2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
Where traditional development resists change, Agile embraces change. In a waterfall environment, customers agree to a contract at the beginning of the process. Changes to the contract are rarely accepted, and even more rarely are they actually added to the product. No matter if a customer wants to change, or if the market changes, the agreed product is set in stone.
In Agile projects, stakeholders are always welcome to suggest changes to the product. Since features are only developed at the last moment, changes rarely cause any significant delay or loss of work. For developers, this means less planning ahead and more working in the present. Developers cannot plan significantly into the future, as none of those features are guaranteed to make it into the product. Research can be time wasted if plans change. Instead, developers must focus all of their effort on the task at hand. Any feature in the current sprint is the top priority.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Related to the early and continuous release, time is more granular in Agile than in traditional development. Where a waterfall project looks months and years, Agile looks at weeks and months. This shortened time frame keeps development fresh.
For developers, this means that there are fewer things on the back burner at any given time. Developers are actively working on current features. Planned features will begin work in later sprints. Otherwise, there is no room for tasks and features to float around in limbo. This keeps developers focused on the task at hand, and increases productivity.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course:
Course Contents
Section 1: Agile Project Management
Section 2: Using the Agile Manifesto to Deliver Change
Section 3: The 12 Agile Principles
Section 4: The Agile Fundamentals
Section 5: The Declaration of Interdependence
Section 6: Agile Development Frameworks
Section 7: Introduction to Scrum
Section 8: Scrum Projects
Section 9: Scrum Project Roles
Section 10: Meet the Scrum Team
Section 11: Building the Scrum Team
Section 12: Scrum in Projects, Programs & Portfolios
Section 13: How to Manage an Agile Project
Section 14: Leadership Styles
Section 15: The Agile Project Life-cycle
Section 16: Business Justification with Agile
Section 17: Calculating the Benefits With Agile
Section 18: Quality in Agile
Section 19: Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 20: Quality Management in Scrum
Section 21: Change in Scrum
Section 22: Integrating Change in Scrum
Section 23: Managing Change in Scrum
Section 24: Risk in Scrum
Section 25: Risk Assessment Techniques
Section 26: Initiating an Agile Project
Section 27: Forming the Scrum Team
Section 28: Epics and Personas
Section 29: Creating the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 30: Conduct Release Planning
Section 31: The Project Business Case
Section 32: Planning in Scrum
Section 33: Scrum Boards
Section 34: Sprint Planning
Section 35: User Stories
Section 36: User Stories and Tasks
Section 37: The Sprint Backlog
Section 38: Implementation of Scrum
Section 39: The Daily Scrum
Section 40: The Product Backlog
Section 41: Scrum Charts
Section 42: Review and Retrospective
Section 43: Scrum of Scrums
Section 44: Validating a Sprint
Section 45: Retrospective Sprint
Section 46: Releasing the Product
Section 47: Project Retrospective
Section 48: The Communication Plan
Section 49: Formal Business Sign-off
Section 50: Scaling Scrum
Section 51: Stakeholders
Section 52: Programs and Portfolios