Many companies often have their own ways of doing development that they have been practicing for years. Although their methods may work for them, they can have a better output by using Agile development, which focuses on team collaboration. Here are some ways to make improvements with Agile development.
Although something as simple as a laptop can be used as an environment for creating code, more than capable equipment provides the best environment for developers. Testers also benefit from this kind of hardware, because they can find bugs that are independent of performance issues much easier. Programmers have more area to write code on with set ups that use multiple monitors. Typing is a key part of writing code, and mechanical keyboards with tactile switches provide a better typing experience and higher durability.
Development needs to have a better focus on results. Agile used to be about direction with a bottom up approach, but now upper management provides the direction. Having the higher ups provide direction works best because developers can work within boundaries that have been created by the higher ups, while management can manage and supervise the entire project. Actual measurable results have to be produced by development teams with this management model. Just providing code isn’t enough, as the product has to work properly, and Test Driven Development challenges the product.
The continuous delivery system used in Agile can be a useful for development. Continuous delivery involves early feedback and a constant development pace. This allows teams to easily make changes in the face of unexpected results. Usable software versions or builds are part of continuous delivery. As each build is deployed successfully, feedback is provided and fixes are made in response to the feedback, leading to the creation of new builds.
Although the top down approach is ideal in Agile Development, getting approval from upper management can sometimes come at a cost of time. The time wasted while waiting for an approval on the next step of a project can be a detriment and can cause development to come to a halt. A way around this problem is the use of a spokesman. The spokesman can quickly communicate the needs of the developers to the upper management and even pitch ideas.
From small software projects to large ones, developer hell can sometimes happen. Users may sometimes reject features that have been implemented, which makes any work done to create those features ultimately worthless. This can be a waste of money and time for developers and the company as a whole, especially in cases where development cycles are exceptionally long. Making development and test cycles that are much shorter can alleviate this problem. Short development cycles in Agile development allow teams to create a working product that users can have a chance to use and provide feedback on in the quickest time possible. This feedback can be used to make fixes for the next build and there will be shorter roll out times between builds.
Through the use of Agile development, development teams can produce content at faster results and have a better work environment, while upper management will be able to supervise more effectively.
