Keeping up with the speed of the market, agile development has become an approach that is increasingly present in modern companies.
This is a different reality from the one observed when the concept was proposed.
In the beginning, agile development practices and mindset were restricted to a set of high-tech companies, corresponding to a niche market.
Gradually, the model expanded and conquered the information technology (IT) departments of several companies.
As a result, today, managers from all areas are inspired by the methodologies and concepts of agile development to lead their teams’ projects.
Not because the processes are more technological and computerized than ever, but because of the dynamics of the current market demand, more than ever, agility and efficiency.
Organizations need to incorporate these characteristics into their culture. This only happens if actions are taken in this direction in all their sectors, not just in software and systems development.
How to put agile development into practice?
Do you want to understand what agile development is and how to apply it in your company? Go straight on!
What is agile development?
Agile development is an approach in which software is developed collaboratively, with multidisciplinary teams with a good level of autonomy in carrying out their work.
Many consider agile development a set of methods, but this view is somewhat limited.
Because a method is a predefined set of practices, which can lead to a more rigid mindset, something more similar to the traditional software development model.
Methods are important, yes. Fundamental because they are already tested models that allow putting the concepts of agile development into practice more efficiently.
However, before delving into these practices in-depth, it’s more important to know the values and principles of agile development, which we’ll explain later.
Therefore, agile development is, above all, a mentality that leads to specific structuring models for software creation projects.
It is a results-oriented approach that enhances creativity, innovation, and, above all, flexibility.
Fundamental characteristics in any company that wants to stand out in the Information Age are connectivity, globalization, and Industry 4.0.
When did the term agile development first appear?
As stated earlier, agile development is, above all, a mindset, a set of concepts that are put into practice thanks to specific process management methodologies.
However, several of these methodologies already existed before the term agile development became popular.
Some examples are DSDM, Scrum, Crystal Clear, XP, UP, and FDD, all developed throughout the 1990s.
Despite these methods, which led to satisfactory results, there was a primer on traditional practices that many technology companies still followed.
That’s when a group of developers who had already experienced the benefits of the agile model of managing processes discussed the subject in a workshop held in Snowbird, in the US state of Utah.
The Manifesto for Agile Software Development was born on this occasion, also known simply as the Agile Manifesto.
Traditional development vs. agile development
The traditional model of software development is carried out in a cascade fashion. For a project phase to start, the previous phase must be completed.
In this approach, linear by definition, there is a very rigid division between roles, marked by the specialization of professionals who perform certain activities.
Size is the degree of linearity, rigidity, and specialization that most professionals involved in traditional development don’t need to overthink what they are doing. They execute what has already been determined in the previous phases.
One of the problems with waterfall development is that, in technology, the idea of a project with a beginning, middle, and end and well-defined stages is a myth.
It is not that it never ends, but that it is normal for errors to occur. The work of a particular stage, already completed, will have to be repeated, making the waterfall model extremely inefficient.
After all, we are not talking about an average industrial production but a work of the knowledge economy, composed of less deterministic and repetitive activities and more creative and prone to errors.
In agile software development, it is already known in advance that all project stages will be executed more than once during the project.
Instead of cascading, processes are conducted spirally, with short cycles in which the software is tested and approved.
As creating software or a system involves many details, the work in progress must be put to the test all the time.
Because it is known that errors arise in any project (such as one of those many details being left out in a certain functionality), realizing them in their last stage is hugely counterproductive.
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