Agile development is a popular project management philosophy that is frequently used in software development. It encourages flexible thinking, changing spontaneously to meet new challenges, and taking an iterative approach to a project.
In an agile development environment, a project is broken down into several phases. Each phase goes through the defining, building, testing, and releasing phases.
Here is a look at the pros and cons of agile development.
Pros of Agile Development
Quick Delivery: The primary focus of the agile approach is to get things done, instead of getting them right the first time. The developers create functional deliverables that can be released quickly, instead of ensuring that everything is perfect. These deliverables are then refined over subsequent iterations. This approach ensures that a product or app is launched as early as possible.
Flexibility: Agile development takes a cyclical approach by using multiple iterations. Developers and customers can collaborate to add, delete, or modify requirements at the start of each cycle. This offers endless flexibility and adaptability to meet any change in the needs, priorities, or requirements of the project.
Collaboration: Agile methodology famously espouses an ‘individuals over tools’ approach. This means that team-work and a collaborative effort is preferred over using off-the-shelf tools. Projects and teams using agile approach frequently huddle in meeting to discuss the project in a holistic way. This ensures that everyone is on board and up to speed with the development.
Customer Satisfaction: As the agile development is iterative, deliverables are provided on a regular basis. This allows the customer to weigh in and provide feedback. If the deliverables are weekly, the customer may provide weekly feedback. This is then incorporated into each subsequent cycle to ensure that the development closely aligns with the customer’s needs, ensuring better customer satisfaction.
Change Response: The agile method fosters a flexible development approach as noted above. This has many benefits. It helps developers rapidly adapt to new requirements and shift priorities. It also allows a team to incorporate new feedback late into the development cycle. In fact, it is possible to incorporate changes into a project until the last cycles.
Cons of Agile Development
Although agile philosophy has obvious advantages, it also comes with some downsides. Here is a look at these:
Low Predictability: Agile development takes place in cycles, also known as iterations. It is not always possible to predict project outcomes from the get-go. At best, the team may be able to foresee the outcome of the current cycle or the next.
Shifting Goals: One of the key strengths of the agile method is a focus on multiple goals. This may also becomes a weakness if proper resources and attention are not allocated for each goal. You can avoid this by using regular team huddles to ensure all goals are defined and reviewed on a regular basis.
Lack of Documentation: The primary goal of agile development is to get things done and deliver them. This often takes the focus away from maintaining proper documentation. This can be a problem in the long-run. You can resolve by ensuring that documentation is completed as soon as deliverables are finalized.
Several programming methods have been developed using the agile philosophy. These include Kanban, Scrum, DevOps, Scrumban, and Extreme Programming. You can explore these specific methods to see which one allows you to best incorporate agile development into your next project.
