What is it like to be Agile, agile and Agile methodology?
Today’s topic is on AGILE METHODOLOGIES. Yes, I know you understood nothing form these 2 words if you do not have a previous knowledge. To start with explaining, I can say that agile was originally developed by software developers as a better process for managing their work. But, throughout the time it got evolved and therefore, today, it encompasses a range of different Agile methodologies used in different disciplines.
Let’s first discuss what is Agile indeed!
What Is Agile?
I can say in order to comprehend the real meaning of Agile methodologies, we should start with Agile itself. Agile Alliance explain agile as “the ability to create and respond to change. it is a way of dealing with, and ultimately succeeding in , and uncertain and turbulent environment.”
Now, you can wonder when this idea started. The start date of the idea is approximately around 2001, with the Agile Manifesto. The story start as this. 17 software practitioners gathered to identify and put into practice a new more effective way to develop a software. The Agile Manifesto characterizes Agile values as below:
- Individual and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
Briefly to say that a person can assume himself being an agile(lowercase) without being Agile, and you can technically be practicing Agile without truly experiencing agility. Now, I guess you have some question about what is this agility. Is it different than what we were talking? Dictionary.com defines agility (of any kind) as “the power of moving quickly and easily; nimbleness,” with this secondary definition: “the ability to think and draw conclusions quickly; intellectual acuity.” Meanwhile, (uppercase) Agile describes the specific set of practices, values, and beliefs that aim to enable business agility.
I would like to use the definition of business agility created by researchers of McKinsey & Company to expand on this idea, who define Agile as “the ability to quickly reconfigure strategy, structure, processes, people, and technology toward value-creating and value-protecting opportunities.” These definitions reflect that Agile itself is a mindset, not a technique. That’s where Agile methodologies come in.
Now, since we learned Agile and agile, it is time for Agile methodologies.
What Are Agile methodologies?
To start with a definition, Agile methodologies are frameworks that teams and organizations use to put the Agile mindset into practice. If Agile is the what, Agile methodologies are the how.
The purpose of implementing any Agile methodology is to increase your business’s agility.
It’s how you go about trying to achieve agility that determines whether or not you are practicing Agile. There are many methodologies that could be considered Agile methodologies, as well as many frameworks that can be utilized to effectively scale Agile across organizations.
Let’s take a closer look at several of the most popular Agile methodologies. These include:
- Scrum
- Extreme Programming (XP)
- Lean Software Development
- Kanban
- Crystal
- Feature-Driven Development (FDD)
- Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
REFERENCES
- The Agile Manifesto. (n.d.). Retrieved December 25, 2020, from https://www.scrumalliance.org/resources/agile-manifesto
