Agile Software Development Methodology Course 2022

Agile Software Development Methodology 1
Agile Software Development Methodology
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Agile Software Development Methodology 2
Executive summary
This paper scrutinizes the agile methodologies in the project development process. In the
introduction part, it has analyzed the importance of methodologies in software development. The
second part has given an overview of the agile methodology as well as its history. Thereafter, it
has analyzed different methodologies such as Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), Feature
Driven Development (FDD) and Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) on the basis
of where each of them works best
Introduction
People working in the software development industry understand that the art of software
development is a special art which is very different from the rest of engineering projects. It is
special and different because it demands the full attention of team members who are flexible,
adaptable and willing to respond quickly to the changes which may arise overnight from clients.
This is what agile process entails
Agile Methodology Overview
Agile methodology is a project management process that is mainly used in the software
development cycle where demands and requirements of the products evolve from time to time in
collaborative efforts of cross-functional and self-organizing teams as well as customers. As
stipulated in its values and principles, the agile methodology was initiated as a response to the
inadequacies witnessed in the traditional software development methods like the Waterfall
method (Patwardhan et al., 2016). Based on the fact that software requires continuous upgrades,
the software industry has turned out to be very competitive, forcing developers to constantly

Agile Software Development Methodology 3
innovate and improve their products in order to remain on top of the game. This aspect was not
achievable in linear and sequential approaches of the waterfall method.
The history of agile development is traced back in the 1990’s after the software development
faced “application delivery lag” crisis. Through the experience of the crisis, it was realized that
the industry could not move fast enough to meet customer requirements and demands because
the time between business needs and actual development was very long (Peroni, 2016, p.55).
This was linked with the fact that traditional development models only considered the time factor
where development took place sequentially without revealing final products to customers until
completion. As a result, flexibility on changes and progress reviews was highly limited because,
by the time actual applications were finished, some of the requirements and original objectives of
the system would have changed already.
Possible Agile Methodologies for Client A
Extreme Programming (XP)
Extreme Programming is one of the foremost Agile methodologies that involve a high degree of
participation between its two main parties: developers and customers in the development
process. Customers inspire further development by emphasizing or outlining the most desirable
features of software through testimonials. On the other hand, developers pay keen attention to the
feedback obtained from customers to initiate necessary upgrades while continuing to test new
innovations in a progressive manner (Anwer et al., 2017, p.5). On its upside, Agile methodology
demands a high level of collaboration between customers and developers and minimum up-front
documentation. It is an efficient and persistent delivery model which requires a great level of
discipline and full involvement from people beyond the IT world. As identified in the case

Agile Software Development Methodology 4
description, client A is a small start-up and hence XP would be an appropriate agile methodology
since it works best among small teams.
Scrum methodology
Scrum methodology is a lightweight agile project management approach that is used to manage
both incremental and iterative projects of different kinds. Over the years, it has gained popularity
because of its simplicity, ability to incorporate overarching practices and its proven productivity.
With the scrum approach, product owner works closely with the development team to prioritize
and identify system functionality through product backlog process (Tirumala, Ali and Babu,
2016, p.5). Product backlog lists the needs of a project to deliver a working system such as bug
fixes and non-functional requirements. After the establishment of the priorities, the cross-
functional teams estimate and sign up to deliver the system in successive sprints of
approximately 30 days. Once a product backlog is analyzed and prioritized, the next set of
deliverables is selected for the next sprint. This methodology works best with lightweight
projects or small projects hence the project of Client A can adopt this methodology since it’s a
startup.
Possible Agile Methodologies for Client B
Feature Driven Development (FDD)
This is a developer centred methodology that involves turning models into builds in every time
there are iterations. Contrary to other methodologies such as XP and SCRUM, this methodology
centers on strict operations through domains, designs, code and inspection. The model is created
with a list of features where each feature has a design and development plan (Mahdavi-Hezave