AGILE Project Management
Agile methodology has taken the software development world by storm and rapidly cemented its place as the gold standard. Agile principles are all about being collaborative, flexible and adaptive. This methodology is rooted in adaptive planning, early delivery and continuous improvement, all with an eye toward being able to respond to change quickly and easily.
AGILE Methodology types
- Scrum
- Kanban
Scrum
One of the most popular software testing methodologies, Scrum takes a highly iterative approach that focuses on defining key features and objectives prior to each sprint. It is designed to reduce risk while providing value quickly.
Scrum starts with a requirement that outlines how features should perform and be tested. The team then cycles through a series of sprints to provide small bursts of value quickly. To help the team work in this flexible way and avoid shifting priorities, Scrum requires that questions be answered from the very start.
Because of its fast iterations, Scrum is best suited for teams whose customers and stakeholders want to be actively involved by regularly seeing working products at showcase meetings. This collaboration allows the team to make changes for upcoming showcases.
Kanban
Kanban is a very simple Agile based methodology rooted in manufacturing developed by Toyota to increase the productivity. At it’s core, Kanban can be thought of as a large, prioritized to-do list. Like with Scrum, requirements in Kanban are tracked by their current stage in the process (to-do, in development, in test, done).
Unlike Scrum, Kanban is not time-based. Rather, it is based solely on priority. When a developer is ready for the next task, he/she pulls it from the to-do list.
Kanban is best suited for small teams or teams that don’t produce features for the public and/or promise certain dates for releases. Additionally, it is a top methodology of choice for any products or teams focused primarily on maintenance work since bugs are not always straightforward and often require research to resolve, which makes time management challenging.
