How to Build an App Using Agile Development

Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver value to their customers faster and with fewer headaches.

Agile development is defined as a methodology that provides the ability to move quickly and easily, similar to a method of project management in which the division of tasks is defined into short phases of work.

Real-time planning, seamless management with short development sprints, and easy change management coupled with error resolution and risk management early on in the project made Agile a direct fit in the mobile app development world.

The steps involved in developing an app using agile development are ideation, development, testing, deployment, and operations. The story of the app using Agile takes about six to twenty-four weeks. The work of quality assurance and testing takes between 2 and 8 weeks.

Why is agile needed for app development?

For example, if an app is conceived using the traditional waterfall methodology, it would be ready for testing and launch after a long and tedious development process, only to realize that a similar app has already been launched and the first-mover advantage has been lost.

Due to the ever-changing and dynamic nature of mobile software and the unique challenges of mobile app development, an incremental agile approach is the best practice for developers.

How is agile implemented?

There are multiple frameworks for implementing agile, such as Scrum, Lean, extreme programming, Kanban, and Crystal. Scrum is the most commonly used by people.

Lean is a concept that emphasizes optimizing efficiency and minimizing waste in the software development process.

What is a scrum?

Scrum is the plan, build, test, and review iteration. It solely focuses on checking the progress of the project and resolving the difficulties as soon as they are encountered in frequent meetings. Scrum is specially designed to maximize the transparency of essential information so that everybody has the same understanding of the artifact.

In 2016, the scrum values were added, including courage, focus, commitment, respect, and openness.

A scrum unit is a small team consisting of the scrum master, one product owner, and the developer. Scrum is designed to help teams naturally adapt to changing conditions and short release cycles so they can constantly learn and improve.

Have you ever wondered why developers use agile software?

The reasons for the use of agile development are:

1. It reduces technical debt; it refers to the maintenance of the tasks required to support the existing product.

2. It readily accepts and adapts to changes.

3. Using agile for mobile application development and testing creates total alignment and transparency.

Agile software development

4. Each developer is assigned a smaller subset of features to work on, and the team works on each sprint one part at a time.

5. The delivery date for the project is predictable as the agile iterations happen in time-boxed sprints that result in a working product at each release.

6. Involvement encourages and gives a sense of ownership; thus, stakeholders aren't inclined to participate past the requirements gathering phase and only re-engage during user acceptance testing.

7. The concept of user stories starkly contrasts the rather lengthy list of requirements developed in a traditional development methodology.

8. The product owner actively participates in sprints during agile development and testing.

Retrospectives help the team learn from prior sprints and apply new methods to improve in future sprints.

What are the benefits that agile provides?

There are many benefits:

• Increased visibility

• Increased adaptability

• Increased alignment

• increased product quality.

• increased business value

• increased customer satisfaction

• Decreased risk

The scrum events:

Events are used in Scrum to create regularity and minimize the need for meetings not defined in Scrum. The scrum events are:

1. Sprint

2. Sprint planning

3. Daily Scrum

4. Sprint review

5. Sprint Retrospective

Scrum artifacts:

It represents the work's value of providing transparency and opportunities for inspection and adaptation. The scrum artifacts are:

1. Support: The product owner constantly revisits, reprioritizes, and maintains the backlog.

2. Sprint backlog: the list of items or bug fixes selected by the development team for implementation in the current sprint cycle.

3. Increment: it is the usable end product from a sprint.

Professional Scrum:

With Scrum, important decisions are based on the perceived state of the three artifacts, making their transparency critical.

Summary:

Due to the ever-changing and dynamic nature of mobile software and the unique challenges of mobile app development, an incremental agile approach is the best practice for developers. The essential thing in the agile methodology is Scrum. Scrum is the plan, build, test, and review iteration. It solely focuses on checking the progress of the project and resolving the difficulties as soon as they are encountered in frequent meetings.