Well-executed Agile software development methodology allows the development team to quickly adapt to changes, which eventually helps improve the quality of the software. The Agile process consists of short, time-boxed iterations known as sprints, which are short development cycles. In other words, the Agile methodologies for software development focus on breaking down the development process into smaller builds. The success of this method depends upon shorter iterations, but more importantly the level of collaboration amongst the team members that are not easy to find in traditional methodologies.
The agile development approach assists aids companies to assess the demand for the product or service in the market and accordingly developing the product. Agile Manifesto primarily considers important aspects of project management such as early customer involvement, quick adaptation to change, self-organizing teams, and iterative development.
Another important aspect of Agile methodology is that an Agile team is much shorter in size in comparison (generally not exceeding 12 members) to a traditional project team. The team consists of developers, analysts, QA testers, the product owner, and the project manager, who is also known as the Scrum master.
In the following paragraphs, we look at the top benefits or reasons for using Agile methodologies for software development. We shall also look at the benefits of hiring a top-level software development company to help with your software development efforts.
Timely delivery
Agile teams use the Scrum approach, consisting of short periods that deliver the right product within the scheduled time frame, focusing more on working software rather than lengthy documents. Design and testing are carried out simultaneously to cut down on the Time-To-Delivery. The team takes up tasks based on priority requirements while streamlining overall delivery workflows. This in turn speeds up the entire product development cycle.
Reduces technical debt to a minimum
Technical debt refers to the maintenance tasks such as defect resolution, refactoring, and testing, that are required to be carried out to support the existing product. In contrast, the accumulation of technical debt is a quick process in a traditional project methodology, as the prime focus is on new feature development to keep pace with the project timeline.
Agile software development reduces technical debt to the maximum possible extent. Any maintenance tasks or defects are added to what is known as a product backlog. The team reviews the backlog during each sprint planning session, which in turn offers a great opportunity to take care of the problems while at the same time keeping pace with new feature development.
Predictable costs
Another major benefit offered by Agile methodologies is cost control. Cost estimating strategies allow developers to predict the budget rather accurately. After that only things are needed to be developed, including sprints, MVPs, and unit testing, thereby saving a lot when it comes to time and other valuable resources. Additionally, project managers and middlemen are eliminated from the team thus helping save further resources and achieve cost-cutting objectives. Future sprints are developed based on previous learnings, which in turn facilitates more cost-saving through better planning.
Enhanced level of Productivity
In Agile methodologies, it is rather easy to measure a team’s performance as there are various tools and metrics available such as Lead Time, Cycle Time, Actual vs. What happens is that a single team member at any given time is focused on only one task which significantly enhances the overall productivity of the team. As per a research report carried out on 8000 projects, it was found that projects done using Agile teams were 25% more productive as compared to projects done without Agile methodologies. Also, it was found that there were 75% fewer defects.
The primary reason for enhanced productivity is that developers, designers, and coders are free to choose what they want to do and how they wish to proceed rather than depending on hierarchical orders or directions from project managers to proceed. Information and goals are not wrapped in silos, thus leaving individual members of the team to pay more attention to the final results and their contribution to achieving the goals and the successful final product. All these factors allow them to remain driven and focused.
Improved quality
Better quality of the software developed is another hallmark of Agile methodologies. The testing is carried out at every sprint: this means bugs are removed from the code, errors are corrected, and there is no compromise with the overall efficiency.
It is the responsibility of each team member to ensure the highest quality coding is done. Information flows at a faster rate, good communication is maintained throughout, thus giving rise to optimum performance and quality.
Conclusion
Agile has been immensely successful on the global level, but it comes with its own set of unique challenges of maintenance, lack of cross-functional team, and collaboration to name a few. As such, organizations looking to move away from traditional approaches must hire a quality provider of software development services to steer them in the right direction.
