Introduction to
Agile Software
Development
Tom Reichlmayr
Rochester Institute of Technology
Software Engineering Department
Word Association
Write down the first word or phrase that pops in
your head when you hear:
• Extreme Programming (XP)
• Team (or Personal) Software Process
(TSP/PSP)
• Plan-driven software development
• Agile software development
1
Process Methodology Myths
Agile Methods
• cowboys and hackers
• undisciplined
• low quality
Plan Driven Methods
• process worship
• document laden
• excessive discipline
It’s not that black and white. The process
spectrum spans a range of gray.
3
Important Concepts
Plan-Driven Agile
• Process Improvement • Embrace Change
• Process Capability • Frequent Delivery
• Organizational Maturity • Simple Design
• Process Group
• Risk Management • Refactoring
• Verification (building • Pair Programming
the product right) • Retrospective
• Validation (building the • Tacit Knowledge
right product) • Test-Driven
• System Architecture Development (TDD)
2
Plan-Driven Approach
Characteristics
• Systematic engineering approach
• Completeness of documentation
• Thorough verification - traceability
• Traditionally waterfall, but more incremental
and evolutionary processes are the norm.
Examples
• Cleanroom (mathematically driven)
• PSP/TSP (Humphrey, SEI)
Agile Approach
Characteristics
• Short, iterative cycles
• Incremental delivery
• Evolutionary work artifacts (test,design,code)
• Active customer involvement
• Dynamic application domains (requirements)
Examples
• eXtreme Programming (XP) – (Beck)
• Crystal family (Cockburn)
• Scrum (Schwaber)
• Feature-Driven Development (Coad)
6
3
The Process Methodology Spectrum
More Agile Less Agile
Crystal Feature Driven Design
Lean
Scrum DSDM Plan Driven
XP Methodologies
Hackers Inch-
PSP Pebble
Agile Methodologies RUP
TSP SW- Cleanroom
CMM
from “Balancing Agility & Discipline” (Boehm & Turner)
What Is Agile Software Development?
In the late 1990's several methodologies began to get
increasing public attention. All emphasized:
• close collaboration between the programmer team and
business experts
• face-to-face communication (as more efficient than written
documentation)
• frequent delivery of new deployable business value
• tight, self-organizing teams
• ways to craft the code and the team such that the
inevitable requirements churn was not a crisis.
2001 : Workshop in Snowbird, Utah, Practitioners of these
methodologies met to figure out just what it was they had in
common. They picked the word "agile" for an umbrella term
and crafted the
• Manifesto for Agile Software Development,
4
Manifesto for Agile Software Development
Statement of shared development values:
Individuals and Interactions – over process and tools
Working software - over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration - over contract negotiation
Responding to change - over following a plan
“That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we
value the items on the left more. “
Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
We follow these principles:
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and
continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile
processes harness change for the customer's competitive
advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a
couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily
throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the
environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job
done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to
and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
10
5
Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
We follow these principles (continued):
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable development.
The sponsors, developers, and users should be able
to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
enhances agility.
Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is
essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from
self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more
effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
11
Traditional Approach
Project follows a waterfall process (plan
driven)
Teams produce artifacts at each phase of the
life-cycle in a sequential manner.
Significant upfront design effort
Implementation delayed until later stages of
the project
Testing deferred until coding complete
Teams make final presentation to the customer
Teams participate in postmortem session
12
6
Traditional Project Approach
Inspections
Planning
Test Plan
Requirements Code!
Test Results
Post Mortem
Analysis/Design
Project Plan
Design Document Implementation
Estimates
Use Case Diagrams
Schedule Test
Interaction Diagrams
Risk Mgmt
Class Diagrams
Code!
Require Doc Release
GUI Prototypes
Start Project End Project
13
Traditional Challenges
Lightweight applications/heavyweight process
Document intensive (perceived)
Less flexible design
Big bang approach to coding/integration
Testing short-shifted
One-shot delivery opportunity
Lack of opportunity for process improvement
14
7
Four Project Variables
Time – duration of the project
Quality – the requirements for ‘correctness’
Resources – personnel, equipment, etc.
Scope – what is to be done; the features to be
implemented
Pick three, any three . . .
15
Agile Characteristics
Incremental development – several releases
Planning based on user stories
Each iteration touches all life-cycle activities
Testing – unit testing for deliverables
Testing – acceptance tests for each release
Flexible Design – evolution vs. big upfront
effort
Reflection after each release cycle
Several technical and customer focused
presentation opportunities
16
8
Applying Agility
Planning
Release 1
Release 2
Final
Release
User Stories
Test Plan
Implement
Test
Demo/Deliver
Reflect
Start Project End Project
17
Key Agile Components
Team Skills
• Collaborative Development
• Reflections (process improvement)
User Stories
• Requirements elicitation
• Planning – scope & composition
Evolutionary Design
• Opportunity to make mistakes
Continuous Integration
• Code (small booms vs big bang)
Testing
• Dispels notion of testing as an end of cycle activity
Communication
• Interacting with customer / team members
18
9
Agile Software Development
Agile Themes:
• Lightweight disciplined processes
• Feature / Customer Focused
• Small teams
• Short delivery cycles
Popular Agile Methodologies:
• XP (eXtreme Programming)
• Crystal Family
• Adaptive Software Process
• Scrum
19
Characteristics of Agile Methodologies
Deliver working software frequently
Incremental development cycles – release plan
based on user stories.
Evolutionary approach to design – design what
you need for this release cycle
Test – Test – Test (Unit & Acceptance)
Customer participation
Lightweight documentation
Reflect at regular intervals – tune and adjust
20
10
Agile Benefits
User stories drive planning and requirements in a
manageable work units
• Customer perspective
• Risk management
Frequent delivery of working software
• Process reflection opportunities
• Implementation refactoring
• Positive feedback to team
Testing Focus
• Test early and often
• Change in attitude towards testing
21
Design
Requirements Planning
Test
Implement
Working functionality
Release Cycle Acceptance Test Plan
Unit Tests
Present
Reflect
11
Resources
• Agile Software Development Portal:
agile.csc.ncsu.edu/
• Agile Alliance – www.agilealliance.com
• www.extremeprogramming.org/
• Laurie Williams – North Carolina State:
collaboration.csc.ncsu.edu/laurie/index.html
23
12
