The software development companies all over the globe are gearing up to inculcate every new technology gushing into the market every other day. The competition is extreme and they want to stay ahead of the time to reach out to the consumers before the other does. The consumers always demand something extraordinarily innovative to satisfy their needs. This propels the IT companies to continuously experiment with technologies, tools and diverse platforms to develop unique and ubiquitous products that could achieve them a breakthrough in the industry and market. For each product, software, or application they build, a definite procedure is followed by the dedicated developers in India and across the world. This procedure is called a software development lifecycle that incorporates various phases of product development and models around which the applications are developed and tested. These models are project management methodologies that allow you to make important decisions, organize and prioritize your work according to client requirements. Let's stroll down a few of these models and explore when you should use each one.
AGILE
The agile methodology follows an incremental and iterative approach while working on a software project. Rather than fixing a plan beforehand, it lends freedom in adapting to the changing requirements over the time and relies on customer feedback. Cross-functional teams work on different iterations where each lasts for three to four weeks. Each iteration produces a working software of a requirement and is organized in a backlog which is delivered later based on customer value. The Agile model enhances face-to-face communication while promoting accountability, team-work, leadership, and customer satisfaction. This model provides a good deal of flexibility to the developers. As the Agile model encourages feedback from the users and the team, it helps in improving the forthcoming iterations. Since customers are involved throughout the project development, they can provide inputs on the work being delivered and also on the end product. Besides, as the whole project is broken down into iterations, the teams can focus on developing high-quality software, unit test each component and later integrate.
SCRUM
Scrum is a subset framework for implementing Agile used to manage dense software development along with an application and product development. Unlike Agile, here the iterations last for a fixed duration, say one to two weeks allowing the teams to deliver software at regular intervals. The planning of the next sprint follows next. The model follows a definite set of activities, roles, responsibilities, and meetings. Scrum is a prescriptive framework that comes with its own advantages. It is easy to accommodate evolving changes during the development phase due to short sprints and customer feedback. Continuous communication enables the team to tackle the issues and changes as and when they occur. This helps in lowering the expenses by correcting the mistakes that appear in an early stage and improve the quality. The model infuses transparency and project visibility amongst the team as daily meetings ensure a clear picture of who is doing what.
KANBAN
Kanban is a visual framework that implements Agile, however, unlike Scrum, this model isn't based on a predefined set of processes. It suggests minute, gradual changes to your system that shows what, when and how to produce. Kanban is often called a "pull system" for its ability to pull in new work only when the team is less or not occupied with the existing work, as displayed on the team's visual Kanban board. This enables the team to align the work with its collective capacity and increase flexibility and output. Kanban is easy to understand and can be quickly implemented which doesn't require any prior knowledge of the methodology. Since there are no fixed time bounds, the priorities of the sprints can always be reevaluated as and when the information flows in. It saves a considerable amount of time by ensuring that the team doesn't spend much time on unfeasible tasks. Regular delivery of software optimizes the workflow of the team by helping them stay focused on a particular task.
Closure
The software development methodologies help in attaining the desired objectives. However, choosing the right model that suits the best to your business requirements is important as each model comes with its own benefits and trade-offs. Laying out clear functional and non-functional requirements, constant communication with the client, and continuous evolvement powered by the customer feedback play critical to the success of your software product.
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