successful.
- Model iteration includes coding and analysis. The phase also involves planning the approach to iterations, going through this approach and analyzing its results.
- Build and design is the phase where the theory is put into practice by developing the software design and coding.
- Testing is a necessary phase to check whether the developed software is usable or not by testing it against real use cases.
- Implementation is about releasing the software to its end users.
- Feature Driven Development (FDD)
This method mostly focuses on the design and building phases. With it, any .Net development company can manage projects at both high and low levels of software development.
It comprises of three main phases: developing an overall model, listing the software features, and planning, designing and building by feature.
- Rational Unified Process (RUP)
This method was created to aid the UML (Unified Modeling Language) development method and deals mainly with object-oriented development.
It comprises of four main phases: transition, inception, construction, and elaboration.
- Inception is the phase to note down the project objectives.
- Elaboration involves identifying problems.
- Construction is the phase where the software features are developed and tested.
- Transition is the final phase, where the software is made ready for use by its end users. The end users can also be trained on how to use the product at this stage.
- Lean
This method is focused on improving the entire process of software development. It is one of the best methods adopted by software developers over the recent years.
This method is built on several principles:
- Quality building
- Commitment
- Knowledge creation
- Fast delivery
- Waste reduction
- Respect of people
- Project optimization
These principles greatly aid in decision-making by guiding all .Net development companies in choosing techniques that will lead to improved software development practices.
- Plan Driven Development
For any project to be successful, it must follow a plan. The planning phase is the most important phase of any project since it guides the entire development process. This method depends on the stability of requirements, meaning that the requirements should be clear and fixed. However, if there are any requirement changes to be made, they should be made as early as possible since it would be much expensive to do so in the middle of the software development or later.
- Scrum
This method introduces the aspects of flexibility and adaptability in the software development process. Developing software takes into account various variables that may change during the development process. Such variables can include time, technology, resources, etc. Flexibility is important in any development process because quick adaptability can become a guarantee of project success.
Scrum consists of three main phases: pre-game, development, and post-game.
- Crystal family of methods
This range of methods involves a number of different approaches to handling individual projects. You can choose the method depending on how complex the project is. However, complex systems, unlike simpler ones, require more robust approaches. The members of the Crystal family are marked with colors that indicate how substantial they are. Currently, the Crystal methods are marked with crystal orange, clear and orange web.
Crystal clear is for small projects, crystal orange is for medium ones, and orange web is for the most complex ones.
Final Thoughts
Agile is easy to comprehend and apply in any organization, however, not many software development companies agree on the standards of Agile-based delivery. It turns out, most startups are favour Agile in comparison to well-established companies.
