Agile methodology is a definite set of directions, a checklist, or a playbook, rather it is more of a mindset or a culture that needs to be implemented across an entire organization for it to be successful. Agile methodologies or practices have been beneficial for many organizations when compared to a waterfall or other traditional models. However, agile methodology is far from perfect and has its shortcomings. In this blog, we will be looking at some of the advantages and disadvantages of agile methodology.
Advantages of Agile Methodology:
· Customer Satisfaction — this one of the foremost and important aspects of any organization, which cannot be compromised. Agile methodology offers optimized customer satisfaction by ensuring continuous and quick delivery of products, resources and useful software.
· Interactive — agile methodology emphasizes people and interaction with them rather than systems, tools, and processes. Clients, developers, and testers can continually interact with each other for better deliveries.
· Frequent Delivery — with the traditional model frequent delivery of working software and other resources was inefficient. However, an agile methodology not only makes it possible but also consistent.
· Effectual Communication — any form of communication is ineffective in comparison with face-to-face communication; which is why agile methodology reinforces face-to-face communication resulting in better business traction.
· Better Supervision — attention to detail is key to a successful business, and agile methodology ensures continued attention to detail, which directly results in technical excellence and good design.
· Quick Adaption — if an organization struggles or takes too long to adapt to the changing circumstances of the business flow, it will spiral down the path of failure. By adopting agile methodology any business enterprise can regularly and quickly adapt to any changes that may come its way.
Disadvantages of Agile Methodology
· Difficulty in Assessment — it is difficult to assess the effort required for certain software deliverables, specifically the large ones, before the software development life cycle can begin.
· Lack of Emphasis — design and documentation processes are more important than expected in certain aspects of the workflow, in such cases, there is a lack of emphasis on essential design and documentation process.
· Ambiguity of Project — in some cases, the project can go off-track if the client representative is unclear of the client’s final outcome. A more stringent planning and in-take process can help mitigate the ambiguity of the project and its outcome.
· Need for Seniority — with agile methodology only senior programmers and designers are capable of making quick decisions during the development process. Hence, freshers cannot fit into an agile methodology unless they have experienced resources that can help.
In addition to the above-mentioned disadvantages, agile methodology can also fail due to unrealistic and impractical expectations. However, the advantages of agile methodology outweigh the disadvantages, allowing for more organizations to adopt the agile methodology. The mixed review of agile methodology is a compelling setback that many organizations are unwilling to look past.
A plausible solution to eliminate these crucial disadvantages is for each organization to define an agile methodology that is specific and suitable to their requirements, test its credibility under a controlled environment, providing proper training to its entire workforce and then deploying the bespoke agile methodology.
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