How Can Adopting Agile Methodology Help Companies?

Read on to know how Agile methodology can help in your software development project.

9 Reasons to Choose Agile Methodology for your Software Development Projects

Agile is an approach or framework to project management. Through Agile, one can develop software solutions, like web applications, websites, and mobile applications. The Agile approach can deliver high-quality results consistently and regularly. By practicing Agile, companies can reduce their project overhead. As a result, the business value will increase. Nowadays, companies specifically ask for agile practitioners for testing jobs in the USA. A well-executed Agile methodology can improve the software quality at every release. It also helps the team to get used to that change. The success rate after applying Agile methodology is quite high. That is the reason most organizations want to adopt the Agile framework.

Overview Of Agile Methodology

The Agile methodology for software development focuses on time-boxed project periods known as Sprints. Sprints are short periods, usually about two weeks, where the team will work on set features known as user stories. These user stories are the deliverables or tasks which the team will complete within the sprint. This means that the sprint includes small project phases with a lesser number of features. By limiting the features, the product development and release phase can be more manageable. As a result, the time to market is significantly improved over traditional waterfall models followed in many mainframe jobs in the USA.  An Agile team will have a maximum of 12 individuals. This is usually quite less than a normal project team. During the sprint, the group will attend daily stand-up discussions or meetings to evaluate the progress. Once the sprint ends, the team will do a formal release. After the release, a new planning session will begin for the next sprint.

Top Reasons For Choosing Agile Methodology

Product development efforts are driven by customer demand. Hence, companies cannot afford to delay the time-to-market due to process or documentation inefficiencies. Failing to meet the delivery commitments can cost companies their brand name, and finally, the customers. With Agile methodology, such issues can be solved by finding out the exact customer needs. Here are the top reasons why companies should adopt Agile methodology.

1. Quickly And Easily Adjust To Change

While practicing Agile, teams will learn to adjust to and accept the change. Agile recognizes that customers require change. Hence, the team should be able to adapt. The team will realize that there isn’t any need for requirement changes, reviews, and approvals by working in sprints. If a new maintenance or change item comes up, it will be allotted to the next sprint. This allotment will, however, be based on business needs and priorities.

2. Reduces Technical Debt

The term technical debt means the maintenance task needed to support the current product. Such tasks may include refactoring, defect resolution, and testing. This technical debt gets accumulated quickly in a normal project methodology. This is because the team concentrates more on feature development to keep up with the project deadline. With Agile methodology, such technical debt can be kept at a minimum. If any feature changes or defects occur, they will be added to the backlog. During the sprint planning sessions, these backlogs will be reviewed and allocated as per priority.

3. Higher Quality Product

Even if new features come up while doing an Agile project, the team never develops them at once. Rather, they will allocate the features as subsets to each sprint. By performing this activity, the developers can make these items more perfect before the release.

4. Stakeholder Engagement

Agile offers various opportunities to build a good relationship with the stakeholders and the team. When the client is involved in each project step, there is a huge possibility of collaboration between the team and the client. Such connections can help the team understand what exactly the clients need and their vision.

5. Transparency

While on an Agile project, the client is involved in almost all the project steps. From planning and prioritizing features, review sessions, and up to release, the client's participation will be high. This ensures complete transparency of the processes involved. The team can also receive instant feedback, which helps shorten review and release cycles.

6. Predictable Cost

Sprints are time-boxed project periods. Only the work achievable in this period is delivered, making it easy to predict the cost. As a result, an estimate can be given to the client before the sprint. This makes it easier for the client to understand the cost of each feature and enables timely decisions.

7. Better Project Control

While on an Agile project, teams work together with the client or the product owner. This helps to understand what is expected out of each sprint. The daily stand-up calls can help everyone be aware of any project issues. These meetings also allow the teams to prepare themselves for the next sprint. Retrospective analysis done on the previous sprints can help the team learn more. They can use this analysis to apply best practices and avoid common mistakes in their upcoming sprints.

8. Customer Satisfaction

The client will actively participate in each sprint and testing process. This helps them understand that their needs are given importance and being met. As they get to see the product developed feature by feature, they feel more confident in the team's abilities to deliver. Agile is a powerful software development methodology. The benefits are multifold, not just to the development team but also to the customer or product owner.  Organizations adopting the Agile framework can realize an increase in customer satisfaction as well as a reduction in technical debts and are able to deliver high-quality products. By adopting the Agile methodology, companies can achieve results in a more business-focused way.