Agile Methodology12 is a project management approach that emphasizes
continuous collaboration and improvement. It breaks projects down into
several dynamic phases, commonly known as sprints1. After every sprint,
teams reflect and look back to see if there was anything that could be
improved so they can adjust their strategy for the next sprint 1.
The Agile methodology is an iterative approach that focuses on continuous
releases and customer feedback2. It allows for teams to quickly shift strategies
and workflows without derailing an entire project 1.
The Agile methodology is guided by the Agile Manifesto, which outlines 4
values and 12 principles1:
1. Individuals over processes and tools: Agile teams value team collaboration
and teamwork over working independently and doing things "by the book" 1.
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation: The software that
Agile teams develop should work. Additional work, like documentation, is not
as important as developing good software 1.
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation: Customers are
extremely important within the Agile methodology. Agile teams allow
customers to guide where the software should go 1.
4. Responding to change over following a plan: One of the major benefits of
Agile project management is that it allows teams to be flexible 1.
There are several frameworks within Agile methodology, such as Scrum and
Kanban2. Scrum is a framework where a product is built in a series of fixed-
length iterations called sprints2. Kanban is a popular agile framework that
requires real-time communication of the team’s capacity and full transparency
of work2.
Agile methodology is not just useful for software project management—all
types of teams have been successful with this dynamic methodology 1. If
you’re looking to get started with Agile, you’ve come to the right place 1.
The Agile software development methodology is one of the simplest and
effective processes to turn a vision for a business need into software
solutions3. Agile is a term used to describe software development approaches
that employ continual planning, learning, improvement, team collaboration,
evolutionary development, and early delivery 3.
Agile methodology is a project management approach that allows successful
and efficient execution of the project while emphasizing the improvement of a
project and team collaboration4. The approach is applicable in software
development for flexibility, customer satisfaction, and collaboration 4.
Waterfall Methodology12 is a linear project management approach, where
stakeholder and customer requirements are gathered at the beginning of the
project, and then a sequential project plan is created to accommodate those
requirements2. The waterfall model is so named because each phase of the
project cascades into the next, following steadily down like a waterfall 2.
The Waterfall methodology is a well-established project management
workflow. Like a waterfall, each process phase cascades downward
sequentially through five stages: requirements, design, implementation,
verification, and maintenance1. The methodology comes from computer
scientist Winston Royce’s 1970 research paper on software development 1.
Unlike other methods, such as the Agile methodology, Waterfall doesn’t allow
flexibility. You must finish one phase before beginning the next. Your team
can’t move forward until they resolve any problems 1.
Here are the five specific phases of Waterfall development 12:
1. Requirements: The requirements phase states what the system should do. At
this stage, you determine the project’s scope, from business obligations to
user needs1.
2. Design: After gathering all the requirements, it’s time to move on to the
design stage. Here, designers develop solutions that meet the requirements 1.
3. Implementation: The implementation phase is when programmers assimilate
the requirements and specifications from the previous phases and produce
actual code2.
4. Verification: This phase is when the customer reviews the product to make
sure that it meets the requirements laid out at the beginning of the project 2.
5. Maintenance: The customer is regularly using the product during the
maintenance phase, discovering bugs, inadequate features and other errors
that occurred during production. The production team applies these fixes as
necessary until the customer is satisfied2.
The Waterfall methodology is used in various industries, including
construction, IT, and software development 2. It’s a thorough, structured
methodology and one that’s been around for a long time, because it works 2.
Levels of Testing12:
1. Unit Testing: This is the first level of software testing, where each unit or
component of the software is tested individually to ensure that they are fit for
use1. It is the smallest testable part of the software 1.
2. Integration Testing: This is the second level of software testing, where two or
more modules, which have been unit tested, are integrated and tested
together1. This is done to verify if these integrated modules work as expected
and to detect any interface errors1.
3. System Testing: In system testing, the complete and integrated software is
tested as a whole to meet the requirements of the system 1. This is to ensure
that the system works correctly in the user’s working environment 1.
4. Acceptance Testing: This is the final level of software testing conducted to
ensure that the software meets the user requirements and is ready to be
delivered1. The software should work correctly in the user’s working
environment1.
Types of Testing12:
1. Functional Testing: This type of testing involves checking the functionality of
the software to ensure it is working as expected 2.
2. Non-Functional Testing: This involves testing the performance, usability,
reliability, etc., of the software2.
3. Regression Testing: This is done when changes are made to the software to
ensure that the existing functionality still works as expected 2.
4. Smoke Testing: This is a high-level type of testing done to check if the basic
functionalities of the software are working fine 2.
5. Sanity Testing: This is a type of testing done after receiving a software build,
with minor changes in code, or functionality, to ascertain that the bugs have
been fixed and no further issues are introduced due to these changes 2.
6. Interface Testing: This type of testing is done to check whether the
communication between two different software systems is done correctly 2.
7. System Integration Testing: This is done in an environment that mimics the
production environment, where all software components are integrated
together2.
