Agile software development refers to a group of software development methodologies based on iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self organizing, cross functional teams. It promotes a self disciplined approach to the process of Project Management that encourages inspection and adaptation on a frequent basis, self organization and accountability, and a perfect alignment between the needs of the customer and the business goals and objectives.
The Agile Methodology is based on the Agile Manifesto that states
- Individuals and Interactions over processes and tools.
- Working software over comprehensive documents.
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiations.
- Responding to change over following a plan.
Scrum, is the most widely used, light weight process framework for agile development. Process framework here describes a particular set of practices that must be adhered to, for example, pair programming in XP framework. It is lightweight in the sense that the overhead in the process is kept as low as possible, in order to maximize the productive time, that can be used to get the useful work done, hence, Scrum, is in conformance with the Agile Manifesto.
Scrum Framework enables the organizations to adjust to the ever changing requirements without having to suffer much and produce a product that meets evolving business goals.
Roles & Responsibilities
Scrum Master
- He is the keeper of the process.
- Is responsible, for the smooth running of the process by handling obstacles that would otherwise impact the team’s productivity.
- He is also responsible for facilitating the critical meetings.
- Product Owner
- He is the keeper of the requirements.
- Is the Single-point-of-Contact (SPOC), for the requirements and also decides on their order of implementation.
- Acts as the interface between the business, customer and the product related needs on end and the teams requirements on the other.
The Team
- Self organizing and cross functional groups of people who are directly involved with the development and testing of the product.
- They are the ones, who decide, how to break the work into tasks and also their assignment to individuals.
For Instance, in a Traditional Project Management or Hire Magento Developer Program, a developer prepares WBS by himself and confirm schedule and priority of the tasks of Magento Extension Development or Magento Customization on daily or weekly basis with the Customer/Spoke Person.
The Benefits
To the Customer
- Development requests are welcomed by the vendors.
- Features are prioritized and are developed and delivered accordingly.
To the Vendor
- Reduced wastage, as the focus is on development of high value features.
- Reduced Time-to-Market due to decrease in overhead caused by documentation and increased efficiency.
Please read more on our Project Management and Business Models, as we use Agile Software Development Methodology in our Time & Materials and Offshore Development Business Model at Zestard Technologies.
