Independent Evaluation of Agile Methods - Literature review Example

Independent Evaluation of Agile Methods In the dynamic world of information technology, software development has become crucial but initself is not an unadulterated process. A new and a dynamic way of software advancement have materialized. Agile software development methods have cropped up replacing the outmoded methodologies. However their success has been circumstantial and studies in this subject has been unsatisfactory. Grounded on the current literature on this subject, this paper recognizes significant prospective success factors of agile methods and how such a success can be attained. The benefits are also highlighted of using agile methods. Keywords Software development; agile methods; crucial success factors INTRODUCTION Teams looking for an appropriate way of monitoring scope and at the same time enhance project implementation timelines look to agile project management. This method assists firms attain a healthy balance between waste reduction, cost cutting and quality preservation (Patel, Seyfi, Taghavi, Wills, Liu, Latih, & Misra, 2012). While conveying value to the buyer in a cost efficient way, agile project administration sustains the intricacies of the projects in a way that the conventional systems would not have in any way. AGILE METHODS Agile methods can help teams dispense products more swiftly while making them acclimatize to vicissitudes more easily than when they would have used the traditional methods (Maarit, Outi, & Pekka, 2010). The other benefits of agile methods of project management are that it cuts the time spent on information gathering while also enhancing implementation timelines. Agile project management simplifies teamwork and group effort enhancing overhead costs involved in project implementation. Agile project management is an adaptive approach that stresses on collaborative work or in other words revolutionary driven work done which demands team work in its execution and a continuing involvement of interested parties in the project cycles. The response of the interested parties is crucial during the execution process of the project when the end consequence is indefinite in some extent. In such an environment, the collaborations are inducted in every stage. This is important because it permits to reexamine the project on the basis of the interested parties’ feedback and reallocate work in the project accordingly. Working progressively gives room for the teams to stay on track and also for the consumers to attain what they need without the risk of profligacy (Qureshi, 2012). The Agile method of project management encompasses a number of factors making it conceivable for agile management teams to custom-build their approach to encompass exclusive business needs. Agile involves the following. DSDN Scrum Kanban Scrumban Extreme programming (XP) All firms are different from each other in the respect of their inner mechanisms. They have unique categorized structures, conveying mechanisms, the freedom of choice in respect of outsourcing specific functions and exclusive requirements of the business, reactive to predominant business circumstances among other dynamics framing the decisions that firms make. The determination of which project management method to use is no different depending on the method in which a firm does business according in accordance with the prevailing business environment (Mishra, Datta, & Mahapatra, 2013). A firm may center on saving costs or even more with the intention of creating the best probable product. However most of the times firms look to save on cost as far as possible while at the same time upholding the quality of the product. The Agile method of project management aids the firms strike a balance between reducing waste and cost and as well as maintaining the quality of the product. Additionally, those working in agile method of project management environment are able to make products sell more swiftly which assist them in the long run to gather information for future enhancements. This leads to the habit of dynamic improvement and make those teams to keep up with the most updated information relating to the customers. How are agile Projects Managed? Agile projects are typically administered by those teams doing the specific work. Along with the project frame work and a string of interested parties, and /or product holders, products are kept on track through frequent meetings by those individuals usually centered on such a project and recurrent interactions between those members of the team. The stakeholder or an interested party is an individual who has assigned the project or provided the required funds for the ventures from a departmental budget. Such a product holder lays down the goals for the project, confers for the scope of the project and assists in prioritization of the pieces of work once the scope has finally been ascertained. Many of the agile teams assign a project head to establish and officiate status meetings throughout the course of the project (Mishra, Datta, & Mahapatra, 2013). This is mainly focused on maintained the focus on pre-agreed efforts decided upon during project planning where the project owner was involved. Tis leader should be well informed on every aspect of the project in order to be able to couch individuals on such aspects if a need arises on how to work on an agile management environment. How Can Teams Benefit from Agile Project Management? There are many ways in which teams can benefit from this agile approach of management. We will look into two ways in which this can be achieved through adoption of Agile as a best ritual of management. First, the reason those consumers cannot conclude business requirements up to the time they see a prototype. Hence agile methodology is good in such a case of unrestricted projects. Secondly, the fact that changing priorities may influence any number of details concerning a project, including scope and even also the project’s overall goal. These deliberations can be examined in more detail in an ideal world; the prerequisites of business projects would be concluded before the beginning of the projects and would be constant throughout the course of the whole venture. However, we don’t live in a perfect world. In the real world sense, the owners of the business converse about the requirements of the business through the use of the information they possess at the moment. Additionally, primacies change and so do the venture requirements. Due to the swiftness at which technology turn out to be obsolete, software advancement projects are especially vulnerable to such kind of vagaries. It is difficult to ask for to some degree before knowing what you really want, so the owners of a project often find themselves in an exacting position of having to foresee the true requirements of their customers even beforehand the customers themselves realize what exactly is that they need. They also realize that this snag is probable to go away anytime soon; it has led to the implementation of iterative improvement methods including Agile and all its components. In a perfect world, the requirements for business on projects would be concluded before the initial start of the projects and they would remain unaffected during the course of the whole undertaking. Those iterative teams present small segments of the work in the course of the project and bestow the opportunity for the customers to assess the work and amend course on the basis of the changes in business prerequisites or primacies (Mishra, Datta, & Mahapatra, 2013). This particular communiqué between the customer and the team sanctions for sustained emphasis on high value deliverables and assists in the control of the project overhead by restraining squandered effort. The value of agile project management Any teams that are at present not tapping into agile work methods or practicing such approaches for project management should look into the values that come with its usage. The benefits accrued from using agile methods should be enough reason for switching to this method (Maarit, Outi, & Pekka, 2010). Benefits such as reduction of overhead costs and the gains that are accrued in Return on Investment are usually by themselves enough to influence transition to this method. But what does it take for such a transition to this agile method? The moment when a team had minimal to no exposure at all to this method concepts, they should commence by countenancing to the principles of Agile to chaperon them in their day to day undertakings. This can be achieved through practicing and collaboration and switch on to use Kanban board. This will entail holding of short summits until the team becomes familiarized with the method. The practice of operating iteratively and collaborating more can lead to the next step of adopting formal agile procedures for project management. The question of whether or not the focus is on a dynamic improvement, the routine can tremendously be expedient to firms that their main focal point is on overhead reduction. The value concomitant with the use of Agile method of project management can be fragmented into quite a few key areas comprising certainty, adaptability, scalability in the sense of determining if the Agile project management is right for the company. The Agile method of project management is an effective group of doctrines teams can follow to generate more while improving their prevailing procedures (Maarit, Outi, & Pekka, 2010). As you learn more about Agile and its systems, an individual may ascertain a method that works best. Agile method has the conceivability of transforming the way a company works. Conclusion In general terms, there may be legitimacy issues that come into view, both internally and externally. However, in order to be categorical on the gains and demerits in scientific software, more research on the issue is entailed. The conclusion is that the Agile approach can be appreciated in scientific software research principally for mid-sized teams and ventures. References 1. Patel, A., Seyfi, A., Taghavi, M., Wills, C., Liu, N., Latih, R., & Misra, S. (2012). A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AGILE, COMPONENT-BASED, ASPECT-ORIENTED AND MASHUP SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT METHODS. Tehnicki Vjesnik / Technical Gazette, 19(1), 175-189. 2. Maarit, L., Outi, S., & Pekka, A. (n.d.). Agile methods rapidly replacing traditional methods at Nokia: A survey of opinions on agile transformation. Information And Software Technology, 53276-290. doi:10.1016/j.infsof.2010.11.010 3. Qureshi, M. (2012). Agile software development methodology for medium and large projects. IET Software, 6(4), 358-363. doi:10.1049/iet-sen.2011.0110 4. Mishra, S. S., Datta, S. S., & Mahapatra, S. S. (2013). Grey-based and fuzzy TOPSIS decision-making approach for agility evaluation of mass customization systems. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 20(4), 440. doi:10.1108/BIJ-07-2011-0050 Read More