Agile Software Development and its various phases

Agile software development is a highly effective and straightforward product delivery mechanism, allowing organisations to meet their customer’s requirements in record time. It offers an iterative perspective for designing and developing work on a product. Even though Agile is a simple approach, people have made it complicated. If you implement Agile correctly, it is flexible, swift, error-free and way better at managing software development teams.

What is Agile software development?

Agile software development is just frameworks like Scrum and Extreme Programming or practices such as pair programming, stand-ups, and sprints. It consists of all frameworks and techniques depending on the principles and values stated in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and the underlying “12 Principles.”

You can differentiate Agile from other approaches simply because it focuses on the people working and how they work as a team. You can develop and enhance a solution when different cross-functional teams collaborate and utilise reasonable practices for their work. When you work with cross-functional teams, it means these teams do not have specific roles. Yet, you still have all the right skills required to complete and deliver the project when you gather your team.

Some vital Agile software development lifecycle phases

Due to the high number of meetings between various departments involved, Agile may seem like a wasteful process. Still, it saves time since it optimises development tasks and reduces errors during stage planning.

Based on the methodology used, a basic Agile software development lifecycle may have the following model.

Phase 1. Requirements

Before starting on project designing, a Project owner/manager must create initial documentation with a list of requirements. Some of them are:

• The result that everyone expects from the project.
• List of features to be included in the software.
• Some features that the initial prototype will not support but must be included.

Phase 2. Design

The design phase involves two sub-parts:

• Software design: The Product owner/manager will gather his team of developers and explain the project requirements. The team will then discuss how to approach the project and advice tools and frameworks for the job.
• Interface design: The designers begin with a mock-up of the user interface. As of today, every customer-oriented product must offer a pleasing user experience; UI is a crucial factor. Designing a great UI means studying the competition and understanding what they lack.

Phase 3. Development

Phase 3 is when coding starts, and the team begins converting design documentation into an actual product. Given how coding works, it is safe to say that the development phase takes the longest time to complete.

Phase 4. Testing

Once the development team is done, the Quality Assurance team begins their work. A series of rigorous testing and scrutiny makes sure that they have a clean code, the software is bug-free, and it satisfies all the requirements.

Phase 5. Software application

The software is uploaded on the server and offered to customers to try as a beta. It will further undergo bug resolution and feature additions as updates.

Phase 6. Review

Once the team completes all the above stages, the Product owner/manager will gather the team to review the progress made. The team will then go through all the requirements as stated initially and convey the same to the Product owner.

After this, the Agile software development phases will start afresh with new iterations or a new stage.

Conclusion

Agile software development is not a single process but an amalgamation of several methodologies. The idea is to find the best and the fastest way to achieve great software as a result. Due to its flexible nature, each organisation has its Agile development lifecycle with its merits.