Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver faster and with minimal efforts. In opposition to launch the entire software at once agile works on the incremental approach. Continuous evaluations of plans are made so that any unexpected change may not disrupt the management.
The traditional waterfall approach has one set of teams for a discipline and hands it over to the next person when the development is done, but agile development comes with cross-functional team collaborations. Ability to communicate, collaborate, adapt, and trusting the team members is the core of agile. The project lead or product owner prioritize the work to be delivered, the team takes the lead to decide how the work gets done, managing small tasks and assignments.
Agile isn’t defined by a set of steps or specific development techniques. But, agile is a group of methodologies that hugely rely on feedback and improvement.
The Agile methodology didn’t suggest iterations or predefined team size. It mostly gives importance to the set of individuals. The team effort is the crucial thing in developing using the agile methodology
Why agile?
Teams are choosing agile so that they can adapt to changes in the marketplace or feedback from customers quickly without wasting plans. Enough plans and shipments in small increments let any team collect feedback on every change and integrate it into future at minimum cost.
But it’s not just about the profits, it’s about the team. As mentioned by the Agile methodology, human relations are more important than fixed processes. working with customers and teammates is crucial than already fixed arrangements. Delivering a working solution to the customer’s problems is crucial than detailed documentation.
An agile team works with a common goal, then brings it to a shape in the best way possible. Each team sets their own goals for quality, usability, and completeness. Although it may seem complex, company leaders find that when they put their trust in an agile team, that team feels a greater sense of responsibility and rises to exceed management’s expectations.
Agile frameworks
The publication of the Agile Manifesto in 2001 marks the birth of agile as a methodology. Since then, many agile frameworks have been developed such as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and Extreme Programming (XP). Each of them contains the core principles of frequent iteration, continuous improvement, and superior quality in its own way.
