Gartner Research

Agile Development Methodologies

Published: 23 May 2011

ID: G00211991

Analyst(s): Sean Kenefick

Summary

Agile solves many of the problems that beset development groups, but is it the fix for what ails your engineering team? Research Director Sean Kenefick assesses agile development methodologies and explains why embracing them leads to outcomes that are better than those provided by sequential methodologies such as waterfall.

Table Of Contents

Summary of Findings

Analysis

  • Why Agile?
    • The Limits of Waterfall
    • Looking for the Root Cause
    • Field Research Proves Agile Success
    • Quality Is Not the Same as Value
  • Agile Tenets
    • Feedback
    • Discipline, Compromise, and Team Empowerment
    • Collaboration
  • Adopting Agile
    • Starting Small
    • Agile Practices
    • Organizational Impact
  • Adoption Challenges
    • Experimentation and the Dangers of Rationalization
    • Bookending Agile
    • Enabling Collaboration Across Distributed Teams
    • A Semblance of Failure
  • Agile Mythconceptions
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Determine if the Organization Is Ready for Agile
  • Take an Agile Approach to Agile Adoption
  • Use Iterations
  • Colocate Feature Teams
  • Ensure Collaborative Ability of Distributed Teams
  • Train the Staff (Including the Business Side)
  • Keep the Product "Demo-Able"

The Details

  • A Comparison Framework
    • Emphasis
  • Extreme Programming
  • Scrum
  • Adaptive Software Development
  • Feature-Driven Development
  • Behavior-Driven Development
  • Lean Development
  • Dynamic Systems Development Method
  • Crystal Framework
  • Essential Unified Process

Recommended Reading

Notes

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