Software Project Methods

The Definitive List of Software Development Methodologies

Words by Jurgen

Scrum

Scrum

agile software development

Created by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland

Scrum is a skeleton that includes a small set of practices and predefined roles.

Scrum is becoming a de facto standard for managing agile software development projects.

One reason for Scrum's popularity is that it consists of only a few common sense practices that can be applied in many situations. This also means that Scrum by itself is never enough, and that development teams have to shop in other methods (usually XP) for additional practices.

Extreme Programming (XP)

Extreme Programming (XP)

Created by Kent Beck

XP is a set of best practices of which some are taken to an "extreme" level. As with other agile methods, XP regards ongoing changes to requirements as a natural and desirable aspect of software development. In the selection of its practices XP leans towards the daily software engineering activities of developers. XP is often seen as complementary to Scrum, filling most of the holes that Scrum leaves wide open.

Lean Software Development

Lean Software Development

Originally promoted by Mary and Tom Poppendieck

Translated from lean manufacturing to the software development domain.

Lean Software Development is adapted from the Toyota product development system, and it is the embodiment of the "lean" subculture that exists within the agile community (and that has by now become big enough not to be able to call itself lean anymore).

It is said that the lean and agile concepts form a perfect match.

Unified

Process

Unified Process

software engineering framework

Created by Ivar Jacobson, Grady Booch and James Rumbaugh.

The USDP is an extensible framework that should be customized for specific organizations and projects.

It aims to be a complete solution, which means that the full framework is far too big for all but a few projects.

However, stripping the framework to its bare essentials is like turning a plane into a bicycle. It might be easier simply to select another more lightweight method.

Rational Unified Process (RUP)

Rational Unified Process (RUP)

software engineering framework

Created and maintained by the people at Rational Software (now owned by IBM), including Philippe Kruchten.

It is a commercial product delivered as a more detailed version of the Unified Software Development Process (which is presented as a generic public domain process).

This also means that the RUP suffers from the same problem as the USDP, being bloated and too costly to customize for small projects.

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Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)

agile project management

created and maintained by the UK-based DSDM Consortium, which includes both vendors and experts.

It was originally based upon the concepts of Rapid Application Development . DSDM finds itself on the same level as Scrum, meaning that it lists a small number of practices for project management of software development, while leaving the details of the real work (building a product) to be filled in by the development teams.

Prince2

Prince2

( Projects in Controlled Environments)

project management methodology

Developed by the UK’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

Prince2 describes many processes and activities covering the management, control and organization of projects, and is deliberately not restricted to IT projects.

Even though Prince2’s popularity makes it a de facto standard for project management (particularly in Europe), it is criticized (by many including me) for being too prescriptive, too big and not easily customizable.

PMBOK

Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)

project management methodology ,

Developed by the US-based Project Management Institute (PMI).

It is an internationally recognized standard providing the fundamentals of project management, not limited to IT-projects. Similar to Prince2, the PMBOK describes many processes and activities, though the PMBOK can be seen as being descriptive (what), while in contrast Prince2 is more prescriptive (how) . Their main similarity is that both are criticized for not being agile.

CMMI

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)

software engineering model ,

Developed by Watts Humphrey

The CMMI aids in the definition and understanding of an organization’s processes and was originally intended as a tool for assessing the maturity of an organization’s processes. These days it is also used as a roadmap for process improvement . The CMMI is heavily criticized for focusing on processes rather than people, and it may lead organizations down the road of bureaucracy.