Software development teams always need a process to complete development. Establishing proper workflow and structure makes the development process more scalable. Most of the companies are using an iterative/agile approach as it helps to achieve goals faster and easier.
Organizations are now experiencing massive success because they are adopting agile software development methodology. Agile methodology is everyone’s favorite now as it offers the iterative approach to design and develops the software. It also adopts the continuous changes that happen in technological advancement.
It also allows the team to break the lengthy requirements, build phases, and test into small segments. The agile software development methodology is specifically designed for rapid development and deployment. That’s why delivering ultimate working software is frequent and easy.
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What is Agile workflow?
Agile workflow is a repetitive method of delivering a project where multiple individual teams work on a particular task at a certain time duration. It is also known as the set of stages that link with developing the project from ideation to sprint completion.
The Lifecycle of Agile application development
Let’s understand the agile workflow and its life cycle. The agile application development life cycle consists of 6 different phases.
- Ideation
- Sprint team creation
- Iteration
- Release
- Production
- Retirement
Different phases of Agile methodology
Software development teams always find a way to push their products forward in a short time frame.
And that’s where agile methodologies help. Learn the different phases involved in agile product development to determine the process that fits your team’s needs.
The different phases of the agile methodology include:
1. Scope out and prioritize projects (Ideation)
In the first phase of agile software development, the team scopes out the projects. It is the key decision to know which parts of the project are complete first. The scope prioritization depends on assessing the risk and values of stories in the product backlog. According to the organization’s demand, some team members may work on more than one project at the same time.
For every concept, you should define the business opportunity and determine the duration of time and work it will take. You can also access the economic and technical feasibility that depends on information, which projects are worth pursuing?
2. Diagram prerequisites for the initial sprint
Once you are done sharing project details with stakeholders to determine requirements and identify the projects, the next step is creating diagrams. You can use high-level UML diagrams to create user flow diagrams. It will help demonstrate how the new features should function and how they will fit in the existing system to make it better.
After this, allocate the resources and project members to start working. Create a swim lane process map or timeline to delineate responsibilities to each person. This timeline will show the flow of ongoing work, and it will show the tasks required for sprint duration.
3. Construction/iteration
After the requirements for the sprint are defined based on the stakeholder requirements and feedback, the project will begin. UX designers will start working on the project design while developers also begin working on the project’s first iteration. The main goal is to launch a working product at the end of the sprint.
Keep in mind that the product will undergo various rounds of revisions, so the first iteration might only include the bare minimum functionality. The team will be capable of adding additional sprints to the overall product.
A typical agile iteration workflow is as follows:
Collecting Requirements: All the requirements are written for iteration on the sprint backlog, product backlog, customer, or stakeholder feedback.
Development: The process enters the design and development phase based on the project requirements.
Quality Assurance: QA team will provide testing services to make sure there is no bug. It also includes training and development of documentation.
Production: The product further goes for production after integration and iteration.
Feedback: Accepting feedback from the customers and stakeholders to work on the next iteration.
4. Release the iteration into production
After the construction and iteration phase, you are almost ready to release your product in the market. The software needs these finishing iteration steps to get it done completely.
- System testing: Deliver your product to the quality assurance team to test the product’s functionality, deduct bugs and errors, and address the defects to the development department. They can also record the wins and losses for future reference.
- Finalize system and documentation: Also, complete the user documentation and finalize the system. The charts will help you to visualize your programs through high-level UML diagrams. You can also demonstrate user flows to understand the system’s working and functionalities and how they will further build it.Â
- When it’s all done, release the iteration into the production phase.
5. Production and continuous support for the software release
The final product is delivered in this phase for production, and it also involves support for the software release process. The developer team will ensure that the system keeps running smoothly and show its users how to use it. This phase will continue until the production phase ends and the product release for retirement.
6. Retirement
The system is released from production in the retirement phase. It typically replaces the system with the new release when the old system is repeated or unsuitable for your business model.
Different types of Agile methodologies for software development
Agile methodology is mostly compared with the waterfall software model in the industry. However, agile is best because, unlike the waterfall model, it allows you to do changes in ongoing projects. It uses the incremental approach, where a sample prototype is discussed with the client to maintain product quality.
There are varieties of agile methodologies, including but not limited to:
- Kanban
- DAD (Disciplined agile delivery)
- Agile modeling
- Scrum and scrumban
- XP (Extreme Programming)
- Adaptive software development
- Feature-driven development
- DSDM (Dynamic system development)
- Lean software development
The main mission of every agile method is to embrace the change and deliver the software or a product as soon as possible. However, each agile methodology has its own slight variations in defining the different phases of software development.
Although the goal is the same, each team process flow depends on the specific situation or a project. For example, the full agile life cycle includes steps like the concept, inception, construction, release, production, and retirement process.
How are the biggest companies adapting to agile workflow?
There are many reasons big companies are adopting an agile methodology.
- Agile workflow provides stakeholder engagement, transparency, focuses on users and business values, and much more. Another reason is that it allows changes in the different phases.
- An agile approach is all about working collaboratively to release products sooner than expected. Few enterprises don’t like the delivery of slow products that is why they are using and customizing this technology.Â
- Big companies are adapting agile to streamline their processes and to respond when they see changes are happening. Some of the popular and well-reputed companies use the agile approach to improve their business approach.
- Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, and Cisco are all using agile methodologies. They are not only adapting agile workflows but trying to customize them according to their workflow for better performance and fast pace.
- Moreover, companies that provide the best environment in which agile flourishes can turn out innovations faster. Agile workflow helps companies to speed up the pace. They can complete their biggest projects faster than the predicted time frame.
Best practices to implement agile workflow in companies
There are some best practices that should be implemented in an agile workflow to make it work better for you.
1. Iterative development
Through this approach, bigger projects are cut down into small segments, and testing is done repetitively. The agile team gets a perspective on new features that need to be added to the final product or services through this. It will result in a more flexible product.
2. Daily meetings
Short meetings are the key to agile implementation. These short meetings should be concise with each team member to share the progress and what’s leftover for completion. It is the best way to monitor and analyze team performance. You can also check if there are obstacles in product development.
3. Using professional tools
Using professional tools helps the team to structure their workflows in a better way while implementing agile. It can also help to improve team cooperation. With proper documentation and meetings, you can reduce the unnecessary efforts to manage your task.
The other best practices for the agile programming team that will help to improve the flexibility, quality, and sustainability of the final product include:
- Test-driven development
- Code refactoring
- Continuous integration
- Pair programming
- Simple code design
Conclusion
Now you have understood the agile practices to implement; hopefully, you can use these effectively. This approach will help you to improve your team and make your clients happy with the performance.