ABSTRACT
Agile Methodology is a term I have come across more and more throughout my exposure to professionals in the IS field. Wither it be networking activities, interviews, or general conversation I repeatedly hear “Agile Methodology” in reference to system development and project management, where it is referenced as the “newest and greatest” method of development. This has made me wonder what exactly is Agile Methodology, when is it best for a development team to use Agile, why is Agile the “in” methodology, how is it implemented, and what are the results of “going agile”. In this series of summaries, I will peruse blogs and networking sites on the internet, utilized various journals, and interview fellow students and professionals in the IS field to discover the what, when, why, and how of Agile Methodology. In preparation of this summary I found that Agile is an umbrella term for at least ten different methodologies with three common key principles based on the Agile Manifesto.
Keywords: agile methodology, software development, Agile Manifesto
Agile Methodologies: A New Wave of Software Development.
Before my research I wasn’t sure what Agile Methodology exactly was. It didn’t help that what little I did know was bewildering, something that seems to be common among fellow students (B. Biskey, personal communication, April 15, 2010; S. Musa, personal communication, April 15, 2010; R. Nyholm, personal communication, April 15, 2010; A. Vic, personal communication, April 15, 2010) and blog authors (Unknown, 2010). I have found that Agile Methodology means different things to different people. It wasn’t until I read Wikipedia (2010) that I finally understood that Agile isn’t a single methodology but a catchall term c...
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...art, Interviewer)
Oehler, D. (2010, May 10). (G. Stuart, Interviewer)
Unknown. (2010). What is Agile? Retrieved May 15, 2010, from Agile 80 20: http://www.agile8020.net/
Vic, A. (2010, April 15). (G. Stuart, Interviewer)
Wikipedia contributors (2010, April 1). Agile manifesto. Retrieved May 8, 2010, from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agile_Manifesto&oldid=353440617
Wikipedia contributors (2010, May 11). Agile software development. Retrieved May 8, 2010, from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agile_software_development&oldid=361549642
Wikipedia contributors (2010, May 5). Dynamic systems development method. Retrieved May 12, 2010, from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Cite&page=Dynamic_Systems_Development_Method&id=360286686
Agile project management is an iterative approach to the planning and monitoring of project processes. Agile projects are conducted in smaller tranches called iterations with each of these iterations closely reviewed and critiqued by the project team (employees, representatives of the clients etc.). The knowledge gained from this process is then used to ascertain the next steps of the
SDLC( Software Development Life Cycle) , is a process used by the software industry to design, develop and test high quality software .The SDLC aim to produce good quality software that meets or exceeds the user’s expectation and reaches completion within time and cost estimates.
I recommend Scrum as our methodology because we do not know the requirements, the system needs to be developed quickly, and the system needs to be reliable. Scrum excels at new and changing requirements as well as adapting to new client needs. May Enterprises is currently unsure of what exactly they want so an adaptable methodology would excel. Scrum aims at creating a working system at the end of each sprint. Creating an implementable system quickly and incrementally is one of the main goals of Scrum. Also, because
The system development life cycle starts with having a plan and deciding exactly what you want to do and the problems you’re trying to solve. Analysis of the system is to understand the business needs and the processing needs. Design is the solution to a system that’s base on requirements and analysis decision. Implementation process is to construct, test, train and install. The maintenance process is continuously evaluating system’s performance.
The system development life cycle, also know as the SDLC, is the process of designing and developing a system or software to meet certain requirements. (“System development life,”). This cycle involves many different phases, in which the system is planned, analyzed, designed, implemented, and tested. There are five major phases in the system development life cycle: systems planning, systems analysis, systems design, systems implementation, and systems security and support. Each of these phases has a particular responsibility and certain tasks are perfumed in each phase.
When expressing the holistic approach of agile information systems applied to business, it becomes imperative that one addresses the specific framework toward the approach. Although, holistic in theory the specific framework for strategy itself must break down into independent strategies and examined as an ongoing whole. Take the company Amazon.com for example, their information system strategy combines the independent strategies of the framework however, they independently transpire and flow from one to another through a process of ever-changing information collaboration. In the year 2000, Amazon.com chose to provide this service to customers, which included a network of retailers through an efficient information system platform structured for e-commerce. Currently, the world’s largest retailers are involved in their ever-evolving achievement of services embracing technology, retailing, and customer service through order satisfaction. The company’s services encompass a spectrum from world merchandise leaders to small-scale merchants leveraging and incorporating an incremental sales channel for new products. In addition, they provide a platform, which allows independent software developers to build profitable applications, and services, which create an ongoing input of tradeoff analysis, and optimization, which ultimately enables the company to provide its merchants and customers an ever-expanding variety of services. Amazon.com in the aspect of agile information systems through their own innovation allows an ideal example in the explanation of strategic information systems analysis.
The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) consists of phases used in developing a piece of software. It is the plan of how to develop and maintain software, and when necessary, replace that software. In 2007 during my hospital’s transition to a new software system, I was fortunate enough to be included in the process. I did not get involved until the implementation phase, but from then on, until now, I remain very active in the process. I decided to highlight the Waterfall Model of SDLC. The Waterfall Model is a “sequential development process” with each phase continuing in a line (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2012, p. 205).
Scrum is basically a framework for agile development. Scrum is a process that is used most of the time during complex projects in software development. It is also a simple yet affective way to manage work. The strategy in Scrum is to divide members into a team and have them work together to achieve a common goal or project. Scrum provokes communication between the members of the teams. This communication is imperative to the success of the project.
A perceptive company with an ‘agile’ system can rapidly identify an alteration in the environment and gather useful information to quickly respond and avoid a major internal impact. This agility to quickly r...
It is possible to have a singular methodology for project management to specify morality and ethics when dealing with customers. Application of agile project management approaches like Atern offer a more inclusive approach for stakeholders including consistent update and revision of strategies. When the project manager violates protocol, all stakeholders should come together, clarify issues of violation, and set standards for all to follow.
Within the analysis phase a set of goals are needed within the domain. From this there are three perspectives which are taken; the object model the Ronald LeRoi Burback (1998) states “dynamic model, and a functional model. The object model represents the artifacts of the system. The dynamic model represents the interaction between these artifacts represented as events, states, and transitions. The functional model represents the methods of the system from the perspective of data flow.” After the analysis phase the system design phase takes place. Here the system is sub-categorized and appointed tasks and persistent data storage is established, also within this phase the architecture is formed. Lastly the object design phase starts and is where the implementation plan is established and algorithms and object classes are also
When comparing and contrasting waterfall and agile, they both use the same type of building blocks for the project: scope, cost, schedule and performance. They both also analyze, design, build, test, and deploy the requirement needed for the end result. The difference in these terms for each method is that when using waterfall for scope, cost, schedule, and performance, it sets the scope up front and then allows the cost, schedule, and performance to change depending on what is needed. An agile method will set the cost, schedule, and performance upfront and then have the scope vary, depending on what the company’s requests are after a working prototype. The waterfall is an iterative method meaning the next step cannot begin until the current one is completed. Once the current step is completed, it cannot be revised in anyway unless the project is scrapped and begin again. If the waterfall method is chosen, then the project team
Schrodl, Holger and Wind, Stefan, "Adoption of SCRUM for Software Development Projects: An Exploratory Case Study from the ICT Industry" (2011). AMCIS 2011 Proceedings - All Submissions. Paper 256.
Agile software development is a group of software development methods based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams. It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development and delivery, a time-boxed iterative approach, and encourages rapid and flexible response to change.
SEBok, 2013. Systems Approach Applied to Engineered Systems. [online] Available at: http://www.sebokwiki.org/wiki/Systems_Approach_Applied_to_Engineered_Systems [Accessed 7 April 2014]