Hello! Today's post will discuss a method of project management called Agile software development. One may ask, "Hey Steven, what exactly is agile?" Simply put, when you are a developer and you say that you are agile, you are saying that you are using adaptive planning techniques that break larger tasks into smaller ones that have short deadlines of anywhere
between two weeks to one month. This means that if problems occur, the overall plan can quickly be tweaked accordingly. This isn't something small, big companies such as
IBM are utilizing this kind of planning already. The advantages to using this method is that the client will stay updated with progress of the project, while still allowing the group to attempt to do the project their own way. In between each "sprint," or short two to four week period, the group and client will discuss the status of their work and then adjust the plan. This provides a middle-ground between achieving what the client wants while allowing the group to try new things. Agile planning is very easy to use, and anyone planning a project should try it at least once. I have included a sample of the preliminary plan that my group created for the project that I am currently working on below, just in case you wanted to have an example.
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| Example of Agile Planning |
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| Another Example |
Hi Zhe Liu / Steven,
ReplyDeleteYour post about Agile seemed to only discuss its benefits. Do you think Agile development methods are right for every situation? What do you think about stuff like UML and what is your favorite form of Agile development (scrum, XP, etc.)? Have you ever used Agile for a team project before and if so, how did that turn out for you? I personally have been on several teams that used Agile in some form, but never one that used it completely.
Tim K
Hey steven,
ReplyDeleteNice blog post! I liked how you wrote your post in a conversational manner and gave background information and example to help your readers know what exactly AGILE is. I like the 2 pictures you put in your post but I would have been great if you found some other stock images to really show what AGILE is. I would also recommend finding some article that talks about what AGILE is and write about that (cite it of course) in your blog post. Otherwise great work!
Jeff
Steven,
ReplyDeleteYour explanation of how to incorporate Agile into your work is very thorough. You provide a nice detailed explanation of how Agile may benefit you and your projects, but you did not explain how Agile has affected you! It is nice that you did mention that you are currently implementing Agile yourself, but I would love to hear what you think of the whole methodology.
I thought it was great that you found out that a big tech company exercises Agile. It changes my views of Agile and makes me think that maybe Agile IS that much worthwhile if even IBM is using it! I also like how you provided your readers with actual pictures than searching into Google, "Agile," which is what most people probably did for this blog post.
Steven,
ReplyDeleteThis is a good post about Agile. Before I don't anything about it, even I haven't heard about it as well. You explained agile in details and that is the way can make the reader understand the concepts easily.