Popular Agile Software Development Methodologies

Many start-ups and small software development companies are prone to start off with the practice of ad hoc software development, which can be effective for the development of small software projects in an ideal situation, whereas the absence of a clear structure and a well-thought-out plan during software development often entails unnecessary waste of budget and can eventually result in a real flop of a software project.

Why do software development companies opt for agile development methodologies?

To avoid setbacks, professional teams of software specialists make use of a set of principles and rules, which aid software companies in organizing, structuring and planning the process of software development and make up the essence of software development methodologies. 

Traditional software development methodologies like waterfall methodology are notorious for their lack of flexibility and slowness. That’s why today traditional development methodologies are often replaced by agile development methodologies, which accelerate the process of software development and allow quicker project finalization. Agile software development methodologies give a chance to step away from bureaucracy and strike a balance between laissez-faire style and immersion into paper work.

Popular agile software development methodologies employed by software developers and software development specialists:

• Extreme programming (XP) or test driven development is an agile software development methodology used for a quick delivery of new critical functionality. High-quality deliverables with this agile methodology are ensured by continuous testing (including unit testing), customer collaboration, constant close team members interaction and focus on small releases within 1 to 3 weeks.
• Scrum is an agile development methodology that comes in handy for rather short iterations approximately of 1 month duration each (sprints) to produce small increment deliverables of software features. The software development lifecycle is managed by a scrum master, who holds daily scrum meetings. This agile development methodology hallmark is a substantial customer involvement in increment planning as they suggest functional features for a software solution in a Product Backlog.
• Lean development is an agile development methodology, which is also used for iterative processes and is based on the lean production concept. Among the key principles of this agile methodology are “Deciding as late as possible” and “Delivering as fast as possible”. Lean development agile methodology encourages communication between customers and software developers and underscores individual decision-making and ultimate value for clients.
• Crystal is one of the most flexible agile development methodologies, which focuses on the peculiarities of every single software project and adapts each software development process to particular present-day problems. This agile methodology emphasizes simplicity and flexibility of the development process.

Agile software development methodologies have caught on among IT professionals in the realm of software development as such an approach discards many red tape hindrances and allows delivering of working software in small increments within short iterations.