Agile Developers Advised Not To Jump Into Details Too Early

By jonturk | June 10, 2010

Agile practices have been a popular method for software development teams during the last decade, as the process focuses on producing increments of software rather than the entire project. The development process also allows teams to work with clients and make necessary adjustments during each period spent developing a certain software iteration. However, despite the interactive, new-agile style of software development, agile presents some challenges, IT World Canada reports.

The interactive relationship between client and developer during a developing process can sometimes present problems "" some clients will change their minds too frequently, or development teams will have different priorities when working together. Sally Elatta, president of an agile consultancy, told IT World Canada that agile development teams must not "jump into the details too early," or else they risk derailing a project.

"I can't tell you how many business managers just call meetings with no thought out process for requirements gathering," Elatta said, IT World Canada relays.

In order for agile development team to succeed, Elatta states, they must break up requirements into four sections "" visioning, brainstorming, breaking down specific functions and focusing on details.

From the outset, agile developers should work with their client to determine what the structure of the process should look like "" essentially creating a vision. For instance, some software might require strong attention in three areas, so deciding which parts of the team will work in certain areas is an essential first step, especially to start a flow of ideas. This flow then carries into the brainstorming period where teams discuss how they see workflow occurring. Teams shouldn't discuss details yet, Elatta states, but rather just focus on big-picture functionality. By focusing on this overall structure at the outset, agile teams will have less "new scope," as Elatta puts it, as the process moves forward.

In the next period of thought, teams must begin to break down big ideas into specific functions that they can implement during a given iteration. Trying to attack a broad idea within an iteration is dangerous and teams must break this idea down into pieces that can be effectively developed during each iteration. "The reason you do this is so you can demo and get feedback and acceptance on these features [from clients]," Elatta said. In the last section, development teams must focus on and determine what the requirements are for each iteration so teams can be prepared and aware of what is needed during each development period.

Agile methods have shown that they can speed up a development process "" a study from Rally Software in 2008 found that agile practices produced software faster 37 percent of the time, on average "" but teams should be careful not to rush the process and miss important details.