IT Management: Agile Development - Case Study Example

Agile Development Methodologies Name Institution Instructor Course Date Agile Development Methodologies Introduction Agile development is a term used in reference to a group of software applications which are founded on incremental and iterative development.1 In this, solutions and requirements are based on the establishment of collaborations between cross-functional and self-organizing teams. The main purpose of adopting them is to enjoy its benefits, mostly the promotion of adaptive planning, flexibility and speed in response to change and an evolutionary delivery and development.2 Agile software development comprises of a framework which enhances foreseen interactions across any development cycle. This paper discusses agile development methodology in relation to management. Implications of Agile Development Agile development is to a great extent directed by a document referred to as the Agile Manifesto, the outcome of a February 11-13 2001 meeting of seventeen software developers in Snowbird, Utah, in which they sought to define the currently applied agile software development approach. 3 During the mid-1990s, there was the evolution of lightweight methodologies of software development as a response to the existent heavyweight methods that were regimented, heavily regulated and took the outmoded waterfall model in their development.4 In agile methodology, motivation and self-organization are highly important, just as are other interactions for instance pair programming and co-location. Working software is considered to be potentially more welcome and useful as compared to the normal presentation of documents that is done during meetings. For customer collaboration, its requirements are considered to be not fully collected at the software development cycle’s initial stages hence there is always the need for continuous stakeholder or customer involvement at all times. In responding to change, agile development is to be focused on the provision of quick responses to continuous development and change.5 The underlying values behind Agile development include ensuring of customer satisfaction through the swift delivery of helpful software, welcoming of changes in requirements even during late stages of development, use of working software as the principle unit of gauging success and having it delivered more frequently. 6There is also emphasis on ensuring sustainable development and ability to keep up a constant pace, paying attention to close, day to day co-operation between developers and people and maintaining face to face conversation as the ideal form of communication. Self-organizing teams and a persistent ensuring that the people are motivated and trusted is also crucial in the success of projects.7 Form and Nature of Agile Development Methodologies There is a broad variety of agile development applications. Most promote teamwork, development, process adaptability and collaboration in the course of a project. Modern agile methods assist in breaking down tasks into small bits, require relatively little planning and rarely need long-term planning. This is the idea behind the concept of iterations.8 Iterations refer to short time-boxes or time frames which usually last between one and four weeks and each of these comprises of a team that works through an entire software development cycle. 9 This starts from the planning, analysis of requirements, designing, coding, testing of units and testing for acceptance, where the product is demonstrated and presented to the concerned stakeholders.10 The goal is usually to have a release available and with minimum bugs at the iteration’s end. It may be necessary to have multiple iterations before the product or its new features are released.11 Some examples of common agile methods include Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum, Crystal and Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM).12 XP practices are mainly old and well-known techniques, including those in planned processes. In addition to resurrecting such techniques, XP puts them together into a whole in which every one of them is reinforced by others and values give them purpose. XP has testing at development’s core and every programmer has to write tests while working on the production code. The tests are then built up into a continuous build and integration process that produces a very stable platform for other developments in future. XP is disciplined and quickly and continuously delivers high-quality software. It enhances customer involvement, continuous planning, rapid feedback and close teamwork in the production of functioning software quite frequently, usually every one to three weeks.13 Scrum came up during the 80's and 90's and concentrates more on managing certain elements of software development, the division of such development into 30 iterations and ensuring greater control and monitoring through having scrum meetings daily. There is less emphasis on engineering practices, with its project management approach mostly being combined with XP practices.14The Crystal group of software is also a common range of agile methods. It is collection that prioritizes project outcome safety, habitability and efficiency. They also possess shared properties, mainly Reflective Improvement, Close Communication and Frequent Delivery. The crystal family consists of names such as Crystal Yellow, Crystal Clear and Crystal and their unique characteristics are founded on various factors for instance system criticality, project priorities and team size.15 They address the realization that every project might require quite a modified set of practices, processes and policies so as to cater for specific project needs. Its key tenets include communication, teamwork and simplicity. DSDM is founded on nine main principles which mainly relate to business value and needs, empowered teams, integrated testing, user involvement which is active, stakeholder collaboration and frequent delivery.16 The composition of teams within an agile project normally is self-organizing and cross-functional, excluding any existent corporate hierarchies or the consideration of the corporate roles that team members play. The teams are responsible for individually deciding the best way of attaining the requirements of the iteration. In Agile methodology also, there is a strong emphasis on face to face communication rather than written documents in instances where members of the team happen to be within a single location. Most of the agile teams are supposed to work within one open office as a way of enhancing their communication.17 The size of teams is usually rather small, ranging from about five to nine people in order to enhance team communication. In case there is need for more or larger development, there may be the use of multiple teams and in case they happen to be located in different geographical areas, then daily contact may be maintained through e-mail, video or voice conferencing. 18 Regardless of the development disciplines which are necessary, the agile teams will all have to be in possession of customer representatives. A customer representative will be expected to act on behalf of the stakeholders who appoint him or her and will need to commit to be available whenever needed by developers and also answer questions that may arise midway during the iteration. At its end, the customer representative and stakeholders will carry out a review of all the progress made and re-evaluate the priorities being sought so as to maximize Returns on investment for the stakeholders, and also ensure that company goals are appropriately aligned with customer needs at all times.19 Most agile methodologies utilize formal and routine face-to-face among teams. This is inclusive of both the customer representatives and stakeholders who act as the observers. Within sessions, team members have a chance to report and update one another on what they managed to achieve the previous day, their planned activities for the day and the possible obstacles that they anticipate for the day. Close communication enables the identification of problems at the instant when they come up. 20 In agile development, working software acts as the basic measure for gauging progress. Together with the face to face communication, this leads to the generation of less paperwork when compared to other forms of methodology. Agile development is value-driven. The agile methodology promotes the prioritization of wants by stakeholders in relation to other outcomes of the iteration outcomes, basing fully on the business value that is perceived during the start of the iteration.21 Agile methodology is notably the opposite of disciplined or plan-driven methodologies. However, the teams involved at times apply high levels of discipline. Development methods typically exist in a continuum, starting from adaptive to predictive. Agile methods fall in the adaptive side. An adaptive methodology focuses on swift adaptation to changes that may occur and whenever there is a change in realities, it becomes possible to modify in order to accommodate it. Adaptive teams do not have a full description of the possible occurrences in the near-future. The further a time is into the future, the more difficult it becomes for an adaptive method to take up its definition. 22Adaptive teams are not able to report the exact tasks to be conducted the following week, but may be able to state the features which will be pursued the following month.23 Characteristics of Agile Development One important characteristic of agile methodology is method tailoring. This refers to the capability or process through which human elements determine the best approach to system development for a given project. In most instances, a majority of agile methods are subjected to method tailoring. Even DSDM is usually tailored successfully in Capability Maturity Model contexts. Appropriateness to situations is arguably a major distinguishing aspect between agile development and the traditional form of software development. 24 Agile methods are usually oriented towards different phases of the life cycle of software development. There are some which focus on practices such as pragmatic programming, extreme programming and agile modeling, while others are oriented towards management of the software projects, for instance scrum. However, there are also some approaches which offer full coverage of the life cycle of development, for instance DSDM, and others are best applicable only from the stage of requirements specification onwards. There is therefore quite some difference between the range of available software development approaches.25 Agile development is adaptive and not predictive. Engineering methods generally plan out significant portions of software development in detail and over a long time span of time, and this is effective until circumstances change, hence a characteristic resistance to change.26 On their part however, agile methods are receptive to such change and are thrive on the change. In addition, agile methods are process-oriented rather than people-oriented. Engineering methods typically aim at defining a process that effectively works with anyone who uses them. Agile methodology on its part asserts that there is no process that can match the skill possessed by development teams hence the role of the process is that of supporting development teams as they work.27 Applicability of Agile Methods Business leadership needs to play its part in ensuring the success of agile development. The technical department cannot work on the entire process alone. There is always need for guidance with relation to business needs, therefore a great need for intimate contact with business experts. Such contact extends beyond just projects involved in its business role. An agile team cannot effectively exist if there is only occasional communication. There is the need for continuous contact with the source of expertise. In addition, the access is not dealt with at managerial level only, but goes on with all developers. Because the developers are capable professionals within their field, there is need for them to be able to work on equal levels with other professionals. Most of this is because of the adaptive development process’ nature. Adaptive development is founded on the belief that there is change in everything hence need for constant contact that will inform everybody about changes.28 The use of agile methods is not advisable for everyone. It is important to consider a number of issues before deciding on it. In the current setting, the most common approach is code and fix. The application of discipline that exceeds chaos helps, and agile development has the additional advantage of being much less extreme than applying a heavyweight method. In this case, the relatively light weight characteristic in agile methods has an advantage. 29It is easier to use simpler processes when one is not used to using any process at all. For people who are new to agile development, the starting point becomes a question. Just like most new processes or technologies, there is the need to make personal evaluations of it. This will enable one to see how it can fit into his environment. As a first step, one should identify the best project in which agile methods are to be applied. 30 Because the methods are extremely people-oriented, it would be important to start with the team which is ready to adopt agile development. It would be difficult to operate with a reluctant team and such would also go against the agile development notion. It would be advisable to have customers who are ready to work collaboratively too. In case they do not do so, it will not be possible to derive its full benefits.31 Although there is much pressure relating to market needs and quality, agile technology has not yet been fully embraced by senior managers. This is because for a long time, the methodologies and volatile nature of markets have differed in content quality. In addition, large organizations which usually run more complex and larger projects still view agile methods as being too extreme to be used in large scale and therefore tend to be skeptical about its potential. The most notable approach used in the quantification of agility is the Agility Index Measurement (AIM) which scores projects in relation to different agility factors in order to get to a total. There is the scoring of these developments against a number of dimensions within the software project namely; novelty, interaction, duration, risk and effort.32 Most of the people who take up agile system systems development feel that it leads to greater business satisfaction, productivity and quality. However, they still tend to use agile methods only for some projects as they find them not suitable for others. Most organizations use both traditional and agile systems, depending on the cases at hand. Agile systems Development demands suitable organizational culture so as to accommodate it, and this is always very different from that which sustains the traditional development systems. The changing of organizational culture is however a hard task that may take years and the two cannot occur together within an organization. New structures have to be established in order to sustain the two varieties of culture so that both the benefits of the traditional and agile cultures may be enjoyed.33 The main positive outcomes of agile system methodology include cost reduction of an average 5-7% on top of the industry benchmarks, quality improvement characterized by lower defect rates and time-to-market compression with between 25 and 50% time reduction when compared to other firms that do not have it in place. 34 For most users, the good thing about agile methodologies is that they react to the bureaucracy of traditional methodologies, and attain a productive compromise between having too much process and having no process.35 As a result, there is a shift in emphasis from that of engineering methods. The main of these is that they have less documentation. Instead, they tend to be code-oriented, with the main part of documentation being source codes. 36 Although agile software development has been marked by considerable successes in projects however, it also has some limitations. For instance, companies that come up with large, long-lasting and complex systems may not automatically be able to benefit from agile processes in their usual form. Some elements of software development stand to benefit from agile methods while others can best benefit from approaches that are more predictive and less agile. 37 Conclusion Agile development is essentially a collection of software methodologies founded on iterative development. In it, the arrival at what is needed is founded on effective collaboration between cross functional and self organizing teams. It is highly adaptable to change and accountability, communication and quality issues play a major role. Agile development processes are simple and are timely in release. Many firms are faced with the choice of adopting it but they do not, mainly due to the feeling that it is not appropriate, especially for large firms. It also requires cultural change which may not be possible in a situation where traditional methods are already in practice, especially when they are highly established. However, many progressive firms understand the need for its adaptability and therefore have it side by side with the traditional methods. References Aken, Andrew. CHUNK: An Agile Approach to the Software Development Life Cycle. Journal of Internet Commerce, 2008, Vol. 7 (3):313-338 Bozzuto, Brian. Applying Enabling Bureaucracy to Organizational Processes, 2011. Accessed on 26 September 2011 from Gwanhoo, Lee and Weidong, Xia. Toward Agile: An Integrated Analysis of Quantitative and Qualitative Field Data on Software Development Agility.MIS Quarterly, 2010, Vol. 34 (1): 87-114 Hasnain, Eisha and Hall, Tracy.Introduction to Stand-up Meetings in Agile Methods. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2009, Vol. 1127 (1):110-120 Highsmith, Jim. History: The Agile Manifesto, 2001. Accessed on 26 September 2011 from McAvoy, John and Butler, Tom. A Failure to Learn By Software Developers: Inhibiting the Adoption of an Agile Software Development Methodology. Journal of Information Technology Case & Application Research, 2009, Vol. 11(1): 23-46 Reifer, Donald. How Good are Agile Methods? Manager, July/August 2002 Schuh, Peter. Integrating Agile Development in the Real World. Hingham: Charles River Media, 2004 Shore, James and Warden, Shane. The art of Agile Development. California: O'Reilly Media, 2008 Sutharshan, Anil and Maj, Suresh. Enhancing Agile Methods for Multi-Cultural Software Project Teams. Modern Applied Science, 2011, Vol. 5 (1):12-22 Version One. Iteration Planning, 2011. Accessed on 26 September 2011 from Vidgen, Richard and Wang, Xiaofeng. Coevolving Systems and the Organization of Agile Software Development, 2009. Information Systems Research, Vol. 20: 355 - 376 Vinekar, Vishnu, Slinkman, Craig and Nerur, Sridhar.Can Agile and Traditional Systems Development Approaches Coexist? An Ambidextrous View. Information Systems Management. Vol. 23(3):31-42 Read More