Agile Software Delivery introduction

It happens in our practice to come across teams and individuals who have never experienced the benefits of using a certain method or practice to achieve an improvement of some sort. In this case we are going to explore using Agile Software Delivery.

What is Agile Software Delivery?

This blog post is part of my Back to basics series.

​When a team or organisation have never come across Agile methods, it is necessary to take a step back and explain the ideas and the benefits in simple words. This isn’t always easy! When we have become well too familiar with something we seem to forget how to explain it to beginners. There is even a term about this - “the curse of knowledge” - when we are so used to a particular skill or subject, that we forget that we need to go back to basics when teaching people who have never experienced it. 
Of course, you may come across instances when even the simplest explanation and your best efforts to go back to basics will not work very well but at least you’ll know you’ve tried your best to help. With this in mind I have prepared the text below as a simple introduction to the benefits of Agile Software Delivery.
Agile software delivery is a way of developing software that emphasises iterative development, continuous improvement, and close collaboration between teams. Agile methods are designed to help teams deliver software more quickly and reliably, while also providing greater flexibility and adaptability to change.
There are a number of different agile methods, but some of the most common include Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming (XP). Scrum is a framework for managing projects that breaks down work into small, manageable chunks called sprints. Kanban is a visual system for tracking work and identifying bottlenecks. XP is a set of principles and practices that emphasise continuous improvement and close collaboration between teams.
Agile software delivery can give you a number of benefits, including:

• Increased speed and flexibility: Agile teams are able to deliver software more quickly and reliably than traditional teams. This is because agile methods allow teams to adapt to change more easily and to deliver new features and functionality in smaller, more manageable chunks.
• Improved quality: Agile teams are often able to deliver higher quality software than traditional teams. This is because agile methods emphasise continuous improvement and close collaboration between teams.
• Reduced costs: Agile software delivery can often lead to reduced costs. This can happen in two ways 1) Agile delivery teams can deliver important valuable functionality early on therefore reducing time to market and 2) agile delivery teams usually employe better software development practices therefore producing better long term quality and lowering total cost of ownership over time.

However, there are also some challenges associated with implementing agile software delivery well.

• Good agile software development teams require experienced developers with additional skills that are still not very common. For instance, Test Driven Development (TDD), Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD)
• Organisational agility is required in addition to software development teams following an agile approach. Organisations often struggle to handle an agile approach because they are unwilling to change the way they work. Sadly, when they do that, they significantly limit any positive impact from the adoption of Agile Software Delivery..

Despite these challenges, agile software delivery has become increasingly popular in recent years. To a large extent this is driven by practitioners favouring agile methods over traditional software delivery methods. Agile Software delivery promotes sustainable pace of development and generally better team culture, avoiding death march deliveries and turning estimates into commitments to mention a few inappropriate practices from the past. The business world also sees agile delivery methods as an opportunity to deliver software more quickly, reliably, and cost-effectively. This is not always the case and is dependent on the specific implementation and how well the organisation adapts to the agile delivery method.
If you are considering adopting an agile method, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• The specific method that you select is important but more important is the set of values and culture that you create and the attitude of your people. Those with the right attitude operating within a safe environment can almost certainly make any method work well.
• Training in Agile methods is important but more important is to have the right mix of experienced people with positive attitude. There’s sufficient research to show that any training without imminent use in the real world provides little to no return on investment.
• Having selected and following an Agile method is great but more important is to be able to adapt to change while staying true to your mission and your values. 
• Appreciate that Agile software delivery takes time to learn and to master but also understand that you have to learn as you do so make sure that you continuously deliver value on your journey.

Within our network and beyond we have seen great examples of successful implementation of agile delivery methods. More often than not, these implementations are by no means following prescribed methods to the letter but most commonly they have employed a large number of experienced consultants with great attitude who are able to overcome implementation difficulties and promote great organisational culture. Should you wish to learn more use our contact us form to get in touch!