Agile Model
The meaning of Agile is swift or versatile."Agile process model" refers to a software
development approach based on iterative development. Agile methods break tasks
into smaller iterations, or parts do not directly involve long term planning. The
project scope and requirements are laid down at the beginning of the development
process. Plans regarding the number of iterations, the duration and the scope of
each iteration are clearly defined in advance.
Each iteration is considered as a short time "frame" in the Agile process model,
which typically lasts from one to four weeks. The division of the entire project into
smaller parts helps to minimize the project risk and to reduce the overall project
delivery time requirements. Each iteration involves a team working through a full
software development life cycle including planning, requirements analysis, design,
coding, and testing before a working product is demonstrated to the client.
Phases of Agile Model:
Following are the phases in the Agile model are as follows:
1. Requirements gathering
2. Design the requirements
3. Construction/ iteration
4. Testing/ Quality assurance
5. Deployment
6. Feedback
1. Requirements gathering: In this phase, you must define the requirements.
You should explain business opportunities and plan the time and effort
needed to build the project. Based on this information, you can evaluate
technical and economic feasibility.
2. 2. Design the requirements: When you have identified the project, work with
stakeholders to define requirements. You can use the user flow diagram or the
high-level UML diagram to show the work of new features and show how it
will apply to your existing system.
3. 3. Construction/ iteration: When the team defines the requirements, the
work begins. Designers and developers start working on their project, which
aims to deploy a working product. The product will undergo various stages of
improvement, so it includes simple, minimal functionality.
4. 4. Testing: In this phase, the Quality Assurance team examines the product's
performance and looks for the bug.
5. 5. Deployment: In this phase, the team issues a product for the user's work
environment.
6. 6. Feedback: After releasing the product, the last step is feedback. In this, the
team receives feedback about the product and works through the feedback.
7. Agile Testing Methods:
Scrum
Crystal
Dynamic Software Development Method(DSDM)
Feature Driven Development(FDD)
Lean Software Development
eXtreme Programming(XP)
Scrum
SCRUM is an agile development process focused primarily on ways to manage tasks
in team-based development conditions.
There are three roles in it, and their responsibilities are:
o Scrum Master: The scrum can set up the master team, arrange the meeting
and remove obstacles for the process
o Product owner: The product owner makes the product backlog, prioritizes
the delay and is responsible for the distribution of functionality on each
repetition.
o Scrum Team: The team manages its work and organizes the work to
complete the sprint or cycle.
eXtreme Programming(XP)
This type of methodology is used when customers are constantly changing demands
or requirements, or when they are not sure about the system's performance
Crystal:
There are three concepts of this method-
1. Chartering: Multi activities are involved in this phase such as making a
development team, performing feasibility analysis, developing plans, etc.
2. Cyclic delivery: under this, two more cycles consist, these are:
A. Team updates the release plan.
B. Integrated product delivers to the users.
3. Wrap up: According to the user environment, this phase performs
deployment, post-deployment.
Dynamic Software Development Method(DSDM):
DSDM is a rapid application development strategy for software development and
gives an agile project distribution structure. The essential features of DSDM are that
users must be actively connected, and teams have been given the right to make
decisions. The techniques used in DSDM are:
1. Time Boxing
2. MoSCoW Rules
3. Prototyping
The DSDM project contains seven stages:
1. Pre-project
2. Feasibility Study
3. Business Study
4. Functional Model Iteration
5. Design and build Iteration
6. Implementation
7. Post-project
Feature Driven Development(FDD):
This method focuses on "Designing and Building" features. In contrast to other smart
methods, FDD describes the small steps of the work that should be obtained
separately per function.
Lean Software Development:
Lean software development methodology follows the principle "just in time
production." The lean method indicates the increasing speed of software
development and reducing costs. Lean development can be summarized in seven
phases.
1. Eliminating Waste
2. Amplifying learning
3. Defer commitment (deciding as late as possible)
4. Early delivery
5. Empowering the team
6. Building Integrity
7. Optimize the whole
When to use the Agile Model?
o When frequent changes are required.
o When a highly qualified and experienced team is available.
o When a customer is ready to have a meeting with a software team all the time.
o When project size is small.
Advantage(Pros) of Agile Method:
1. Frequent Delivery
2. Face-to-Face Communication with clients.
3. Efficient design and fulfils the business requirement.
4. Anytime changes are acceptable.
5. It reduces total development time.
Disadvantages(Cons) of Agile Model:
1. Due to the shortage of formal documents, it creates confusion and crucial
decisions taken throughout various phases can be misinterpreted at any time
by different team members.
2. Due to the lack of proper documentation, once the project completes and the
developers allotted to another project, maintenance of the finished project
can become a difficulty.
