Software Engineering

Module 2
Agile Software Development
> Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module, students should be able to:
1. Recall the rationale for agile software development
methods, the agile manifesto, and the differences between
agile and plan drive development;
2. Identify the key practices in extreme programming and
how these relate to the general principle of agile methods;
3. Recognize the scrum approach to agile management; and
4. Use the issues and problems of scaling agile development
methods to the development of large software systems.
Lesson 3. Agile Project Management
 Agile Project Management is one of the
revolutionary methods introduced for the practice
of project management. This is one of the latest
project management strategies that are mainly
applied to project management practice in
software development. Therefore, it is best to
relate agile project management to the software
development process when understanding it.
From the inception of software development as a
business, there have been a number of processes
following, such as the waterfall model. With the
advancement of software development,
technologies and business requirements, the
traditional models are not robust enough to cater
the demands.
Therefore, more flexible software development
models were required in order to address the
agility of the requirements. As a result of this, the
information technology community developed
agile software development models.
 “Agile” is an umbrella term used for identifying
various models used for agile development, such
as Scrum. Since agile development model is
different from conventional models, agile project
management is a specialized area in project
management. (Revell, 2015).
The Agile Process
It is required for one to have good
understanding of the agile development process
in order to understand agile project management.
 There are many differences in agile development model
when compared to traditional models (Revell, 2015).
1. The agile model emphasizes on the fact that entire
team
• Developer
• Quality assurance
• Project management
• Customer
2. Frequent communication
3. Deliveries are short-term.
4. Agile project teams follows open
communication techniques and toll which enable
the team members (including the customer) to
express their view and feedback openly and
quickly.
Scope of Agile Project Management
In an agile project, the entire team is
responsible in managing the team and it is not
just the project manager’s responsibility. When it
comes to processes and procedures, the common
sense is used over the written policies.
 This makes sure that there is no delay is
management decision making and therefore
things can progress faster. The agile project
management function should also demonstrate
the leadership and skills in motivating others.
This helps retaining the spirit among the team
members and gets the team to follow discipline.
Agile project manager is a leader the leads the
team to developed a good and quality project.
Responsibilities of an Agile Project Manager and
Management
1. Responsible for maintaining the agile values and
practices in the project team.
2. The agile project manager removes impediment as
the core function of the role.
3. Helps the project team members to turn the
requirement backlog into working software
functionality.
4. Facilitates and encourage effective and open
communication with the team.
5. Responsible for holding agile meetings that discusses
the short-term plans and plans to overcome obstacles.
6. Enhances the tool and practice used in the
development process.
7. Agile project manager is the chief motivator of the
team and play the mentor role for the team members
as well.
Agile Project Management does not:
1. Manage the software development team.
2. Overrule the informed decisions taken by the
team members.
3. Direct team members to perform tasks or
routines.
4. Drive the team to achieve specific milestones
or deliveries.
5. Assign task to the team members.
6. Make decisions on behalf of the team.
7. Involve in technical decision making or deriving
the product strategy.