Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
These are the values of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, but is strictly following the Agile methodology leading you to success?
The Agile project methodology offers a framework which is neatly defined and often strictly followed by software development teams. While it offers huge benefits over the classic waterfall approach, but strictly following it also may lead to frustration and overhead.
Taking that into account, DAHLBEER has introduced a hybrid approach. We simply combined the strengths of both waterfall and agile into one approach in order to successfully complete the project, keep the customer informed and the team committed.
To ensure transparency and build trust with our client we use some items of the waterfall toolkit, such as milestones and GANTT charts for visualization purpose. All project phases besides the implementation phase are following the waterfall project methodology.
The implementation phase is delivered in SCRUM, as we want to achieve maximum velocity during the development. The development team is self-organizing, and each team member is fully involved in the full process of the project. Timeboxing and delivering increments of the software in iterations helps to set the priorities right. By involving the users in the sprint review meetings, the risk of having a first contact with the new applications during the test phase is mitigated. Thus, we guarantee the built solution is going to be successfully deployed and adopted by the end-user.
We came to the conclusion, that blindly following one project framework might not be the best decision, as it may lead to frustration and overhead. To get the most out of the methodologies they should be adjusted to the particular needs of the project. After all, methodologies are toolboxes with tools to support development teams in executing their work. What tools you are going to pick - is up to you!