Agile has been talked about more and more in the software industry in recent years, and many companies and projects are gradually transforming from traditional development models to agile. Let's start by comparing agile and waterfall models.
Comparison of Agile and Waterfall Models
As can be seen from the comparison chart above, the waterfall model is based on a stable project scope for personnel and time schedule planning. It is plan-driven.
The agile model is based on a stable team and time, through iterative and continuous delivery of working software, and continuous self-improvement and self-improvement by means of reviews, retrospectives, etc., to achieve final product delivery. are value-driven. Agile is value-oriented, using value as the priority of delivery, and value as the ultimate goal of the entire project, so the delivered software is constantly changing and determined by value.
In 2001, the software industry environment has actually undergone many changes. For projects and customers, it has become increasingly difficult to output all requirements and determine the project scope at one time during the project analysis and project planning stage at the beginning of the project. , and in the project execution and implementation stages, more and more changes have occurred, which makes the project team need to invest more resources in change management and risk management, but the effect is not very good. As a result, a group of industry experts has developed some values and principles that can enable software development teams to work quickly and respond to change. And call itself the Agile Alliance.
Agile Alliance Manifesto:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software trumps detailed documentation
Customer cooperation over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
This alliance has a manifesto. What I need to share with you here is that although the manifesto sounds a bit tall and makes people feel distant, it is very practical. I believe that some friends' project environment has begun to undergo a transition from the traditional waterfall model to agile. Everyone should understand that the transformation to agile is not only a methodological change, but also requires a change in the company's organizational structure from top to bottom, otherwise it will be difficult to succeed. Therefore, everyone must understand this declaration well, and then all the goods will be received in the actual project.
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
The emphasis here is that members of the team need to be more proactive in doing things, and they need to be more active in increasing team communication and collaboration. "Higher than processes and tools" does not mean to exclude processes and tools, because processes and tools themselves are the crystallization and implementation of successful experience, which can help us standardize our projects and improve work efficiency. However, compared to the traditional model, agile wants to see the initiative of the team and reduce the dependence on processes and tools.
Working software trumps detailed documentation
The "working software" mentioned here means that the product delivered in each iteration of the project must be independent, complete and working software. Maybe in the early stage of the project, the delivered product has only a few functions, but it must be guaranteed that each delivery is a fully working software that can be directly used by users. "Beyond exhaustive documentation" here again does not mean exclusive documentation. As a very important asset of the project and even the company, the document has great significance to the project and the company, such as guidance, reusability, etc. Therefore, under the premise of balancing the project environment, agile still needs standardized document management.
Customer cooperation over contract negotiation
Agile emphasizes guiding customers to join the project, participating in the project itself as much as possible, increasing the communication of the project, thereby improving the efficiency of the project. And a large part of the value-driven leadership is determined by the customer. The goal of the project is to provide customers with working and valuable software. "Beyond contract negotiation" means that the interaction with the customer should not just stall with contract negotiation, or when something goes wrong. What agile advocates is to allow customers to participate in projects and teams as much as possible from start to finish.
Responding to change over following a plan
In agile, the project should embrace change from start to finish, because all changes are made for better products of value. "More than following the plan" means that when changes occur, what we need to do is to respond quickly to changes, which is fundamentally different from the traditional waterfall model.
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