Iterative approach to software delivery focusing on collaboration and customer feedback
Core Idea: Agile software development is a set of methodologies based on iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams, emphasizing adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continuous improvement.
Key Elements
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Agile Manifesto Values:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
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Agile Principles:
- Customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery
- Welcome changing requirements, even late in development
- Deliver working software frequently
- Business people and developers work together daily
- Build projects around motivated individuals
- Face-to-face conversation is the best communication
- Working software is the primary measure of progress
- Maintain a sustainable development pace
- Attention to technical excellence enhances agility
- Simplicity is essential
- Self-organizing teams generate the best architectures
- Regular team reflection and adaptation
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Common Methodologies:
- Scrum: Framework with sprints, daily standups, and defined roles
- Kanban: Visual workflow management focused on limiting work in progress
- Extreme Programming (XP): Technical practices like TDD and pair programming
- Lean Software Development: Eliminating waste and optimizing the whole
- Crystal: Family of methodologies tailored to team size and criticality
- Feature-Driven Development: Feature-centric iterative development
- Hybrid Approaches: Combining elements of multiple methodologies
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Key Practices:
- User Stories: Requirements expressed from end-user perspective
- Sprints/Iterations: Fixed-length development cycles
- Daily Stand-ups: Brief daily team synchronization meetings
- Retrospectives: Regular reflection and improvement discussions
- Continuous Integration: Frequent merging of code changes
- Automated Testing: Comprehensive test suites run frequently
- Pair Programming: Two developers working together on the same code
- Refactoring: Improving code structure without changing behavior
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Agile Artifacts:
- Product Backlog: Prioritized list of desired features
- Sprint Backlog: Set of items selected for the current sprint
- User Stories: Informal descriptions of features
- Task Board: Visual representation of work status
- Burndown/Burnup Charts: Visual tracking of work progress
- Definition of Done: Shared understanding of completion criteria
Connections
- Related Concepts: Continuous Integration (technical practice supporting Agile), DevOps Practices (complementary approach)
- Broader Context: Software Development Methodologies (includes Agile and alternatives)
- Applications: Scrum Framework (specific Agile implementation)
- Components: User Stories (requirements format), Version Control (technical enabler)
References
- "Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game" by Alistair Cockburn
- "Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time" by Jeff Sutherland
- "Extreme Programming Explained" by Kent Beck
- Agile Manifesto: https://agilemanifesto.org/
#agile #software-development #methodology #scrum #kanban
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