Week 10: Agile practices

9th August 2021

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Agile practices

Traditional development is a linear process implemented before agile practices. Traditional systems were predictable and a lot of time was spent on the planning stage (Serrador and Pinto, 2015). The specifications were established early with no opportunity to improve the prototype in the development stage. This process may have worked well in the past, but as time evolved, it no longer works with the current technologies built today.

Agile development is a practice that has organically evolved in the community, more so in the technology industry. It is an iterative process that involves high-quality software developed in sprints by teams that react to continuous feedback and improvements. This process delivers a minimum viable product (MVP) sooner with modifications to produce a newer, better product.

Agile can be applied in various ways to support teams, management, development and many more (Waldock, 2021). Some of the benefits include embracing change, clear communication, better workflow and development in individuals (Waldock, 2015).

A balance between traditional development and agile methods are practised together. A “sweet spot” for the two methodologies can be integrated and depends on the project requirements (Boehm, 2002). For example, in-depth planning may be required in the early stages (traditional) but is revised during the development process (agile).

Envisioning

Envisioning is a continuous process throughout the development stage. The product owner in the scrum team is responsible for this process whilst stakeholders feedback are consulted.

The team must collaborate to form an envision of the product to create a successful user experience. It requires time and effort to set a clear vision, “one that will delight your users and customers” (Nieters and Gabriel-Petit, 2015). It may not be clear at the start what all the requirements and details are, but this is refined as you progress into the project.

I have learnt the process involves the product vision, product backlog and product roadmap. The product vision is the goals and values of the product. It is identified in creative ways, such as product vision box and press release. The product backlog is defining the user story or epics, which is a statement from the user’s perspective outlining their goals and benefits towards the product. Finally, the product roadmap outlines the vision and priorities of the product over time.

Agile estimation techniques

Agile estimation is a method used to predict the effort and time of the project based on information and results of previous sprints (Idri et al., 2016). This method is applied once the backlog is complete.

Agile estimation is based on three questions:

1. How many features will be completed?

2. When will they be completed?

3. How much does it cost?

When working in a team or independently to deliver a product to your client, you will need an estimation of the deliverables.

It may be challenging to provide an estimate in a small team because everyone’s working style and speeds are different, especially if it is the first sprint. It is essential to collaborate and communicate to understand everyone's capabilities to have a prediction. When you work independently, you can estimate your own time based on previous projects and your skills.

According to Idri et al there are several agile estimation techniques for analogy-based software development:

• Effort estimation using classical analogy – This is using information from previous projects.

• Effort estimation using 2FA-k modes – This has three steps: identification of cases, retrieval of similar cases and case adaptation.

• Effort estimation using 2FA-K prototypes – This is using software that includes numerical and categorical attributes and clustering.

User personas

User personas is a model based on the user’s demographic data, contextual data, behavioural data and attitudinal data. Designers use this to establish the specification and requirements of the product or service. When creating products and services for a wider audience, personas can help to communicate the design across many cultures. Getto explains the issues with users from different backgrounds may not be in sync and interact effectively. It is essential to identify the differences in culture when designing a user persona for an international audience. User personas will “represent a richer understanding of a given audience” and provide an in-depth insight into the user’s goals (Getto and Amant, 2015).

Creating a persona from rapid ideation 2

User persona image created by Lehang Tieu. 2021.

Summary

Reflecting on this week, I have learnt that agile methods are beneficial in teams to allow dynamic and flexible working. Although this is a popular method in the technology industry, this method is adopted in many disciplines in teams or independent work. There are many advantages to using this method and I am excited to apply this in my future modules of this master.

In the next module, I am hoping to apply the agile method and create an MVP. I will embrace the iterative processes and discover ideas to improve the quality of the product in each sprint. I also would like to learn to design in-depth user personas to get an insight into the user’s requirements from a wide range of cultures.

References

Serrador, P., Pinto, J.K. 2015. ‘Does Agile Work? — A Quantitative Analysis of Agile Project Success’. International journal of project management 33(5), 1040–51.

Waldock, B. 2021. Belinda Waldock on the Agile Movement and Practice. [online] Available at: <https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/912/pages/week-10-belinda-waldock-on-the-agile-movement-and-practice?module_item_id=54148> [Accessed 05 August 2021].

Waldock, B. 2015. Being Agile in Business Discover Faster, Smarter, Leaner Ways to Succeed at Work Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson.

Boehm, B. 2002. ‘Get Ready for Agile Methods, with Care’. Computer (Long Beach, Calif.) 35(1), 64–9.

Parker, A. 2021. Envisioning. [online] Available at: <https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/912/pages/week-10-envisioning?module_item_id=54149> [Accessed 05 August 2021].

Nieters, J., Gabriel-Petit, P. 2015. Envisioning Experience Outcomes : UXmatters. [online] Uxmatters.com. Available at: <https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2015/04/envisioning-experience-outcomes.php> [Accessed 5 August 2021].

Idri, A., Amazal, F.A., Abran, A. 2016. ‘Accuracy Comparison of Analogy-Based Software Development Effort Estimation Techniques’. International journal of intelligent systems 31(2), 128–52.

Getto, G., Amant, K. 2015. ‘Designing Globally, Working Locally: Using Personas to Develop Online Communication Products for International Users’. Communication design quarterly review 3(1), 24–46.

Images

2017. Man with crossed arms. [image] Available at: <https://unsplash.com/photos/VVEwJJRRHgk> [Accessed 9 August 2021].