A seriously constrained pool of skills is hampering growth of agile software development.
So says Gary Stocks, director and head of research and assurance at local business solutions provider, BSG, who notes finding the right developer or practitioner is a challenge for agile software development companies.
"Although the agile software industry is still in its infancy - when compared to other industries that have evolved over 50 or more years - an immediate intervention is needed if we are truly going to address these skills shortages and future-proof our businesses and the industry," says Stocks.
He believes this would require far more engagement between the private and public sectors and academia to develop the skills the industry needs.
Market analyst firm IDC expects strong growth in agile application life cycle management software for the 2014-2017 period, with growth to $1.1 billion by 2017 and a CAGR of 39.1%.
According to Stocks, an agile approach to software development delivers working software earlier and more frequently than traditional approaches.
"Business representatives, analysts, software developers and testers work as one team to produce better quality software. The complete software solution emerges through successive cycles of development of new features together with enhancement of the overall solution," he explains.
This offers more flexibility because the overall software solution can be adjusted based on feedback and use of the software as it is released in successive iterations, says Stocks.
Jack Walser, client services executive at AIM Consulting, says when the Agile Manifesto was introduced almost 15 years ago, it proposed a radical methodology change as an alternative to traditional project management.
"With agile, project requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration in development cycles that break tasks into small increments. While this methodology helps businesses manage unpredictability, it also requires those businesses to adopt a different mindset towards agile software development in order to be successful," says Walser.
He adds companies using an agile development approach report a 63% improvement in quality, on average.
Stocks notes, from a business's point of view, the major benefits of agile practices come from being able to deliver higher quality, working software more frequently.
He also points out that using agile practices make planning more visible and allows the team to manage smaller chunks of functionality at a time.
Using agile practices also means the project team will be able to make any course-corrections required to accommodate adjustments in the scope of the project and to continuously meet delivery commitments, he says.
"The nature of agile enables constant input from, and collaboration with, stakeholders on decisions regarding features and functionality in achieving the best end result."
Share