1. Class Assignment 02
CLASS ASSIGNMENT-02
AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Submitted By:
Md.Mahedi Mahfuj -BIT 0207
Mostafizur Rahman -BIT0211
Md.Habibur Rahman -BIT0216
Submitted To:
Awsaful Islam
Course Instructor
Date: 30-09-2012
Institute of Information Technology
University of Dhaka
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2. Class Assignment 02
Agile Software Development
Abstract:
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.
In precise, agile methodology is a software development process framework that adopts
the iterative approach, open collaboration, and process adaptability throughout the life-
cycle of the project.
This iterative agile approach is more flexible and its short time-span iterations seek
improvement for the project in small release, with minimal planning, rather than plan at
length. This helps to minimize the overall risk, and allows the project to adapt to changes
more quickly. A pictorial view will clarify the concept.
Pictorial View:
Figure 1: Agile Process Model
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3. Class Assignment 02
Characteristics:
 Iterative and incremental
Many short time boxed iterations with incremental releases. The iterative approach
produces earlier release and better stakeholders' feedback. The feedback is used to
review the project priorities and make changes to the requirements, functionalities,
estimations, plans, resources, etc. as required. This improves stakeholder’s
confidence and reduces uncertainties in the projects. It is particularly useful to
clarify requirements when there are uncertain scopes or changing requirements. It
also helps improve the estimate and planning, especially when metrics are collected
in each iteration. Constant feedback reduces the project risks.
Figure 2: Iterative and Incremental Development
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4. Class Assignment 02
 People oriented
Unlike Unified Process's iterative framework, which prescribes to the successive
refinement of an executable architecture for each iteration, agile methodology
framework believes quality of the people is most important in making sure the
project is successful. There is more reliance on individual work than prescribing to a
general architectural planning. The software quality depends on the quality of the
people and how well they work together. The project is built around motivated
individuals and the workload should be sustainable at a constant pace with all
stakeholders. Trust the people to get the job done.
Figure 3: People Oriented process.
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5. Class Assignment 02
 Lightweight
Agile methodology believes that the most efficient and effective communication is
face to face conversation. Development team does not build large documents and
control points. However, this does not mean there is no modeling or documentation.
The attention is not towards the documentation but towards technical excellence
and good design with simplicity. It believes the best architecture, requirements and
design will emerge from self organizing teams. It uses sketch mode- The design
activity is centered on informal and incomplete exploration of complex design. The
focus is on communicating the design between team members rather than on the
completeness of the design.
Figure 4: Lightweight attribute of ASD
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6. Class Assignment 02
 Test driven development
The working software is the primary measure of progress in the project. Thus, each
iteration release is tested to be working software.
Figure 5: Test Driven Development Process
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7. Class Assignment 02
The Manifesto of ASD:
The Manifesto of Agile Software Development is as follows:
 Individuals and interactions over processes and tools---in agile
development, self-organization and motivation are important, as are
interactions like co-location and pair programming.
 Working software over comprehensive documentation--- working software
will be more useful and welcome than just presenting documents to clients in
meetings.
 Customer collaboration over contract negotiation--- requirements cannot
be fully collected at the beginning of the software development cycle,
therefore continuous customer or stakeholder involvement is very
important.
 Responding to change over following a plan--- agile development is focused
on quick responses to change and continuous development.
Benefits:
1. Early release, better stakeholders’ feedback.
2. Review the project priorities and make changes to the requirements,
functionalities, estimations, plans, and resources, as required.
3. Improves stakeholders’ confidence and reduce uncertainties.
4. Useful to clarify requirements when there are uncertain scopes or changing
requirements.
5. Constant feedback reduces the project risk.
When to avoid Agile Methodology:
 One has to formally document the requirements, design, code, and testing
cases during each phase of the software life cycle.
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8. Class Assignment 02
This is usually the case when building an infrastructure application, rather than an
application that supports a changeable business process. Infrastructure applications
support an entire business unit over a long ROI period, with repeated updates and
enhancements expected.
These applications are likely to be managed by successive generations of application
owners, who will need to inherit documentation from their predecessors, maintain
it, and pass it on their successors.
 Deliverables must pass through a chain of approvals and tollgates.
Approvals and tollgates are mini-bottlenecks that can slow the momentum of a
project, momentum that agile methods are supposed to support. Applications that
require phase-end reviews or reviews of major deliverables by senior management,
by a PMO, or even an Audit Committee may or may not be candidates for agile
methods.
Of course, the flip side to this is that agile methods can also help recover momentum
lost to approvals and tollgates.
 One has tools to create the software models but not to translate them to the
low end software code.
Model-driven development tools that can generate code are proliferating, but the
skills necessary to use them effectively are still relatively scarce. Unless you have
both the tools and the skills available, agile methods that depend on such tools need
to be approached with caution.
 One needs to follow traditional Software management processes and
Procedures.
"Traditional" usually means "comfortable". If the business sponsor and users are
uncomfortable with anything but traditional ways of developing software, and
remain unmoved by the value proposition for agile methods, don't bother.
 Application users are NOT always accessible to you.
Agile management depends on an effective, day-to-day working partnership
between the development team, the sponsor, and empowered users. If this
partnership does not exist, or is likely to be weak, an agile project will face much
higher risks than it should.
 One wants to work in a waterfall model – In other words you are taking a
serial, phase-based approach for your project SDLC.
Most actual project approaches are tailored versions of an organization's SDLC. The
long timeframes that characterize many infrastructure projects may make a
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9. Class Assignment 02
waterfall approach more suitable. On the other hand, if a long project is divided into
shorter duration mini-projects, agile methods may work better for some or all of
them.
 The project team cannot adapt to changes in working durations, overlaps &
shifts.
Agile methods require not only training but a different mindset. If the team you have
available cannot adapt to the changes that happen constantly in an agile project, the
project may fail.
 Team lacks breadth, depth, or both.
An agile project usually requires multiple skills, sometimes in the same people. You
will likely need skills in business analysis, technical architecture, agile project
management, model-driven development, and interpersonal communication. Agile
places a premium on having premium people.
Criticism:
Developer-Centric, not user-centric:
One common criticism of agile software development methods is that it is developer-
centric rather than user-centric. Agile software development focuses on processes for
getting requirements and developing code and does not focus on product design. Mike
Gualtieri, principal analyst of agile software development at Forrester Research,
published a widely read criticism stating that software developers are not coders, but
experience creators.
Inefficiency:
Agile methodologies can also be inefficient in large organizations and certain types of
projects. Agile methods seem best for developmental and non-sequential projects.
Extremity:
Many organizations believe that agile methodologies are too extreme, and adopt a
hybrid approach that mixes elements of agile and plan-driven approaches.
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10. Class Assignment 02
Conclusion:
Agile development methodology attempts to provide many opportunities to assess the
direction of a project throughout the development lifecycle. By focusing on the repetition of
abbreviated work cycles as well as the functional product they yield, agile methodology
could be described as “iterative” and “incremental.” In an agile paradigm, every aspect of
development requirements, design, etc. is continually revisited throughout the lifecycle.
The results of this “inspect-and-adapt” approach to development greatly reduce both
development costs and time to market. In the end, a development agile methodology that
preserves a product’s critical market relevance and ensures a team’s work doesn’t wind up
on a shelf, never released, is an attractive option for stakeholders and developers alike.
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