Is Agile Development Right For Your Project?

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Some argue that an agile development approach is right for any project. Others argue that agile is a hoax πŸ™‚

Of course the reality is somewhere in between.

I’m sure you can apply agile principles, or a more traditional approach, to any project. The best way to approach anything is often the way you know.

Although I’m sure that some projects definitely suit agile more than others.

Personally I think agile suits more projects than not – due to human nature and the evolutionary nature of software development.

But how do you know whether you should use agile for your project? Or whether or not your typical projects suit agile? How do you know if agile is right for you?

DSDM (Dynamic Systems Development Method) is one of the earliest development methodologies based on agile philosophies. The DSDM methodology includes a project suitability filter.

This filter is a simple questionnaire that attempts to highlight the key characteristics of a project that is well suited to DSDM, or more generally to an agile approach. Here are questions:

Of course some of these questions are important in a non-agile approach too. But these questions are even more important for agile projects.

If you’re thinking of using an agile approach, YES to the above questions is good πŸ™‚

If you have a few NO’s, this doesn’t mean agile is inappropriate, although you should consider how you might mitigate these risks.

If you have lots of NO’s, you should think seriously about whether your project is really suitable, or ask yourself honestly, is your organisation really ready for agile?

Kelly.

See also:
10 Key Principles of Agile Software Development
10 Good Reasons to do Agile Software Development