By Shahid Mansuri
While there is a traditional waterfall model to managing a project, agile project management has been deemed efficient, on account of its quality, timeframe, and budget. A waterfall model holds potential for many software developers, as it focuses more on the progress flowing through different development phases. However, it lacks the iterative-ness, which offers a leeway to agile model to explore its potential.
What’s more?
The very basis of software development is innovation. In the digital era, where requirements of clients are fickle, it takes an adaptable project management approach, which is comprehensive yet simple. That’s like talking about agile and its mounting importance for software with specific requirements.
However, more often, the working of an agile project management is associated with complexity, which holds no substance. Software developers tag the methodology as ‘complex’ since they leap the basics phase and leap to the implementation. Here we talk about the basics of project management for agile software development.
An Informative Guide to Agile Software Development
The basic aim of an agile software development is to have relatively short development cycle than the waterfall model, so as to offer frequent releases that helps in gauging client’s response at an early stage.
Below mentioned are the crucial steps that a software development company has to consider to offer a seamless software development experience to its clients.
1. Project Planning – Understanding the Scope of Work
Similar to commencing any other project, it is crucial for the entire team to comprehend the functionalities and features of the software. In this stage, the scope of the project is also planned, which helps in reducing the time spent on developing redundant modules and testing. However, the process should also have ample room for iteration, which only complements the ‘adaptability’ principle of agile methodology.
The client communication and gathering of the requirements are carried out in the project planning stage, which offers incisiveness as to what is the end goal to reach to the project.
2. Development of Product Roadmap – Identifying Milestones
After the planning stage, project managers should focus on the development of a roadmap to reach to the final product in the least possible time. In this phase, features and functionalities are broken down and are allocated the necessary resources to bring them into life.
Besides this, the total budget required for the development of the product is also determined. A timeline is associated with each feature to measure the total estimated time required to complete the final product.
3. Release Planning – A Timeframe to Reach the Goal
Talking about the conventional waterfall model, project managers associated only one timeline, on which releases are done. However, when the client is unsure of the model, the development cycles turn lengthy.
In contrast to this, with the help of the agile approach, even before the project begins, the project managers will develop a timeframe for each features or modules. This will enable frequent releases and help project managers, the core team, as well as the client to revisit the project several times before the launch.
What’s More is Retrospection
Take for example any business, a digital one, you will see that in the current era of varied pool of people, innovation is the only constant. While the development phase may take several months to come into the real life, it is possible that your most viable features have already been exhausted by other businesses, leaving you with nothing but with the need to rethink your model.
In such scenarios, it is far more practical to have an agile software development approach, which offers ample time for retrospection pertaining to the sprints and releases. The moment you feel redundancy in your model, you can notify your software development company, then and there.
Besides retrospection, another latent advantage that the model offers is the reduction in the overhead cost. When you know for sure that the development of the project is on the right track, you tend to get it right at the time of your tentative launch date. This way, you have a better time-to-market instance.
However, the cost also depends on the proficiency of the software development company that you choose to partner with. While some may offer services at a cheaper cost, their quality is indeed of the same worth. Hence, it is imperative to collaborate with a seasoned software development company who can help you sail through your business journey in a seamless fashion with expert guidelines.