Delve into Agile methodologies, compare them with Waterfall, explore planning techniques, and discover tools like SCRUM and Kanban. Gain insights into solving common problems with Agile.

This course is designed to help learners build an understanding of Agile’s process model and its different approaches and techniques.

To understand the advantages of implementing Agile techniques, the course begins with a comparison of Agile methods and the traditional Waterfall model. Then, you’ll get to know about different planning approaches to help users effectively adjust deadlines. Next, there’s a discussion on backlogs and different visual techniques, such as burn-down charts and burn-up charts, that help increase the efficiency of projects.

You will also learn Agile methodologies including SCRUM, eXtreme Programming, DSDM, Smart and Kanban, as well as the differences and similarities between these approaches. Finally, you’ll look at some common problems and learn ways to solve them using Agile methodologies.

Learn Agile Methodologies from Scratch

# Overview

Regardless of how much experience anyone has in their profession with the implementation of projects, planning them still leaves something to be desired. In a traditional project, planning only takes place at the start and is only adjusted later on if all deadlines are missed. This is usually discovered late, for example, if development is delayed or when critical errors are detected during testing.

During a recent short-term Agile project, more functionality needed to be realized than the six-person team could handle in the eight planned iterations. Before the project was well on its way, the project manager decided to scale the team. During the second iteration, eight people were added to the team, and during the fourth iteration, another six. Eventually, the team consisted of over 20 people. The people in the original team spent all their time helping the others to familiarize themselves. As a result, productivity decreased to zero.

In traditional projects, problems become apparent very late. Corrective measures are often taken at the last moment. Deadlines are shifted, the scope is reduced, or new people are added to the team. The first two are undesirable this late in a project, and adding people to the team isn’t effective because the new people must be familiarized with a team that’s already under high pressure. The Law of Brooks applies here, which says that adding more resources to a late project makes the project even later. This law also applies to Agile projects.

Of course, Agile projects can also be delayed during the development, or critical errors may be discovered during testing. But, because per-work item analysis, design, development, and testing are addressed shortly after each other in short iterations, problems are discovered much earlier. This enables the team to make adjustments much earlier.

Get an idea of how to adjust the planning in an Agile project.

Getting Started

Why does the Waterfall Process model not work?

What is Agile?

Short Iterations in Agile

Collaboration in Teams

Collaborating Roles

Agile Requirements

Estimating

Planning

Implementing Agile

Issues in Using Agile

Choosing the Most Appropriate Process Model

Conclusion

Planning, Replanning, and Adjusting

Overview