Agile is certainly making a revolutionary impact in software development and is now considered an essential part of knowledge expected from IT professionals around the world. Big corporate companies around the world have now understood its value and continue to look for professionals with these associated skills. By definition, it is a collaborative effort to continually improve and encourage rapid and flexible responses to changes in situations. This type of software is extremely valuable in the context of the business world today simply because of how dynamic the market can be. Businesses cannot afford to be slow in the face of change, it needs to be highly responsive to stay ahead of the competition.
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Values Prescribed
The agile approach focuses on people more than the tools and process involved. It encourages that collective effort into forming an approach that gives a company the adaptability to various types of business environments. Customer feedback is greatly valued and is seen as the key ingredient in stimulating continuous improvement. Documentation is seen as something important but it never overshadows the greater importance of producing software that “works” for the organization. With this kind of attitude to software even late additions which would enhance customer experience are welcomed. Nothing feasible is ever rejected, instead added resulting in the culmination of the best possible process and software for all users. Another value shown is the level of attention to detail in technical excellence, a good design and interface are recognized as mandatory requirements.
Iterations
Product development is usually broken down into segments in the agile approach. Iterations could be described as timeframes within which processes like design and coding are done by various teams who collaborate and provide all their inputs to create something truly amazing. After product development comes to the demonstrations to the various types of stakeholders that will use the software. Their feedback is taken into very careful consideration and recommendations are usually translated into changes in the software. This greatly reduces the risk of people not liking the software as their input will also be seen in it. Of course, a company would need a team of highly skilled professionals to bring about so many changes in software, sometimes at very short notice. Most companies are willing to invest a significant amount of money in ensuring that their IT Departments are given the best agile training to add value to the business. It is an investment worth making and has proven results.
A Focus on Quality
Quality is the name of the game in the agile approach. It is not only developers that are involved in development but also a customer representative that gives continuous feedback from a customer’s point of view. These representatives work very closely with developers and are readily available for providing their feedback in each testing phase of the development of software. Even the concept of pair programming which follows the age-old saying that two heads are better than one brings about an infusion of expertise where one programmer has the role of writing code while the other reviews it. This method has been truly seen as successful over the years due to its minimal probability of human error.
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