Agile Software Development Life Cycle

Agile Software Development Life Cycle | Agile SDLC

The concept of Agile is becoming popular in the modern business culture. The SDLC of Agile provides a rapid delivery of working software as a combination of an incremental and iterative process. It breaks the product into small builds which are given iterations individually.

Every iteration includes planning, analyzing the requirements, designing a layout, building a part or iteration of the software, and testing. For every iteration, it takes one to three weeks to complete. This adds to the advantage of Agile that a customer can review the result and check if he is satisfied or not after every step. But this also leads to difficulties in estimating the resource requirements and time since this can vary after every stage of implementation.

To understand the Agile Software Life cycle we must understand some basic terminologies associated with it.

What is the Software development life cycle (SDLC)?

It is a process of designing, developing, and testing high-quality software that can fulfill the customer’s needs within the given time and budget. It focuses on different phases of development which include requirements, planning, designing, development, testing and ultimately deploying the software.

What is Agile?

The model of Agile divides the tasks into small time frames to complete a bigger task for performing the required function. It follows an iterative approach and delivers a build after the completion of every iteration.

It works upon adaptive development methods that require minimal or no planning to begin. The frequent testing mechanism after every built minimizes the risk and failures that can happen in the future.

The Agile model implements a realistic approach with minimum resource requirements that can be managed easily. It promotes training and teamwork to depict rapid development and demonstration of functionalities. It is a flexible model that works well for both fixed and changing requirements of the software.

What is the Agile SDLC and how does it work?

The Agile Software Development Life Cycle works as a combination of iterative and incremental models. Every build is provided with an iteration. The result of iteration can be checked by the customer.

Phases of Agile SDLC

The life cycle of software development through Agile works in the following 6 phases

1. Gathering requirements and analysis:

In the concept phase, the owner defines the scope of the project. For a number of projects that need to be completed simultaneously, you should prioritize them. The owner needs to discuss the requirements with the client and document its outline which must include the proposed features and end result required. The initial requirements are advised to be minimal since they can be added in the later stages if required.

The detailed documentation of requirements and features will help the developers to commit to the process of development and the time required.

2. Design requirements:

Using the flow diagrams or UML you can depict the additional features and they can be applied in your software. After depicting you need to discuss the sequence of functions like a programming language, libraries, and frameworks.

Here the team members are created, the initial funding is put into place. The basic requirements and environments are discussed. The development team can develop the expected prototype for the user interface at this stage.

3. Coding and development

As the customer and developers agree on the plan the developers start delivering the product at different stages and sprints which can be designed to improve the existing versions.

Every cycle includes testing and the final product also undergoes complete software testing. This interaction of Agile with the customer at every stage is the backbone of this SDLC. This phase uses the Scrum and Kanban method i.e developing processes based upon individual tasks.

4. Integration and testing

After integrating the multiple modules to form a complete working software the product is made available to the customers at this stage. Quality assurance testing is performed in this phase. It provides documentation, internal and external training of the final version of the desired software.

To ensure that the software is fully functional the development team conducts a series of tests. In case of detection bugs or missing functionalities, the developers can fix them.

5. Deployment

After implementing the bug fixes or flaws the software is implemented and deployed. It is made available to the customers and the software moves from development to maintenance phase. The developers provide continuous support for the smooth functioning of the software and fix any new bugs that arrive. With time more iterations can be updated in the current products to add new functionalities.

6. Review

The last stage of the development cycle includes reviewing the product. The developers present the result of all the stages of development to achieve the required results. After completing this phase the development process starts over with a fresh iteration or scaling the currently existing iteration.

Pro’s and cons of Agile SDLC

Pros:

  • It divides the complete project into small and transparent iterations.
  • The fragmentation makes it easier to make changes or updates.
  • The risk factor is minimal in developing software.
  • The first and every further version of the product is released faster.
  • An early display of results helps in generating more satisfied customers

Cons:

  • It requires a highly professional and client-oriented team of developers.
  • The additional requirements of software can create a conflict with the existing architecture.
  • Additional changes at every step of iteration can increase the time limit of the development process.
  • Initial requirements are not enough to define the final product needs as they can increase with the completion of every iteration.

Conclusion

According to a report posted by the State of Agile, 97% of companies use the Agile SDLC as it delivers flawless software. The workflow of Agile helps the developer and customers to cope up with unexpected errors and scenarios. It also enhances the productivity and working of the software by understanding the exact needs of the customers.

The above article explains the working of Agile, the phases of implementation, advantages, and disadvantages of the development life cycle.

By Support

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