What’s Agile Methodology? And Why is Each Software program Firm Shifting to Agile Methodologies?

Today, technology has become a very ingrained part of human life. For both a single user and a business, it is almost impossible to do things smoothly without using technological means.

Software solutions allow you to accomplish things in a jiffy and that explains why businesses rely on various types of applications. However, software development methods continue to change over time. Today, most software development companies opt for an agile methodology.

The fundamentals of the agile methodology

Agile methodology can be defined as a people-oriented, iterative, time-bound, and results-oriented approach to developing software solutions. It’s about making software incrementally from the beginning of a project rather than delivering a final product.

It is done according to the methodologies outlined in the highly touted Agile Manifesto for Software Development. Under this methodology, requirements, plans, and deliverables are continually evaluated, and teams respond to project changes without delay.

Agile methods began to gain traction in the software development industry in the early 1990s, and the old waterfall approach lost its appeal soon after. If you look around, most of the custom software development solutions have adopted the agile method. The Agile Software Development Manifesto is based on these pillars or principles:

• Individual and team interactions focused on processes and tools.
• Work software on general documentation.
• Collaboration with the client is more important than contract negotiation.
• Respond to changes instead of following a plan.

Over the years, the agile software development methodology has evolved. You may find one software design agency that uses the agile Scrum framework, but another agency may prefer the Kanban or Lean method. Some companies, in fact, combine practices from several agile frameworks.

Why software development companies prefer agile methodology to traditional methods

Most of the regional and offshore software development agencies prefer the Agile methodology, and this is definitely not without credible reasons. Read on to discover the key reasons behind the universal popularity of agile software development practices.

Easier to implement customer feedback

There is no denying that software solutions are made for end users or customers. Unless a software development agency is able to take customer preferences and implement them in its next products, it will soon be outshone by rivals in the segment.

Implementing customer feedback into software development can be difficult when a company sticks to the old waterfall method. Older methods are not flexible enough to implement changes midway.

In the agile software development method, there is enough room to implement changes. In the agile method, an app is built in separate stages, or sprints. The agile method focuses on implementing feedback.

Projects easier to manage

When a software development agency chooses the agile methodology, they encounter fewer hiccups in managing the project and developing the application according to plan. In this method, the team discusses and analyzes plans and changes to the project at the beginning of each sprint.

These repeated meetings help the team better manage the entire project, and newly introduced changes don’t change things.

teamwork is better

The Agile method is based on strong teamwork. In this method, all members of a team work together. There may be senior and junior programmers and developers involved in such a project. Even so, each member of the team is aware of her responsibilities at each stage.

Communication is strong between team members, so changes and development are never ignored by anyone.

Better use of tools

A regional or offshore software company can use a wide range of tools or frameworks to create new applications using the agile methodology.

Agile tools help simplify complex tasks. Team members understand how to manage and execute the project. Tasks are assigned based on the experience of team members. This helps to manage and complete the project on time, without facing any obstacles.

reduced delay

Delays in software development projects can be tedious to manage. Customers can get frustrated when requests are not received on time. The delay in software development also generates an additional cost.

When the agile methodology is used, the risks of delay in the completion of the project are minimized. Continuous evaluation and the flexibility to implement development changes ensure that teams don’t have to wait unnecessarily at any stage. If bugs and security issues arise, they are identified early and removed.

Teams stay motivated

When using the agile method of software development, team members stay motivated, as has been observed. They interact more and stay up to date on every aspect of development. Nothing is kept secret. Therefore, they feel motivated and overall productivity gets a boost.

Better quality software solutions

When agile methodology is used, the quality of the application is better. This is because there are many rounds of analysis and evaluation in this process. Unlike the traditional method when the development is done in a linear and dimensional way.

In the agile method, there are review and change scopes. This ensures that coding flaws are discovered and security loopholes can be identified. So when the final solution is delivered, it contains no bugs or glitches.

Are there any drawbacks?

There are some limitations of agile software development.

• Documentation is somewhat limited on this method. This can make things difficult for a team member who joined late.
• The agile methodology focuses on making software in parts and phases. This can lead to fragmented results in some cases. Incremental delivery ensures products are released without delay, but getting a cohesive unit is tedious.
• As the methodology focuses on meeting short-term goals, there is a risk of losing focus on long-term goals.

Choosing the Right Software Development Company for Agile Development

Today, many software development companies adopt the agile methodology. However, it is necessary to evaluate the contenders before concentrating on any one for your business application development needs.

These are the things you should evaluate:

• At first, you should check the seniority and experience of the company using agile application development. You should ask him what type of agile methodology he uses and why. Sometimes such agencies may use more than one agile method.
• You should check the clients that an agile software development company has worked for. It is better if the company has customers from the same segment as your brand. Reviewing your customer feedback is something you simply cannot afford to skip.
• Finally, take some time to review apps built by an agile app development agency. Check out the ease of use, security features, resource usage, and user interface of the agency-created app.

Agile software development comes with a number of benefits. However, you need to find a suitable agency to develop applications with agile methodology.