Today, ‘Agile’ has become a hot buzzword in the software development industry. Inspired by the term ‘agile’, meaning to move quickly and easily, this fresh methodology of project management and practices changed the way that many software product development companies approached building products.
Prior to Agile’s explosion onto the software development scene, the Waterfall methodology was king. The waterfall method is sequential, moving through the phases of software product development one at a time. However, that approach doesn’t exactly support the flexibility that software development teams often need today to build software products from scratch.
What is Agile?
Software product development leaders recognized the need to shift the focus in order to better build and deliver software products for their customers. Just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, in February 2001, a select team of software pioneers gathered in one place to brave a blizzard and forge a new approach to software development. The team left this retreat with the Agile manifesto, a document outlining new practices based on 12 principles derived from 4 key values. It wasn’t long before this Agile manifesto sparked debate and, ultimately, lasting change in the software development industry.
Designed with software product development in mind, this project management methodology and its core values and practices have since been successfully extrapolated to other departments and industries to form Agile businesses. Whether your entire business is Agile today or just your IT team, best practices and processes are determined by the designated values and principles.
What are the key values for Agile methodology?
There are 4 key values that are the building blocks of every component in the Agile method. They are expressed to emphasize the shifting focus from practices and processes to people and collaboration.
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
These four values inform the best practices of Agile, placing the focus on flexibility so that teams of people can best work together to accomplish tasks. Agile practices promote the importance of end goals over the journey. If people are working well together, adapting to new changes, and producing, how they have done so is less important.
What are the 12 Agile principles?
The 12 principles outlined in the Agile Manifesto stem from the 4 key values of Agile methodology. These principles illustrate practices that allow the teams to uphold the 4 key values throughout the course of the Agile software development life cycle.
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Agile software development focuses on providing value to the customer as soon as possible. This is done by building useable product features in their entirety. Typically, a feature is fully built and tested in a chunk of time that varies based on project length. This time is called a sprint and often ends with a demonstration of a new feature to the customer.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in software development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
When working on an Agile development team, you should be prepared for requirements to change. In the traditional Waterfall development methodology, requirements are completed up front before the start of development. However, many times, once a customer is involved in development and has seen some complete features, they recognize that their needs are different than originally anticipated.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
An Agile software development team works to deliver working software one feature at a time. The time period it typically takes to design, code, and test a feature is typically called a sprint or iteration. In rare cases, larger features may span many iterations. Agile software development teams carefully plan out each iteration to ensure they are consistently delivering working, valuable product features to clients.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Too many software projects end in failure when business stakeholders and the software development team are not aligned from the start. It’s a bad idea to give development teams instructions and let them run with it – you’ll likely only end up disappointed. The Agile methodology recognizes the need for requirements to change throughout the course of the project. Since the businesspeople are outlining their needs, it’s important that they’re involved for the duration to be sure the end product is what they expected.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need and trust them to get the job done.
If you don’t trust your team, then you’ve hired the wrong people. To complete an Agile software product build, look for motivated individuals and keep the lines of communication open. Check in to be sure that your Agile team has what they need to accomplish their goals, and they will do just that. An Agile project lead avoids micromanaging their team and instead looks for ways to offer continuous support.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Many Agile software development teams meet frequently to provide updates on progress and call attention to any obstacles. Getting teams in one place for face-to-face conversations (or a Zoom meeting, to keep teams safe in the current times!) is one of many efficient Agile practices that ensures everyone is on the same page and getting done what’s necessary so as not to hold up others.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how fast you’ve built your software, how good it looks, or how many cool features it contains. If your software doesn’t work, the product won’t provide any real value to the business and their customers. Development teams want to match the business’ desires, but it’s also important to be sure you’re creating a software product that actually works at each stage.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Agile development teams plan out the scope of work to keep producing at a steady pace. While the software requirements will change during the course of the project, the expectations from members of the team remains the same throughout. Subject matter experts, developers, and any users participating in testing will be well aware of their commitments so that product development isn’t slowed down.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Rework is often the reason why software projects tend to fall behind. Ensuring that you’re taking steps to create a positive user experience that implements good design and matches the intended brand is essential to avoid redoing work on the product later. Also, take care to use a technical architect to be sure your end product will be able to evolve as needed.
10. Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
Take a straightforward approach and always consider whether or not you’re following the fastest path to achieve your product goals. Avoid projects that are too long – it’s likely that you could build something valuable in much less time. That smaller project will allow you to be more agile because it allows for the opportunity to identify necessary changes in the future, before you’ve wasted time building the product.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
Foster a culture of ownership among your team to enhance the quality of your deliverables. Assembling the best Agile team, identifying roles, and establishing accountability allows Agile teams to essentially manage themselves. Give your Agile team the freedom to pivot and the support they need, and they will build your product to the best of their abilities.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Often called an Agile retrospective, this collection of team feedback allows your Agile software development team to get better and more efficient with each sprint. Focus on what went well and what did not. Let your team make commitments to taking certain actions that will make each subsequent sprint run more smoothly.
What’s an Agile development team?
An Agile development team is governed by these key values and principles. They are the people putting in the work to build and test the end software product using the Agile approach. They typically consist of a set of specific team members following Agile practices and working effectively together to deliver a product using the Agile method of software development.
The best Agile teams today are flexible, collaborative, and diverse. They are prepared to tackle new challenges, able and ready to adapt to changes, value using Agile best practices, and open to feedback to continuously learn and get better.
Who are the members of an Agile development team?
An Agile development team consists of members with the necessary competencies required to deliver the work using the Agile methodology. This means you’ll need to stack your team with people with strong technical, design, leadership, and business abilities.
However, in true Agile fashion, each individual is not limited to one role or responsibility. This means that well-rounded talent will serve you well on an Agile software development team today.
Agile software development projects require the contribution and collaboration of these individuals throughout the duration of the project. For example, not all features are designed upfront. Your UI/UX professional will design new features during the project while the technical team is working on building the product features designed in the previous sprint.
This means that it’s very useful when members of an Agile team can help the team in several ways. For instance, a developer that can jump in to test thoroughly or a designer that can translate business needs would provide immense value to a product team using the Agile software development methodology.
Multiple skillsets ensures that less time is spent waiting on other team members to complete tasks and allows Agile teams to adapt should the need arise for an extra hand somewhere, which can be especially important if your team isn’t large.
How does Agile relate to Scrum?
If you’ve heard of the Agile software development methodology, you’ve probably also heard of Scrum. These are not the same thing, but they are related. Scrum is a subset of Agile, a framework of processes that help teams work together. In other words, Scrum is basically a cheat sheet for how to achieve success using the Agile methodology.
The Scrum framework is widely used and highlights several different practices that teams can use to ensure seamless communication on complex projects. These Scrum practices enhance collaboration to help a team deliver clean code and a valuable product using the Agile methodology.
For instance, Scrum emphasizes the importance of a ‘daily scrum’ – a brief, daily meeting during which the team reconnects to discuss what’s been done, plan for the day, and identify anything blocking progress for a team member. This daily scrum meeting supports some main principles of the Agile methodology, as it provides a chance for a face-to-face meeting, ensures teams maintain a consistent pace, and affords the opportunity to identify necessary changes quickly.
Other Scrum events and artifacts that Agile teams often use include sprints, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and backlogs. All of these Scrum terms relate to key values and principles outlined in Agile, thus supporting a team in following the Agile methodology.
What are the three roles in Scrum teams?
Roles in Scrum include the development team, the product owner, and the Scrum master. It’s important to note that these roles aren’t necessarily job titles – the skillset Scrum teams need depends on the job they need to complete.
For instance, Scrum development teams today are likely not limited to software developers. Depending on the product that the team is creating, you might also have designers, market researchers, industry experts, business analysts, and quality analysts.
The development team is the largest component of your Scrum team. Scrum teams may vary in size, though 5-9 development team members is typically ideal. The focus of development teams is to get the work done. However, it’s important to note that development teams are not made up exclusively of developers that know how to code!
The product owner helps direct the development team’s effort. They are the product expert and are in charge of the requirements. This means they are also responsible for stakeholder management. With this knowledge, it also makes sense that the product owner tells the Scrum teams what product features to build and when through a backlog and release plan.
The Scrum master supports all of the other roles and ensures that teams are committed to Scrum best practices. If the product owner is responsible for stakeholder management, the scrum master is responsible for team management. They ensure that development teams self-organize, business value is clear, and teams are taking necessary steps to improve continuously.
6 Steps to Building Agile Software Development Teams
Now that you know what you need, it’s time to focus on building your Agile software development teams.
- Define Your Resources
Consider what you have to work with – this includes people as well as tools. What problems are you addressing with the end product? Do you have the right technical and management skillset at your disposal? Do you have enough teammates to spare, or will you need to get some extra help?
You want to make sure the right types of people are in place on your Agile teams. You can have the world’s best Agile software product developers, but if you don’t have anyone willing to step up and lead, you’re missing something. Identify those gaps and work to fill them, whether that means hiring fresh or seeking technical or Agile training for your current teams.
- Determine Your ‘Must-Haves’
Your specific project will determine what you really need for your Agile teams. Are you working on an application using artificial intelligence? In that case, you’ll need someone familiar with AI and Machine Learning, or at least fast learners who are willing to jump right in.
Think about the industry. You’ll want to have some background knowledge to be able to understand the business requirements, organizational goals, and unique challenges your client faces. This will help to position your team as experts and better enable you to work agilely, especially if you’re combining in-house teams with external resources.
Make sure you hit your customer’s must-haves as well. Have you promised them product delivery within a set timeframe to enable them to have the software up and running before their busy season? If so, you might need to round up a bigger team so you can deliver all of the work on time.
- Assign Agile Roles
Whether or not you’re using Scrum framework for your Agile software development project, you will want to assign roles to your team members. Consider everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, and what jobs they best enjoy doing.
Make sure you have the right people to do the work, someone to facilitate and lead customer communication, and someone to ensure that the team is following Agile best practices and continuing to improve through each sprint.
Once these roles are decided, don’t keep them secret! Be sure that everyone knows their role and that of their teammates. This way, teams can be held accountable and everyone will know who to go to with any questions that might come up.
- Build a Shared Language
Imagine if you gathered a team from around the world, but each teammate spoke a different language. How efficient do you think your Agile software development team would be? Not very. While it may not appear as chaotic as if one developer speaks Czech and another Japanese, having teams full of people that are trying to translate Agile won’t work out so well either.
In order for your Agile software development team to build the best product, you’ll want to create a shared language. This enables collaboration and ensures your Agile teams are able to interpret the work to be done in the same way. Teammates will be better able to understand each other’s intentions and reports on progress.
- Set Expectations
You’ve assigned roles and developed a shared language, but that won’t be enough. You want to set expectations within your Agile teams. What needs to be delivered and when? How should teams communicate?
Determine how you will measure progress and incentivize your Agile teams correctly to get there. Ensure there is clarity around the goals for teams in terms of day-to-day and the overall product. Remember that consistency is key when it comes to setting expectations and encouraging results using Agile practices.
- Provide Support
One great characteristic of Agile software development teams is that they are self-organizing. You’ve built a great team – now is the time to let them run with it. Management should ensure Agile teams have what they need and communicate frequently.
Create and maintain an environment that encourages teams to ask questions and learn new things. Offer support for new ideas, keeping in mind that Agile is focused on getting results over replicating processes.
Why You Need an Agile Software Development Team
If you’re tired of blowing your budget and running late on your projects, you should consider an Agile software development team today. There are many benefits to an Agile approach to a software product build.
Stay A Step Ahead
Agile methodology enables teams to get your product to market faster than your competitors. Agile developers deliver the most important product features first and then continue to wow your users with enhancements that fit their needs later.
Change Your Mind
The ability for teams to adapt to fast and frequent changes is central to Agile software development methodology. You don’t know what you don’t know! Agile allows for the flexibility to change the plan as you go, letting you pivot so that you can always be sure you’re getting what you need.
Build Your Vision
Agile software development emphasizes the business’ involvement throughout the process. By working closely and often with a development team, it’s more likely that the teams will build a product that meets business expectations.
Be in the Know
Working in Agile lets you know what’s going on throughout the project duration. Frequent and clear communication is critical to successful Agile software development. Each team member is aware of what everyone is producing, project dependencies, and how work relates to the overall product.
Keep Users Happy
Input from business stakeholders and customers goes a long way in building software products that your users will love. The Agile methodology encourages stakeholder input early on and allows cooperation from users as soon as possible. Agile helps teams find issues and address user feedback early.
Interested in learning more about Agile software development teams, transitioning your teams to Agile methodology, or getting some help from software developers with management and Agile experience? We can help!