The last couple of posts have been about the importance of development tool stacks and what tools are available. This post moves on from there to discuss how Agile delivers business value in every step of the development process.
In software development projects, more teams have been adopting the Agile methodology instead of the Waterfall model because of the advantage of the former in delivering business value quickly and efficiently. The development cycle using the Waterfall model often takes a year or more, which means at the culmination of a project, the initial requirements of the project will most likely be outdated. This results in new software that may have less value in the market for the client than originally planned. One benefit of moving to Agile processes is having short iterations so the team can adapt to changing requirements and complete valuable and relevant deliverables in a faster timeframe.
A frequent stumbling block inherent in the traditional development process often arises when identifying system requirements. In this phase, the developers work with the client to establish the functionality of a system or more specifically what will be built. This is when the business value of each requirement is evaluated. Problems often arise at this point because the client does not know exactly know what they want or they may think they do and then change their mind as the project moves forward.
In Agile, the client can continuously give feedback on what has already been delivered. The developers can then update the requirements and their business value based on the desires of the client. To achieve this, a developer would be best served by working with Agile development tools that offer complete management visibility of projects throughout the entire development process and into production. This makes it easy for changes to be made during the process, and the client can realize their business value along the way.
Wouldn’t you rather make changes with each iteration than at the end when the project should be complete?
