Agile Frameworks
As an answer to the inflexibility and limitations of Waterfall, different software engineers came up with the Agile approach to software development. With this framework, design, analysis, development, testing, and acceptance are done within a short timeline called a Sprint in order to deliver a potentially releasable product increment. This allows the team to produce working software in a shorter amount of time that can be built upon further down the project timeline.
There are only three roles in an Agile team: the Product Owner, the Scrum Master, and the Development Team. A project manager from Waterfall would typically take over a Product Owner role if they prefer to manage the product direction, or the Scrum Master role if they prefer to coach the team. A developer is anyone needed to make up the product – programmer, tester, analyst, designer. There is no hierarchy in an Agile team as everyone brings equal value to the project, and customers are closely involved in a faster feedback loop.
Because Agile works in increments and sprints, time is fixed for the project. If a sprint is agreed to be for two weeks, product increments will be delivered every two weeks. The Sprint ceremonies facilitate the transparency, inspection, and adaptation for the product development. If certain changes in requirements and priorities are perceived to be valuable, the Product Owner can re-order the feature delivery in the project backlog. The flexibility of Agile makes it a great framework for responding to changes in business needs and trends.
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