There is a lot that has been written about the Agile process. Thus, it has been a hot topic that all the cool kids are discussing for several years. While there is nothing wrong about that, there are still a lot of aspects of Agile to embrace outside of the buzz. This is a software development process that can improve productivity, quality, and reduce risk. It is not a silver bullet. Nevertheless, we can find many ways for it to help us build better solutions.
Improve Velocity With the Agile Process
The critical part of the Agile Manifesto is not a reduction of paperwork. It is a reduction in things that matter less. We have often mentioned the Pareto principle (aka, the 80-20 rule) as a way to get to our goals in a smarter fashion. The main thing to understand is that sometimes corners can be cut. Put in a better way, the best solution is not always the most complete and flashy one. For example, you do not need a Porsche just to get to work. Software falls into the same category. A lot of problems have a range of solutions from cheap and straightforward to complicated and expensive.
When the Agile process is properly used, then it helps us find where we need to do more work or can call a solution “complete.” It also allows us to spend less time trying to define everything in a project up front rather than only what we need along the way. Even better, this is an approach that provides us more options to bail out with something usable. That may seem preferable instead of jumping in full force and not having anything to show for it until the end.
The Mentor-Mastermind Group
This series comes from our mentoring/mastermind classes. These classes are virtual meetings that focus on how to improve our technical skills and build our businesses. The goals of each member vary. However, this diversity makes for great discussions and a ton of educational value every time we meet. We hope you enjoy viewing this series as much as we enjoy creating it. As always, this may not be all new to you, but we hope it helps you be a better developer. Drop us a line to find out when the next one is so you can join our group.
Slide Deck: Making The Most Of The Agile Process
