Table of Contents
Agile thinking foundation
To start defining the flow of agile, it should be said that in the past, before there was anything called software or computer, companies like Ford or Toyota of Japan faced challenges in the field of producing customer-friendly and quality products. Companies that tried to discover low-cost and high-quality production methods and used consultants like Deming in years like 1946. It means that ever since humans began to produce products, efforts have been made to reduce the cost of production. In this regard, methods and methods have been achieved which are later used by other industries.
Companies and factories introduced many methods and names to the world to produce valuable and quality products at a low cost. Of course, in the meantime, methods for managing the human resources of organizations were also introduced. These methods introduced how to keep the workforce motivated. When computers entered our homes and organizations, we saw the emergence of a new industry called the software development industry.
In terms of production and results, the situation of software was worse than other industries. Because software users themselves were customers of other people’s software and products. In a way, this led to the rapid emergence of new technologies. So the software companies had practically forgotten the customer and were immersed in new technologies. The quality was also offered at an unacceptable level.
The software is full of bugs and errors and the customers are confused. But finally, the day came when the software industry also gave the right to the customer. Therefore, some people did research in this field.
And so it happened that after collecting the transformation methods of other industries and localizing it in the software industry, Agile thinking was born.
History of Agile
In 2001, at Snowbird Ski Resort, Utah, 17 software developers gathered to discuss agile and flexible software development methods and produced the Agile Manifesto.
The developers had no way of predicting what the Agile movement would become. Almost 20 years later, Agile is everywhere and has become a buzzword in businesses.
Main goal of agile thinking
The announcement of these principles was made with the aim of simplifying the software development process and cutting off inefficient activities such as heavy documentation, excessive meetings and rigid adherence to the process.
Today, in businesses around the world, everyone from executive suites to mailboxes is trying to be more agile than similar businesses.
12 principles of agile thinking
The 12 principles of Agile, according to the Agile Manifesto, are as follows:
- Creating customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
- Welcoming changes and adaptability
- Frequent delivery of efficient software
- Collaboration every day during the project
- Build projects around motivated people who can be trusted to do the work
- Face-to-face conversation whenever possible
- Efficient software is the main indicator of progress
- Maintain constant speed
- Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
- Maintaining simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of undone work – is essential
- The best architectures, requirements and designs emerge from internally organized teams
- Reflect on how to become more effective, then make it happen at regular intervals.
Introducing agile thinking to companies
At the beginning of its emergence, this thinking, like other changes, faced resistance from some companies and institutions. But after the passage of time and the gradual use of some small companies and seeing its results, large companies also became interested in experiencing it. Today, big companies like Google and Microsoft use this thinking in their processes. In today’s competitive market, they have no choice but to be agile. Or, for example, the FBI lost several million dollars in an experiment on the mechanization project of documents. The main reason was the Kurds’ delay in delivering the phases of the project, which ultimately led to the failure of the project.
A few years later, the same project was carried out with an agile thinking and platform, which was completed at a cost of one third and ahead of schedule. In this regard, many job titles were defined in terms of agile, such as Scrum Master and Product Owner. The difference between a project manager and a scrum master can be seen in new projects. These titles are among the most lucrative jobs in America and Europe.
Agile thinking frameworks
In short, in Agile or agile thinking, a series of values and principles have been introduced, by applying them in the software product development environment, results such as efficient products, happier customers, and a more motivated workforce can be achieved. Found. But the problem was that flexibility was only a statement or a definition and no practical solution was proposed for it. At the same time, methods were proposed in which the principles and values of Ajail were institutionalized. Methods must be used to implement this thinking. Scrum, XP, Kanban, etc. can be used to implement agile thinking methods.
The relationship between Scrum and Agile
As mentioned, one of these Agile implementation methods is Scrum.
In fact, Scrum is one of the most common and popular methods of agile thinking, in which teams, with the cooperation of the client, release the output of the software every few weeks. Then they receive the feedback of the stakeholders. According to the feedback, they put the product on the right track. This is how customer-friendly products are created.
The big problem that existed in the software industry was that the output of the projects was not worth the cost after, for example, two years. It means that several teams worked on the project for two years and finally the client said that this is not what I wanted and… But after the emergence of Ajail, we have to involve the customer during the product production process, constantly get his feedback, create creativity.
