What Makes Agile Software Development So Successful ?
If you’ve been keeping tabs on the software industry over the past few years, you’re undoubtedly aware that Agile development is all the rage! Development teams proudly boast of the success of their methodologies, and with good reason—Agile has proven to be far more efficient and effective than other competing methodologies, such as Waterfall.
Still, if you’re not in the know, it can be difficult to understand precisely what the difference is. After all, software development is software development, right?
We’re here to dispel that myth by taking a look at four reasons for precisely why Agile development is so successful compared to competing approaches!
Four Reasons Why Agile Development Is So Successful
#1: More Transparency from Start to Finish
This is perhaps one of the biggest factors behind the success of Agile. A guiding principle behind the methodology is the openness and transparency of workflows—an Agile team welcomes stakeholder interaction, review and feedback throughout the entire process.
This means that, rather than getting your hands on a build close to the end of development, you can see precisely how features are shaping up much earlier on, enabling you to request changes on the fly. This approach ensures that the ultimate product will be much closer to your original vision, greatly improving satisfaction with your brand-new tools!
#2: Greater Flexibility throughout the Process
Software development has traditionally been a rigid, hierarchical process, with each step happening sequentially. With Agile approaches, teams work together at each stage. This means that problems in one stage of the process aren’t holding back other teams from completing their tasks. The result of this is a more dynamic development pipeline that is able to adapt and change on the fly without compromising agility and productivity.
#3: Superior Software Quality
Since testing is occurring throughout the development process, rather than at the end of it, quality assurance teams get much more hands-on time with the software, enabling them to catch more bugs, errors, issues and quality-of-life improvements that can be made.
This not only avoids crunch at the end of development in order to meet tight deadlines but also ensures that delivered software is of a much higher quality.
#4: Greater Productivity
Agile teams are designed to be cross-functional and self-organizing, with all of the necessary skills and knowledge needed to effectively complete every required task. This results in much greater productivity, as it is the developers themselves that determine how to proceed with a challenging project, requiring no external resources to complete any of the tasks.
This eliminates the need for back-and-forth communication, reduces downtime and eliminates common roadblocks that slow down the productivity of teams. When you work with an Agile team, you can rest assured of deadlines that are always respected and met with minimal complications or fuss!
Agile development has proven its value to the industry, and while those involved are intimately aware of all of the benefits afforded by the approach, stakeholders still have a lot to learn about the ways that Agile can result in superior products for their business.
This article has taken a look at four of the biggest factors behind the immense success of Agile to give you a better idea of what to expect when working with a firm committed to the methodology. The next time you have a software project that needs development, you’ll be happy you chose a partner that embraces the full potential of the approach!