In the previous blog, we saw the values and principles on which agile development is based on. Now, let us look at the benefits of agile development and also situations where agile development is not your best bet.
Benefits of agile development
Continuous customer contact
The customer was often only in contact with the project team throughout the beginning and end of the project under traditional project management techniques. Agile emphasizes continuous communication and iterative delivery to make sure your team is on track and the final result is exactly what the client needs.
Adaptive
If there is a change in the scope, then the traditional approach cannot accommodate this change due to schedule and cost. However, with agile development, these changes can be incorporated easily.
Faster delivery
Agile includes a continuous development methodology that makes certain your team is consistently generating usable products. So, clients can get working versions in a shorter time span rather than waiting for months.
Low project risk
The danger of a project failing is reduced by your team’s regular product development and early client input. You can lower your risk of an iteration or draught failure by breaking a big project into smaller iterations. Instead of finding a significant problem only during the final testing before the end delivery, it is more probable that you will detect minor issues early on that can be fixed swiftly.
Innovation
Agile encourages teamwork and continual improvement, both of which can spur creativity and the creation of new features and products. Co-locating teams and holding daily meetings promote idea generation and brainstorming. Agile promotes an “idea meritocracy” in which the best idea triumphs regardless of where it originates.
Now, despite all its benefits, agile development is not the best fit for every situation. Now, let us find out the scenarios where agile development is not your best bet.
Situations where agile development is not the best fit
The outcome of the project is stable
Agile might not be the best strategy if there is already very little uncertainty and minimal chance of change. You don’t need iterative planning and numerous draughts, for example, if you work in a sector with strict laws or if the majority of the project requirements are already known.
The project has repetitive deliverables
If certain tasks require the same deliverables repetitively, then using agile development is not the solution. Because agile development is not fit for reproducing the same results over and over again.
The stakeholders are against it
An agile project requires constant contact with stakeholders. But, if they are not able to or don’t want to put in the time, because they consider the project low risk, then the traditional approach is more suited here.
Your company is not equipped to handle agile development
Here are some signs that your company is not yet ready to accept agile development.
- The team and company are unclear about the concept and haven’t had sufficient training for this method.
- The prime stakeholders are not in favor of this methodology.
- The organization is unable to support regular collaboration.
- The company structure is restrictive and cannot support cross-functional teams.
- The company requires heavy documentation.
And with that, we come to an end to our basics of agile development series. This definitely does not explain the agile development process in detail or completely. However, it is an overview of the concept that is enough to give everyone a general idea about the methodology. We will discuss, this development method deeply in the upcoming blogs.