The agile software development methodology has revolutionized how firms create and maintain applications. It offers a greater degree of flexibility, which opens up a world of possibilities for development teams. But, the concept can be complicated to understand in its entirety—especially to take full advantage of it as a leader.

This guide aims to help you do exactly that—use the agile software development methodology to the fullest. We’ll cover everything from the history and purpose of the concept to its variations and implementation in your team. We’ll also explore how a time tracker will help you with the strategy to take your development firm to the next level.

The Basics of the Agile Software Development Methodology

The agile software development methodology is built on one key thing: flexibility. This is hinted at by its name—specifically the word agile. Such strategies achieve their flexibility by using short development and testing cycles called sprints. Instead of developing the entirety of a given product immediately, agile development breaks up the software into smaller pieces. This results in each sprint producing functional software—whether that’s an application, a feature, a library, or anything else.

The flexibility of agile development leads to another strong point—adaptability. As development is done in lots of smaller steps, changing customer requirements isn’t a problem for agile teams. In fact, the willingness to implement evolving guidelines—regardless of what stage you’re at in development—is a key principle in agile software development. We’ll explore this in-depth in a bit. Before then, let’s continue exploring the basics of the strategy with its history.

The History of Agile Development

A lot of key details of the agile software development methodology were formalized in 2001. However, the origins of the concept go way further back. The history of agile software development began in the mid-late 1950s with iterative and incremental strategies. Adaptive development, meanwhile, emerged in the 70s. These were followed by several other lightweight development methods in the 90s—all aiming to replace the traditional model. While we won’t be covering these methods and strategies here, you can learn more about them in the Agile Glossary.

Going back to 2001, the key principles and values of agile software development were inked in the Agile Manifesto. A group of 17 programmers co-signed the document, aiming to help developers work in better ways.

These values and principles apply to lots of development strategies that use the agile methodology—including lean development, extreme programming, scrum, and more. Let’s explore some of these up next.

The Different Methods of the Agile Software Development Methodology

There are lots of development strategies that hinge on the same principles of the agile methodology. While each of these has its own unique aspects, they share the same adaptive approach to coding—netting them similar advantages. A few popular examples of such strategies are:

• Agile Modeling
• Extreme Programming
• Feature-Driven Development
• Rapid App Development
• Scrum
• Kanban
• Lean Software Development

The Agile Manifesto

As mentioned previously, the Agile Manifesto was conceived in 2001 by a group of 17 programmers—the Agile Alliance. They came together to discuss lightweight development methods and came up with 4 values and 12 principles underpinning these strategies. Let’s explore these next, starting with the values of the agile software development methodology.

The Values of Agile Development

The values inked in the Agile Manifesto read as follows:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

While the alliance values the items on the right more, those on the left are still important in their own ways. Things like tools, documentation, negotiation, and plans still play a role in the agile methodology—just a much smaller one.

The Principles of Agile Development

Besides the core values, the concept’s manifesto also includes 12 principles. These are as follows:

• Satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery
• Welcome evolving requirements, no matter the stage of development
• Deliver working software frequently
• Ensure your developers and business people collaborate daily
• Value motivated developers, satisfy their requirements and trust them to get their work done
• Prioritise face-to-face conversations for communication
• Track the progress of your projects through working software
• Focus on the sustainability of your team’s progress rate, avoid work overload
• Prioritise technical excellence and good design
• Work smart and prioritize simplicity at every step
• Ensure your team is always self-organized
• Conduct periodic reviews on how you can increase efficiency in key areas

The Benefits of the Agile Software Development Methodology

After going over the concept in such depth, let’s now explore why you might want to use it in your development firm. The key advantages of agile development stem from its inherently short release cycles. By having functional software at an earlier stage, it will be easier for your team to spot any bugs. Your clients will also be able to get a glimpse into what they ordered earlier—allowing them to request changes sooner. This way, your programmers won’t have to spend lots of time on code that will be scrapped later down the line.

Taking Advantage of the Agile Software Development Methodology with a Time Tracker

Let’s now explore how your company can use the methodology for its own projects. You can incorporate agile development without any software aids. After all, its manifesto values individuals over tools. But, productivity apps—like high-quality time trackers—can help you in a lot of ways.

Managing Projects and Tasks to Encourage Organization

As agile development is often fast-paced, keeping track of your company’s tasks and projects can be challenging. A high-quality time tracker like WebWork can help you with this with its built-in project management feature. Besides projects, your staff can also manage their tasks. By creating assignments and proactively updating key details, your employees can stay organized. As already mentioned, self-organization plays a key role in the methodology, highlighting the value of managing tasks.

High-quality project and task management functionality will benefit your team in lots of other ways as well. By organizing assignments, your staff can prioritize them correctly. They can then work on more important tasks first to avoid missing deadlines.

Enhancing Collaboration—Both for In-Person and Remote Developers

Agile development thrives on communication. You might have noticed that the manifesto mentions that face-to-face interactions are the best. But, it’s important to remember that high-quality video calls weren’t a thing when it was established. Moreover, remote working and teleworking arrangements weren’t nearly as popular either.

In today’s world, high-quality communication tools are essential. Many of the best time trackers offer such functionality to help you use the methodology effectively, regardless of your team’s work arrangements. Effective communication will also enable you to hire staff from across the globe more easily. This will open your firm to a wider pool of talent, which can have many benefits.

What to Look for in a Time Tracker for Agile Development

Before closing off this guide, let’s briefly explore what you should look for in a time tracker to take full advantage of agile development in your team. Key features you should look for include:

• Project management tools
• Integrations with development platforms
• Collaboration functionality

Most high-quality time trackers like WebWork offer these features, which can help you enhance productivity even outside of your development team. This way, the entirety of your company will be working more effectively—helping your business speed up its growth.

Concluding Thoughts

The agile software development methodology offers a flexible, effective approach to development. By focusing on its values and principles, the strategy can enable your team to deliver higher-quality products. Using tools like high-quality time trackers—while unnecessary—can help you take full advantage of the methodology. This way, your developers can be prepared to adapt to changing requirements to work in a better, more efficient way.