Unlike its predecessor, the waterfall model, Agile is highly
dependent on the initial specifications and the view of the final
product. Agile is all about agility. Agile software development methods
are considered as high revenue boosters for product companies looking to
bring great products to market in time.
Let's take a look at the top 10 key advantages of agile development-
1. Time to Market
Leading ISVs go to market earlier than their competitors, giving themselves an edge over competitors. If an ISV wants to position themselves at the very helm of their industry, the best way would be to get to market early with their product. Agile development's key methodology of evolution through collaboration improves the time to market by a great extent.
2. Flexibility
In other software development models, the ability to make modifications to the initial specification may be quite hard due to their inherent nature. In case of agile development, flexibility is a major aspect that allows project managers and the clients to modify after the initial planning.
3. High Level of Engagement
Agile methodology allows the client's team and the product development vendor's team to operate as one integrated team, wherein the responsibilities are well defined and modification requests are readily available. High degree of collaboration is the major reason why agile is a success.
4. High Quality
Quality assurance engineering is a major aspect of software development. Ensuring high quality in software is possible only by integrating the QA team with the development team. This principle is integrated in the agile development methodology. And QA personnel are able to do regular inspections of the project as it develops.
5. Transparency
Active involvement of the development, operations, and quality teams makes the agile methodology quite transparent. Stakeholders need in-depth visibility into the various aspects of the project, which is ensured in agile methodology.
6. Delivery Management
Management of deliverables is smooth and straightforward in case of agile development. Also, the delivery timeline stays so predictable that both you and the vendor can fix your schedules accordingly and plan other relevant activities such as marketing.
7. Cost-Effectiveness
Predictability on the schedule of release and collaborative effort have a major effect on the cost of the product. Fixing the budget and controlling it well can make the product highly cost-effective. No other software development model provides better cost-effectiveness than the agile model.
8. Client Satisfaction
Agile model goes through software sprints involving verification and validation phases. This is highly integrated with the user requirement specifications, functional and design specifications, code review, testing, etc. As a result, the client has ample time to review the progress and provide necessary feedback for improvement. At the end of the day, this creates a high level of satisfaction for your client, and further the customers of the product.
9. Better Management of Risks
Agile methodology is characterized by incremental releases that provide opportunity to manage unforeseen risks. For a software product company, identifying risks at the early stages makes all the difference.
10. Keep Up With the Industry Changes
With agile methodology, you are able to keep up with the changes that happen in the industry. Each sprint of the model gives a full-fledged model as well as ample opportunity to modify the specifications for the next release. Adding and removing features, hence, is pretty easy within the agile model. This allows you to keep up with the changes happening in the industry, a key reason why the agile model is called that.
Conclusion
Other software development methodologies, such as the waterfall model, incremental development, iterative development, etc., have their advantages and disadvantages. But when we look at the business in a marketing perspective, then agile methodology may be the right model.
Let's take a look at the top 10 key advantages of agile development-
1. Time to Market
Leading ISVs go to market earlier than their competitors, giving themselves an edge over competitors. If an ISV wants to position themselves at the very helm of their industry, the best way would be to get to market early with their product. Agile development's key methodology of evolution through collaboration improves the time to market by a great extent.
2. Flexibility
In other software development models, the ability to make modifications to the initial specification may be quite hard due to their inherent nature. In case of agile development, flexibility is a major aspect that allows project managers and the clients to modify after the initial planning.
3. High Level of Engagement
Agile methodology allows the client's team and the product development vendor's team to operate as one integrated team, wherein the responsibilities are well defined and modification requests are readily available. High degree of collaboration is the major reason why agile is a success.
4. High Quality
Quality assurance engineering is a major aspect of software development. Ensuring high quality in software is possible only by integrating the QA team with the development team. This principle is integrated in the agile development methodology. And QA personnel are able to do regular inspections of the project as it develops.
5. Transparency
Active involvement of the development, operations, and quality teams makes the agile methodology quite transparent. Stakeholders need in-depth visibility into the various aspects of the project, which is ensured in agile methodology.
6. Delivery Management
Management of deliverables is smooth and straightforward in case of agile development. Also, the delivery timeline stays so predictable that both you and the vendor can fix your schedules accordingly and plan other relevant activities such as marketing.
7. Cost-Effectiveness
Predictability on the schedule of release and collaborative effort have a major effect on the cost of the product. Fixing the budget and controlling it well can make the product highly cost-effective. No other software development model provides better cost-effectiveness than the agile model.
8. Client Satisfaction
Agile model goes through software sprints involving verification and validation phases. This is highly integrated with the user requirement specifications, functional and design specifications, code review, testing, etc. As a result, the client has ample time to review the progress and provide necessary feedback for improvement. At the end of the day, this creates a high level of satisfaction for your client, and further the customers of the product.
9. Better Management of Risks
Agile methodology is characterized by incremental releases that provide opportunity to manage unforeseen risks. For a software product company, identifying risks at the early stages makes all the difference.
10. Keep Up With the Industry Changes
With agile methodology, you are able to keep up with the changes that happen in the industry. Each sprint of the model gives a full-fledged model as well as ample opportunity to modify the specifications for the next release. Adding and removing features, hence, is pretty easy within the agile model. This allows you to keep up with the changes happening in the industry, a key reason why the agile model is called that.
Conclusion
Other software development methodologies, such as the waterfall model, incremental development, iterative development, etc., have their advantages and disadvantages. But when we look at the business in a marketing perspective, then agile methodology may be the right model.
Read more articles on Agile Software Development here at blog section of MSys Technologies and Clogeny.
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