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Today, the software is a phenomenon that has taken its place in every aspect of our lives, from day-to-day to the most complex business processes - its impact is felt everywhere.
Companies need effective software systems for business process management and produce these systems through their information systems departments or purchase them from software companies. In both cases, creating the software requires a series of engineering and project management processes. When choosing the method of these processes, the characteristics of the software to be created such as size, complexity, and purpose, the structure of the organization and the project team that will create the software, and the resources that can be used are important.
Software development provides guidelines for software development teams to create high-quality software. Software comprises not only lines of code written in a programming language but also concrete documentation. Software projects are specialized projects and, while they share the basics of project management, require special management techniques due to their content.
There are important differences that distinguish software projects from other projects. While the end product created in other technical fields has a physical existence, the product created in software projects is intangible as it is a manifestation of intellectual processes. This intangibility not only hinders the traceability of project management processes but also negatively affects the correct definition of requirements that should be defined at the beginning of the project.
It increases the uncertainty of the project as it is often difficult for the customer to precisely explain what they want. This problem generates more uncertainty than in general project management. Since uncertainties are higher than in general project management, the workload and cost estimation in software projects are more difficult to calculate, and the probability of failure is higher.
As projects carried out in other engineering fields hardly differ in terms of time and space, experience is gained in project management and this experience is applied to new projects. In software projects, the rapid development of information technologies and changing customer requirements can lead to changes within the ongoing project and nullify the experience gained from previous projects.
For these reasons, success rates in software projects are low. The criteria that determine the success of agile software development projects are the elements of time-resources-scope, also known as the project management triangle. CHAOS reports on the success rates of software projects have been published every year since 1994 by the Standish Group International. According to the latest report, "Beyond Infinity in 2020," the probability of success in agile projects is twice as high as in traditional projects.
Classic project management is the oldest and basic model of software development, in which the activities carried out in software projects are carried out in successive phases. The first method of classic software development, which was implemented in the 1950s, was “Code and Fix”. It was based on the principle of coding the requirements directly and correcting the errors occurring in the process or after the product delivery without planning or design phase. As a result of the software crisis in the 1960s, a software engineering conference was organized by the NATO Science Committee in Germany. The main topics of this conference are the definition of the concept of software development and the determination of the standards that should be used in the processes of software development.
The Waterfall model was described in a paper published by Dr. Winston Royce in 1970. Over time, the Waterfall method took the form we know today and became the basis for classical software development. In projects that use the Waterfall model, the phase ends are clearly defined and the project is carried out under intensive monitoring with controls such as strict reviews, intensive documentation, and management approval at each phase change.
Therefore, its implementation requires strict discipline. The main purpose of this approach is to establish factors such as scope, time, and resources from the outset, by not allowing changes during the project and neutralizing changes that pose a significant risk factor. When the Waterfall model emerged and the conditions were evaluated, business processes were not as dependent on information systems as they are today.
To eliminate the disadvantages of classical software development, 17 software development experts came together in 2001 to discuss the concepts around the idea of agile software development and create the Agile Manifesto. This laid the foundations and backbone of agile software development. Projects created based on the agile mindset are much more than classical software development today.
Agile project management has emerged as an alternative solution for the problems in which classic project management failed. Agility began when a group of innovative people came together and tried to find a different way of thinking about the problems in project management. This group has identified four common values for successful projects and teams, which they called the Agile Software Development Manifesto. After a day-long discussion, the experts agreed on a number of basic ideas and principles to find solutions to the software development problems with which they faced during their careers. Bringing these principles together in a single document led to a rethink in the world of software project development.
Agile software development is an iterative and incremental (evolutionary) approach to self-organizing teams in a highly cooperative way, with an effective management framework and timely, inexpensive, and high-quality solutions that meet the changing needs of interest groups.
Iterations that are used in agile methods are designed in accordance with the experience from previous iterations and the identified problems. Tasks that need to be done are prioritized according to their business value. The project team determines how best to do the work as part of the available resources and restrictions. The team has to do certain tasks in a certain time (within the iteration time). It is solely the team with its strengths and weaknesses, which is responsible for the creation of the product that must be delivered at the end of the iteration. Therefore, cooperation in the team is important. In this context, experimenting, prioritization, self -organization, time frame, and cooperation can be performed as basic principles on which agile methods are based.
In agile methods, activities of agile software development are carried out in iterative phases. As a result of these iterations, a useful product is created and the development processes are repeated taking into account customer or user feedback and, if necessary, changed requirements. These iterative processes are continued until the product that the customer wants is produced.
Agile software development builds on 12 principles and 4 values that are defined in the agile manifesto. These 4 core values are:
Agile software development takes an iterative approach to software development. Unlike a simple linear waterfall model, agile projects consist of a series of small cycles (defined as sprints in Scrum). Each one is a miniature project. It has a backlog and consists of design, implementation, testing and deployment phases within the predefined scope of work. At the end of each sprint, a potentially shippable increment is delivered. Thus, new features are added to the product with each iteration, resulting in gradual project growth. By reviewing feature development at every stage, the risk of delivering a potentially unsuccessful product is significantly eliminated.
Agile software development is a mindset that iteratively repeats all phases from the design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of a software project to re-planning. This method focuses on rapid and flexible software development and aims to adapt and respond to customer needs and changing conditions.
The agile software development method starts with creating a vision for the project that is shared by all relevant stakeholders. Together, these stakeholders create a roadmap that outlines the expected outcomes at each iteration of the execution phase of the process. These stages are as follows.
Agile software development can bring many advantages to a company and its customers. Such as:
● Scrum
● Extreme programming (XP)
● Kanban
● Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
● Feature Drive Development (FDD)
● Lean software development (LSD)
● Adaptive software development (ASD)
● Crystal agile framework
● The scaled agile framework (safe)
Classic software development | Agile software development |
First release carefully planned | Fast and adaptable processes |
Limited transparency | Full transparency between members |
Top-down responsibility | Shared responsibility and ownership |
Research and plan first | Ongoing research, planning and testing |
Different teams in different stadiums | Continuous collaboration within and between teams |
Focused on delivering the finished (complete) product | Product features with a focus on iteration |
Although agile software development today has many advantages over classic software development, it is not free of restrictions. However, these restrictions are not restrictions that, like conventional projects, result from the structure of the system.
In summary, agile software development can be an effective approach to developing high-quality software in a short period of time. By using agile methods, teams can react faster to changes, improve the quality of the software and achieve higher customer satisfaction.
If you want to learn more about how agile software development works and how to introduce this method to your team, you should visit our Scaled Agile Framework page. There you will find various SAFe courses, including our "SAFe Agile Software Engineering" course, which teaches you the basics of agile software development.
And if you are also interested in other IT topics, we have a variety of training courses and certifications on our "Academy" page that can help you expand your knowledge and skills. Have a look and discover the possibilities that are available to you!
You have a whole team that you want to be trained, but none of our trainings meet your requirements? Don't worry. We will create a special. Inhouse Training Course that is especially tailored to the needs of your company. Let's have a chat!