The Agile methodology is a software development management approach that emphasizes flexibility and the evolving nature of projects.

With Agile, teams deliver the project to the customer in small parcels rather than working to make one big delivery.

Agile is the opposite of another methodology widely used in this area, the Waterfall method.

This methodology promotes a linear form of project management. In Waterfall, the project has a concrete plan from the beginning to the end.

The tasks work sequentially, and one phase doesn’t begin until the previous one is finished.

Moreover, it does not involve the customer during the production process since the project and the end goal are strictly defined.

What is the Agile methodology?

Initially, Agile was created to manage and speed up software development. Now, the Agile methodology facilitates the different processes and stages of the creation and development of a project.

This method is known for having continuous and incremental development that accompanies the evolution of ongoing projects. In addition, it promotes excellent collaboration between the client and the programming team.

It allows the project's delivery in a phased and rapid manner.

These two characteristics allow the scope or goal of the project to be more flexible. It also facilitates the adaptation to the client's needs.

In short, the software development method has four simple premises laid out in the Agile Manifesto:

• People and interactions over processes and tools;
• Software working correctly above exhaustive documentation;
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation;

Responding to change over following a plan.

From these four initially established values, derived 12 others that advocate ideas such as customer satisfaction, teamwork, fast and continuous delivery of functional software, periodic reviews, and simplicity, among others.

Benefits of Agile

We have already seen that Agile facilitates management work. But what makes it so popular?

The answer to this question? This methodology benefits the client and the entire team involved in the project.

Thus, among the benefits of using Agile are:

Creating a better quality product

Because it's in parcels, the software developers can test the product during the various phases.

Likewise, the customer can give his opinion about the product during the development phase.

This characteristic will lead to a final product with fewer bugs, needing fewer changes, and that fully meets the customer's needs.

Project Predictability

The unexpected almost always happens, especially in software development.

The Agile framework allows you to predict risk and create mitigation plans more effectively.

Later on, we will explore frameworks embedded in Agile, such as Scrum, that facilitate project visibility.

Team efficiency

Because it splits into stages, the teams involved in the project can analyze what went wrong at the end of each parcel.

In this way, it is possible to improve procedures, manage expectations, and eliminate inefficiencies.

Customer satisfaction

Without a doubt, all the features and benefits of this methodology promote customer satisfaction.

Customers feel more involved, heard, and satisfied because their product reaches the market with more efficiency, speed, and quality.

Scrum and Kanban

If you have adopted the Agile methodology, you probably have worked with these two frameworks.

Scrum

As a framework, Scrum puts some of the fundamental principles of Agile into practice.

Agile and versatile, the Scrum framework helps organize work teams around a common goal.

It defines roles for project members and has specific functionalities. Let's see:

• Product owner: will be the person responsible for coordinating the team and managing the product backlogs;
• Development team: all members from all required areas involved in the project;
• Backlog: all the features and requirements of the product to be developed during the project.
• Sprint: rapid work cycles that promote the project's piecemeal deliveries.

Generally, teams have to accomplish sprints in a week or weeks.

Kanban

Kanban, also an Agile work structure, promotes the visualization of work and optimization of the flow among the team through a visual framework.

This structure is usual in software development projects and relies on work transparency and real-time communication.

The central function is to ensure that the team's work is visible and that the workflow is standardized.

It also allows fast identification of blockers and dependencies.

A basic Kanban board divides the workflow into three stages: "To Do", "In Progress" and "Done".

As you have seen, the Agile software development methodology, which can apply to other business sectors, can be very beneficial to your company.

At Zalox, we try to optimize all work processes, privileging communication with the client. Therefore, we also use this methodology.