What is Agile Software Development?
Agile software development refers to a group of methodologies based on iterative
development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration
between self-organizing cross-functional teams.
Agile software development methods generally promote a project management process that encourages
frequent inspection and adaptation, a leadership philosophy that encourages
teamwork, self-organization and accountability, a set of engineering best practices
that allow for rapid delivery of high-quality software, and a business approach that
aligns development with customer needs and company goals.
Agile methods are a family of development processes that share the following
principles:
- Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software
- Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
- Working software is the principal measure of progress
- Even late changes in requirements are welcomed
- Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
- Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (Co-location)
- Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
- Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
- Simplicity
- Self-organizing teams
- Regular adaptation to changing circumstances
Why use Agile?
Agile software development methodology attempts to provide many opportunities to assess
the direction of a project throughout the development lifecycle. This is achieved
through regular cadences of work, known as sprints or iterations, at the end of
which teams must present a shippable increment of work. Thus by focusing on the
repetition of abbreviated work cycles as well as the functional product they yield,
agile methodology could be described as “iterative” and “incremental.” In an agile
paradigm, every aspect of development — requirements, design, etc. — is continually
revisited throughout the lifecycle. When a team stops and re-evaluates the direction
of a project every two weeks, there’s always time to steer it in another direction.
The results of this “inspect-and-adapt” approach to development greatly reduce
both development costs and time to market. Because a team’s work cycle is limited
to two weeks, it gives stakeholders recurring opportunities to calibrate releases for
success in the real world. In essence, it could be said that the agile development
methodologies help companies build the right product. Instead of committing to
market a piece of software that hasn’t even been written yet, agile empowers teams
to optimize their release as it’s developed, to be as competitive as possible in the
marketplace. In the end, a development agile methodology that preserves a product’s
critical market relevance and ensures a team’s work doesn’t wind up on a shelf, never
released, is an attractive option for stakeholders and developers alike.
WHAT CAN ELIASSEN GROUP DO FOR YOU?
For Careers:
We are focused on your careers. Many of our clients are actively looking for people
that fit their model and approach. Finding you a position that capitalizes on your
strengths and goals is our business. We give you VISIBILITY into your career options.
We are ADAPTIVE in finding you new challenges. We focus on your BUSINESS
VALUE and we offer you no RISK. Eliassen Group wants to help you with your career.
For Clients:
We have an established network of consultants with expertise in the Agile space and
would be able to quickly fill Agile team roles with high quality candidates. Over the
past 12 months, we have filled the following roles (amongst others) with clients:
- Agile Coach – Provided strategic level consulting to help our clients successfully
- transition to Agile SD & PM practices across their operations
- Scrum Master – Leading iterations from new stories to “done done”
- Development staff – with experience working in a test-driven development and pair programming environment.
- QA personnel – with ability to establish automated testing frameworks in a test-driven development environment.