Agile Methodologies

Agile methodologies promote delivery of a long software development project in short-term cycles or iterations. Iteration involves a tiny portion of software that is developed quickly and accurately for a testing purpose. Iterations are technically called time-boxed, because they are based on a predetermined duration. The duration usually varies between different methodologies. Each agile methodology's uniqueness is determined by the number of tasks, steps and work products involved in it.
The methodology that has lots of steps, activities and work products is normally referred to as higher ceremony while the one with fewer steps, activities and work products is called lower ceremony. Agile software developers have power to design the ceremony they want by picking tasks, steps and outcomes for every project. A number of agile methodologies are available but the main three are explained below.
XP or Extreme Programming - This is one of the hugely used agile methods. According to XP, programmers should pick agile practices based on the requirements of every project they are doing. It recommends use of very short iterations, such as seven to thirty days. Extreme programming is also among the methods that have the lowest ceremony. Its work products consist of the story cards, unit tests and code. Even so, XP is associated with the most complicated agile practices that are delivered via four core values. These include courage, communication, feedback and simplicity. There are thirteen practices that diverge from these four core values. Roles in any XP project include the Coach, programmer, customer and tracker.
Scrum - This is among the very commonly used agile methodologies with an iteration of thirty days. Scrum iteration is called a Sprint. Programmers have flexibility to create shorter Sprints that end after every 14 days if they like. The rationale behind the Scrum framework is that each project has to be tackled by an autonomous team. A team usually consists of four to nine members In other words a team of programmers are required to gather daily so as to discuss and come up with the tasks that would make up a Sprint for the following day. It has three main roles including Scrum Master, Product Owner and Team Member.
The Scrum Master is described as person responsible for restoring order among project team members. This is, however, not a domineering role since teams are self-governing. Scrum Master's role is detecting and eliminating obstacles, reporting progress and channeling the teams toward the high priority job. Product Owner is either the actual owner of the project or their representative. The Team Member refers to the software development team that is often made of programmers, database managers, product testers, engineers and all other involved staff.
Feature Driven Development - The fundamental step in this one is the problem domain model creation. It is done by gathering information about the domain from experts called Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). All the data is merged to form a unified model that is used to make a draft plan for the necessary resources. FDD also encourages teamwork and iterations that last for about two weeks. The teams are first given a group of initial features to work on for about 14 days. Several different feature sets can be delivered at the same time by team members but each feature must be finished. It has up to nine roles such as the project manager, development manager, chief architect, class owner, chief programmer, tester, domain expert, technical writer and deployer.
There are other popularly used agile methodologies not discussed in this article. Examples include Lean Software Development, Agile Unified Process, and Dynamic System Development Method among others.

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Agile Development Practices Are Based On Agile Manifesto Stipulations

Every business has a potential to grow and expand via agile development practices. Agile practices allow software developers to divide a large project into several modules. Developers tackle each module at a time while making sure that it is completed within a preset period. After the completion of each module, the software owner is requested to verify if the completed software module is usable. Agile practices are preferred to traditional software development methods that require an in-house team of developers to do one project until it is over. These traditional approaches do not involve the project owner until the work is finished. They therefore allow costly mistakes to be committed. Due to the unreliability of these methods, big and small organizations are turning to agile developers for help.
Today numerous businesses meet their software creation goals via agile development practices. Projects that demand extra speed or technological expertise are generally assigned to nearshore or offshore agile developing teams. These teams are preferred to in-house developers when an urgent project has to be performed creatively and accurately. These teams are remote companies that do not involve a customer in person. They use latest methods of internet communication to get in touch with their customer until a software development project ends. These communication methods include Skype, instant messengers and email chatting and messaging. Effective communication remains a vital component of agile development practices. It unites development teams and consumers irrespective of the big distance between them. Agile practices are based on the stipulations of the Agile Manifesto.
This manifesto was created by a group of creative and talented programmers such as Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber. These two people contributed to release of the famous Scrum methodology. Scrum is a system where a team does small portions of a work autonomously. These portions of work are called Sprints. Each member must pick enough tasks from the Sprint backlog and complete them within a preset period. Other advocators of the Agile Manifesto include Ron Jefferies, Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham. They came up with Extreme Programming methodology. Simply shortened as XP, Extreme Programming was created for programmers that work face-to-face with their customers. It has many principles and some of them include planning game, small releases with high-value elements, metaphor, simplicity, refactoring, pair programming, testing and sustainable development.
XP methodology emphasizes on customer involvement as well. Customers are called upon to review the features and capabilities of the software product while the development work continues. Crystal methodology is also featured in the Agile Manifesto. Crystal was created by Alistair Cockburn and it refers to a collection of techniques that Alistair created in order to eliminate an anomaly called software engineering. The foundation of Crystal agile development practices is effective communication and larger teams. Although there are other methodologies, the above are very popular among developers. To make sure that proper practices are followed when developing software, one should begin by choosing the right programmer. This is a programmer who is very familiar with agile projects and can provide proof of prior experience.

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