Are you again debating Agile with Standard Waterfall Methodology? || Agile Vs. Waterfall Methodology

At a very broad level we can say that classic waterfall method stands for predictability, while Agile methodology spells adaptability.
 

Here we shall mainly look at Advantages and Disadvantages of Agile Methodology. Finally we shall do a comparison of Agile and Waterfall in different contexts. 

Advantages of Agile Methodology - 

1. Focus on the rapid delivery of business value.

2. Agile development accelerates the delivery of initial business value, and through a process of continuous planning and feedback, is able to ensure that value is continuing to be maximized throughout the development process.

3. Easily adapting to changing requirements throughout the process.

4. Much more accurate visibility into the actual progress of projects is available.
 

5. Face to face communication and continuous inputs from customer representative leaves no space for guesswork.

Refer http://www.versionone.com/Agile101/Agile_Benefits.asp for more detailed information around the same.

Disadvantages of Agile Methodologies -

1. In case of some software deliverable, especially the large ones, it is difficult to assess the effort required at the beginning of the software development life cycle.

2. There is lack of emphasis on necessary designing and documentation.

3. The project can easily get taken off track if the customer representative is not clear what final outcome that they want.

4. Only senior programmers are capable of taking the kind of decisions required during the development process. Hence it has no place for newbie programmers, unless combined with experienced resources.

HERE IS HOW WE CAN COMPARE WATERFALL MODEL WITH AGILE METHODOLOGY -

- Once a stage is completed in the Waterfall method, there is no going back, since most software designed and implemented under the waterfall method is hard to change according to time and user needs.  The problem can only be fixed by going back and designing an entirely new system, a very costly and inefficient method. Whereas, Agile methods adapt to change, as at the end of each stage, the logical program, designed to cope and adapt to new ideas from the outset, allows changes to be made easily.  With Agile, changes can be made if necessary without getting the entire program rewritten.  This approach not only reduces overheads, it also helps in the upgrading of programmes.

- Another Agile method advantage is one has a launchable product at the end of each tested stage.  This ensures bugs are caught and eliminated in the development cycle, and the product is double tested again after the first bug elimination.  This is not possible for the Waterfall method, since the product is tested only at the very end, which means any bugs found results in the entire program having to be re-written.

- Agile’s modular nature means employing better suited object-oriented designs and programs, which means one always has a working model for timely release even when it does not always entirely match customer specifications.  Whereas, there is only one main release in the waterfall method and any problems or delays mean highly dissatisfied customers.

- Agile methods allow for specification changes as per end-user’s requirements, spelling customer satisfaction.  As already mentioned, this is not possible when the waterfall method is employed, since any changes to be made means the project has to be started all over again.

- However, both methods do allow for a sort of departmentalization e.g. in waterfall departmentalization is done at each stage.  As for Agile, each coding module can be delegated to separate groups.  This allows for several parts of the project to be done at the same time, though departmentalization is more effectively used in Agile methodologies.

What are User Stories in AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT?

A user story is actually a functionality which defines actual need of end user or business organization. 


Usually User stories are composed of three components as -


1. A written form of story which is used for planning and also a good tool for reminding the actual need during different phases of a project.


2. Conversations about a story which make an outline about the detailing in right context with right details about the story.


3. Test which convey and document details... and something which can be used a tool for determining the completion of a user story.


As times these three steps are also known as - Card, Conversation and Confirmation... Ohh again 3Cs :)

Agile Software Development - What the hell it is?

Agile Software Development practices are hot in Software industry these days and all for good reasons. I have been working in an environment which has just started adopting some of the Agile methodologies and mixed them with our standard practices. So of course, we are still in learning mode and trying to fetch most out of what we have learned so far.


As of now, I am not directly involved in any of the Agile processes being followed in my organization. But I wanted to know how they work and why they are in such a high demand these days... So when I went to a friend in office that what exactly it is and what all you guys do.


His first reaction was - How the hell can you say that you have zero knowledge about Agile. I am a frequent participant of various conferences happen in India and many times heard big leaders talking about it, but somehow I was never able to digest all that theory :) ... Now I realized that anything which is not in practice is theory and one has to start with theory only !


So I thought of understanding it now. Today I got a book  by Mike Cohn, who has written about User Stories Applied under main title of Agile Software Development.


We have lots of books in Library but I picked this one because of it's different name - 'User Stories Applied'. Even I was not aware what User Stories are :) ... Anyway, whatever story I was trying to make above is true upto one level but I have some knowledge about Agile Software Development methodologies and now ready to learn more about these... 


Hope to share more around AGILE things and first we will understand what these USER STORIES are :)

What exactly is AGILE TESTING?

There is lot of buzz about "AGILE" these days and we can hear Agile word in any of the software development organization these days. But what exactly it is and why suddenly everyone starting talking about Agile methodologies in Software Development? 


Every company or teams within are practicing various Agile methods these days.. Like Scrum, XP, Crystal, DSDM, FDD etc... Does these names sound new to you? Not a problem, we are not here to discuss the Agile in detail as of now. Idea is to understand the basic meaning of it and what all is associated with it.


Usually we use two terminologies for our convenince - TESTER/QE/QA and PROGRAMMER/DEVELOPER! The person called TESTER/QE/QA does all the activities revolve around testing and PROGRAMMER/DEVELOPER implements the logic for a software by using various technologies available. But does it completely define their role? In Agile, there is a focus on these two type of folks and idea is not to narrow the definition of these roles. In Agile, each member irrespective of the role is responsible for high quality software which provide a value to Business Problem. 


Several fundamental practices used by Agile Teams relate to testing. AGILE programmers use test driver development (TDD) and also called as Test-Driver Design to write quality code ! With TDD, programmer writes a test for tiny bit of functionality; if it fails , make appropriate changes to make it work/pass.. and then move for the next tiny functionality of the software !!! 


Agile Testing is not just the testing activities do in a Agile project. Some testing practices like Exploratory testing are inherently agile, whether it's done an agile project or not.


Agile development model encourages us to solve our problems as team. Business people, programmers, testers, anlysts - everyone involved in software development - decides together how best to improve their product. 


Don't worry if things are not very clear after reading this particular post. We shall be focusing on Agile testing for next few weeks and keep a track of topics being covered.