Agile (adaptive) model

Written by Marco Lombardo s210384

Abstract

Agile model is a new way of riding the development approach and life cycle performance domain of a Project, Program and Portfolio Management. The focus of the model is on process adaptability and customer satisfaction. The model is based in iterative and incremental processes combined to achieve a rapid delivery of working software product.

Although there are some adaptive methods dating back to before 2000’s, it is possible to date the concept of agile in 2001, when it was signed the “Agile Manifesto”. The Agile Manifesto outlines four Core Values (individuals and interactions; working software; customer collaboration; and responding to change) and twelve Guiding Principles which are of key importance for any team aiming at using an agile model.

The agile model is an adaptive model that use iteration or sprints to divide the project life cycle to work with a short-term planning. It is possible to define each sprint as the sum of 5 phases: gathering, design, construction, testing, close, and after each iteration the teams receive feedback, whereas the traditional models are based on a predictive approach (e.g., waterfall model). Both typologies of modelling have their pros and cons and the best approach to follow depends on the project/product.

Its goal is to assist companies provide value more frequently to their clients, react quicker to changes, and eventually improve the business. It is utilized when it is necessary to divide a large project into more reasonable tasks and complete them in short iterations throughout the project life cycle, defined as the set of phases from the start to the end of a project.

The model can be applied to almost any project, but for high complexity of design and scale of projects, companies prefer to use the predictive models. It is also important that the companies adopting the agile model make sure that their employees are aware of the rules and methodologies to successfully work with such a model.

Keywords: development approach, agile model, adaptive, sprint, PPPM

How agile (adaptive) model works; elements of an agile model.Source:[https://scrummate.com/agile-guide/agile-model/

Big idea

The development approaches are tools that allow people to correctly follow the steps to create software that meets a business need; it is possible to divide the development approaches in two big areas, adaptive and predictive approach; the agile model is a tool based on the adaptive approach. This model is used for its elasticity and adaptability and based on an iterative approach. It is possible to define the agile model as a lightweight method compared with all the other development models.

History

The Agile Manifesto was written in 2001, when 17 developers in Wasatch Mountains (Utah) had a meeting focused on the technological development of the future. Everyone agreed to the fact that most companies were drowning in documentation and were focusing too much on planning, with the consequence that they were losing what was the most important thing for their business: their clients.

For this reason, that weekend they wrote a short document (with only 68 words) that changed completely the development of software and the way of working for big companies. The idea of the Agile Manifesto was to find a common area among the most used frameworks conceptually close to the agile method (for example: Scrum, Extreme Programming, Kanban and other frameworks).

“The Agile Manifesto has four Core Values:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
4. Responding to change over following a plan

And the twelve principles are:

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
4. Businesspeople and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need and trust them to get the job done.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly”.

Description of the model

The model is well defined using the word adaptive and it is used by companies to break projects in small pieces. The approach used is that there is no detailed planning of long-term work; it is possible to have a clear idea of future tasks only when these tasks will be necessary to develop. Using this method, the teams need to be elastic and able to easily adapt when the product requirement is changing. The particularity of the version is that a product is examined regularly through the use of release iterations, minimizing in this way the hazard of any looming disasters in future. The iterations involve different teams that simultaneously work on various areas. The work done in every working session is also known as sprint. The sprints have variable durations that can range from few days to few weeks. The idea is to have a rotating release schedule from the teams to demonstrate that these segments are working well and, if not, to quickly fix any flaws.

Main phases of agile model Source:https://www.slideteam.net/business_powerpoint_diagrams/catalog/product/view/_ignore_category/1/id/437360/s/five-phases-agile-project-management-model-agile-proposal-effective-project-management-it/

The agile model consists of 5 main phases:

1. Envision: this is the starting point for every company, it is important to conceptualize the product and customer needs, so that you can have a clear idea of the final product. This is the phase where the work is analyzed and therefore who will work on the project and their stakeholders.
2. Speculate: this phase is important to create the initial requirements for the product. The idea is to encourage each team involved in the project to have a holistic view and explore different ideas for the project. It is the phase that expand the collaboration of the team members. It is important because teams need to have a good overview of the product and also of the timeline for the deliveries.
3. Explore: this phase is focusing on deliveries and particularly on the requirements and the constraints that the teams should follow. It is important to have a good collaboration between teams and a good interaction with customers and stakeholders.
4. Adapt: in this phase teams analyse the results with what was planning. Teams can adapt or make changes in order to have a better product. The most important work is to receive and elaborate feedback.
5. Close: as for every project there is its end. The most important thing to do in this phase is to analyse all the keys of the project and save all the knowledge gathered.

Agile is all about adaptive planning, development that evolve over time, early delivery, continuous improvement. It encourages rapid response, adoption and adaptation to change.

Applications

Adaptive/agile model vs. predictive/waterfall

To explain where an agile model can be applied, it is important to understand the differences between adaptive (agile model) and predictive (waterfall model) methodologies.

The adaptive strategies change exactly as fast as the real constraints and idea might change. Teams might be efficient to understand when a project change, they might adapt to it as well. Teams are working with agile models are not able to describe precisely what will happen in the project in the near future. The in addition away a date is, the vaguer an adaptive approach is ready what is going to show up on that date. An adaptive team cannot file precisely what obligations they may do subsequent week, however best which functions they plan for subsequent month. An instance is likewise while requested approximately a launch six months from now, an adaptive team is probably capable of file best the assignment assertion for the launch, or an assertion of predicted price vs. cost.

Predictive strategies, in contrast, consciousness on analysing and making plans the destiny in element and cater for recognised risks. In the extremes, a predictive group can file precisely what functions and obligations are deliberate for the whole period of the improvement process. Predictive strategies depend on powerful early segment evaluation and if this is going very wrong, the mission might also additionally have problem converting direction. Predictive groups regularly institute an extrade manipulate board to make sure they do not forget most effective the maximum treasured changes.

The predictive models, in particular the water fall model, are still the most used to manage projects. It is defined also as a linear sequential models. Often, it is possible to consider the waterfall model as the traditional approach to project management. They are organized in a strict way of planning and executing the plan step-by-step, and each step is dependent to the previous. This type of linear approach is not that useful if the product needs dynamic and fast changing environment as happens nowadays. In a Waterfall project, if there is a need to fix a failure it will require lots of extra time and cost and any of these were planned in advance with the clients. For this reason, many companies are strict to in making sure that the projects satisfy the constraints before continuing to the next phase otherwise it will have to be rebuilt from the starting point.

Considering all these aspects, it is possible to make a clear distinction in between the two methodologies and to try to understand when one is better and when the other.

The waterfall model is suitable for projects with well-defined requirements where almost no changes are expected. Instead, the agile model works smoothly when there is a higher chance of frequent required changes. Agile is a flexible model able to adapt to the change of the requirements also if this happens daily. Instead, in the waterfall model the constraints are defined with the business analyst only once at the starting point of the project.

Companies which adopted the agile model

For its nature, agile model is a challenge for big companies, because it requires strong ability of the teams, flexibility, and fast response to changes. Something that does not seem to be compatible with the rigid structures of large companies. Nonetheless, there are some big companies like CISCO (IT), Lego (IT), Barclays (Finance), Panera Bread (IT), Ericsson (Mobile network), PlayStation (Gaming), John Deere (IT), Fitbit (technology), OpenLink (Finance), Royal Philips (medical technology company) which have adopted the agile model and they have got positive results from it.

Examples of agile software

Some examples of the most popular agile methods are:

1. Scrum: the first agile framework is Scrum, which uses sprints and daily meetings (also known as Scrum ceremonies) at intervals in order to address different portions or a set amount of work within a project during its life cycle. There are three important roles in Scrum: the leader of a project is usually the Scrum master, the client is often the product owner, while the people developing the product are the scrum team members.
2. Kanban: the Kanban method is one of the most used frameworks which consists of the visual display of present, future and completed tasks. Each task is displayed on a kanban board where the team members can see the state of every piece of work at any time. The applications for this method are the agile implementation and the development of DevOps software. The reason why the Kanban board is widely used is that having a visual representation of the tasks helps the agile team members to have an overview on all tasks, both their own and the ones related to the project. To achieve this visual display, it is important to have quick and continuous communication of available resources and being completely transparent on the work progress.
3. Extreme programming (XP): the last model is the Extreme programming an agile software development framework with the idea of producing a higher quality software and quality of work for the development team. The model is considered the most specific among all agile frameworks for what concerns good engineering practices for developing software. The values of the extreme programming are five and are: communication, simplicity, feedback, courage, and respect and are described in more detail on the website.

Limitations

Agile model - Pros and Cons

In the last decades, agile methods are becoming more and more accepted in the software world. However, there are some cases in which this method may not be suitable. As shown below, the agile model presents many advantages, but has also a number of disadvantages to be taken into consideration.

The pros of using an Agile Model are many. Firstly, the model is a very realistic approach to software development. It a creates a strong relationship between clients and the developing team, thanks to the continuous delivery of a workable product which increases the customer satisfaction. Secondly, the functionality of the model is meant to be developed quickly by cutting overall development time (it usually delivers functioning software frequently, in weeks instead of months) and to be demonstrated; its adaptability makes it suitable both for fixed or changing requirements and the resource requirements are minimum. With regards to the types of teams it can be applied to, the model suits in a good team environment and improves the teamwork and cross-training. Moreover, the agile model provides early partial working solutions, minimal rules, easily employed documentation. It is a good model for environments that are continuously changing and evolving, as it enhances flexibility to developers, and it is easy to manage. Lastly, it requires very little planning, enables concurrent development and delivery within an overall planned context.

However, the Agile method is not optimal for all cases. Even though the principles of the model are meant to resolve some of the drawbacks that could arise from using the Waterfall approach, it is not uncommon that companies and/or organizations do not achieve the expected advantages. This is due to one of the following reasons.

In the first place, it is not suitable for handling complex dependencies, as it might pose more risk of sustainability, maintainability and extensibility of the product, if this is too complex and it is hard and difficult to measure how much effort will be needed to start the life cycle of a larger project. Moreover, the model cannot be used by all companies because it requires a certain structure and guidelines to be in place: an overall plan, an agile leader and an agile project manager are a must, without which it will not work. For the successful implementation of the model, it is fundamental that all deliveries and deadlines are strictly managed, as they dictate the scope and guarantee the correct sequence of functionalities to be delivered. In addition, the agile model can create confusion among working groups due to the fact that documentation is not sufficiently emphasized and therefore leads to difficult transitions between phases. Moreover, the model depends heavily on customer interaction, so if the customer is not clear on his request or does not have well-defined goals, the team can be driven in the wrong direction and if the client and the team are in different pages the project will derail. For large companies, it could be a disadvantage to use the agile model due to the fact that it entails a very high individual dependency, since it generates minimum documentation. Due to this lack of documentation, the transfer of technology to new team members may be quite challenging, this means that an agile model requires people with good and solid developer and programming skills. Sometimes, the fact that there is not any kind of system design the structure becomes too complex forcing the companies to follow the waterfall model.

To conclude, the agile model represents a good method when it is more important the speed of creating a product compared to its eminence. It is also proven to be useful in the cases where clients are often changing the scope of the project and when the idea to be achieved is not fully defined. From the point of view of the human resources of the companies very skilled, independent, and adaptable developers are key. Lastly, it is recommended to use the agile model if the industry has to fulfil the continuously varying standards.

Annotated bibliography

Agile New Solution Development in Manufacturing Companies,Tuomas Huikkola, Marko Kohtamäki, Technology Innovation Management Review, volume 10, Issue 3 2020

• This conceptual paper proposes a new agile solution development model for technology and manufacturing companies

COMPARATIVE STUDY: WATERFALL V/S AGILE MODEL, A. Dubey, A. Jain, A. Mantri, Acropolis Institute of Technology and Research, Indore (M.P), India, March, 2015

• This journal report is written by A. Dubey, A. Jain, A. Mantri. This report describes the differences between Agile and Waterfall methods.It explains when it is better to use one of the other model in a very organized way.

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ® Guide) – 7th Edition and The Standard for Project Management, Project Management Institute, Inc., 14 Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073-3299 USA, 2021 ISBN: 978-1-62825-664-2

• This modern guide enables project team members to be proactive,innovative, and nimble in delivering project outcomes. The section studied is the chapter 2, Project Performance Domains, in particular the section explain the differences between adaptive and predictive methods and when is better to use one of another.