Back Top 10 Agile Software Development Trends in 2020

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With the onset of 2020, we behold a major change in the software development world which has evolved a lot since the last decade. The process of building software has changed in the following way:

• As the present times continue to push Agile adoption which is gaining widespread recognition and acceptance because of its iterative development,  Agile methodologies have become as popular and at times even outpace as the Traditional Waterfall methodologies.
• Object-oriented programming has changed to more technical and functional language
• The software development has become easier with premade solutions.
• Agile made software development and deployment differently through DevOps.
• “One-size-fits-all” solutions do not hold good for all the projects. A multi-dimensional framework is introduced based on the fundamental practices of project management.
• Development pace has increased due to lesser manual intervention
• Application Programming Interface (APIs) are growing

According to the report by EY: Digital Transformation for 2020 and beyond, Global Telecommunications Study, improved organizational agility is at the heart of successful digital transformation.

The book, Agile Project Management (APM) by Jim High smith, was one of the first attempts to broaden Agile techniques into a cohesive whole.

According to the 13th State of Agile Survey Report (2019),

• 71% of respondents adopted agile because it reduces project cost
• 74% of respondents adopted agile as it accelerates the software delivery
• 51% of respondents claim that adopting agile increases productivity
• 43% of respondents stated adopting agile enhances the product quality

Agile software development is a roof term under which all the frameworks and practices are based on agile principles and values.

The 12 principles of Agile Methodology are:

1. Customer satisfaction through early and continuous quality delivery
2. Welcome changes according to customer’s needs and requirement
3. Business and development go hand in hand
4. A collaborative approach to work
5. Build projects around motivated individuals
6. Promotes sustainable development
7. Face to face clear conversation
8. A measure of progress is working software
9. Continuous attention to excellence
10. Simplicity
11. Self-organizing teams
12. Reflect for Effectiveness

Here are the top 10 trends of Agile Software Development:

1. Automation
2. Focus on Customer’s experience
3. Value stream mapping
4. Global Outsourcing
5. Progressive Webapps
6. Security
7. Agile Maturity Model
8. Distributed Agile Teams
9. Scaling Agile
10. Cloud-based solutions
11.  

Automation

Automation in agile practice is very essential. The monotonous, routine and predictable tasks are automated through DevOps. It eliminates the manual effort of software developers and testers. The implementation of DevOps has resulted in an exceptional increase in time accelerated delivery.

DevOps is a methodology at the intersection of Software Development, Technology Operations, and Quality Assurance.

According to Deloitte,

“More than 500 executives from leading organizations have indicated that disruptive outsourcing solutions—led by cloud and automation—are fundamentally transforming traditional outsourcing.”

Implementing automation through DevOps increases automation, enhances productivity and reduces the time taken for execution. 

Focus on Customer’s Experience

In today’s digital era, customer experience strategies play a smart role in enhancing innovation and performance. Emerging technologies such as Artificial intelligence and machine learning are used to enhance the experience-centric economy. By enhancing user experience, innovation is more emphasized. End-user experience is vital for getting future projects.

Agile methodology through constant and continuous feedback from customers develops experiences iteratively which adds to the rigor and discipline in understanding the customer better and provides a consistent experience.

Agile adds rigor and discipline to customer experience management practices by developing experiences iteratively with regular consumer feedback. To use Agile to their advantage, CX pros must create a shared vision for a consistent experience, collect insights in a manner appropriate to Agile's workflow, and integrate current experience metrics. As new business realities continue to push Agile adoption, CX pros will need to refashion their approach to customer understanding, measurement, and design.

Value Stream Networks

Value stream mapping is a technique to define a project through a process map. Value stream mapping provides clarity to enhance the user experience. According to Forrester,

“A combination of people, process, and technology that maps optimize visualize and govern business value flow (including epics, stories, work items) through heterogeneous enterprise software delivery pipelines. Value stream management tools are the technology underpinnings of VSM practice.” 

According to Forrester,

Value stream mapping helps in filling the gaps in the processes and resources. It also helps in identifying and resolving disconnects and optimizing the software delivery pipeline.

It is because of agile and DevOps processes Value stream management has become more important. value streams can be created and managed by breaking the software into small pieces across multiple teams with the required tools for traceability and integration.

Global Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a practice where an organization hires a skilled individual to perform a certain task. In order to devote the company’s time to perform core functions, non-core activities are outsourced. The business activities are outsourced whenever there is a shortage of skilled resources. Due to the rapid transformation of cloud technology, organizations have become more agile. The non-core activities are outsourced and expanded their offerings.

According to Whitelane Research 2020,

• In the next two years, more outsourcing is predicted for Europe, with 74% of organizations planning to outsource at the same rate or more. Most outsourcing is expected in the financial services sector with 43% citing they are planning to outsource more, followed by the public sector with 39% (up 13% from last year). Financial services organizations are also most likely to insource with 15% of organizations planning to do so (an increase of 4% from last year).
• By country, most outsourcing growth is expected in Spain, the Netherlands, and the BeLux region, with (more than) 80% of organizations planning to outsource at the same rate or more.

The agile model works differently when compared to conventional outsourcing models. Agile focuses on teamwork wherein vendors work collaboratively. In an Agile environment, companies should work together with vendors and enable the agile team members to work side by side – be it virtually or physically to achieve the objectives. This approach is called the distributed agile, which can consist of many vendors and company staff and all of them treat as equals and engage in one mindset to understand the business need and find out solutions.

Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

Progressive Web Apps are developed using modern web capabilities to deliver an app-like experience to users. It creates better customer engagement and conversion rates. PWAs is one of the emerging trends in agile. A scrum driven, agile approach is adopted by the team to the workstream, and incrementally deploying the PWA, helps to realize the expected benefits.

Security and Compliance

Security and compliance are very critical issues. In order to achieve continuous and secure development, agile methodologies are applied by mapping security requirements to agile.

Every organization has a set of regulations called compliance which ensures that you are doing the right thing and being able to prove it. Business innovation and business goals run simultaneously with security and compliance for better and enhanced productivity.

Agile Maturity Model

On the basis of maturity, Agile teams are being evaluated. The Agile Maturity Model is maturity in agile teams in the measure of adhering to the processes, practices, and values.

The following levels are defined on the basis of the maturity of agile.

• Initial
• Beginner
• Defined
• Measured
• Optimized

At the initial level, the agile team requires training on agile methodologies and agile principles.

At the Beginner level, the agile methodologies are adopted at the basic level.

At the defined level, the development team is well versed in agile methodologies and practices. The consistency in delivering sprints are high.

At the Measured level, the code quality is measured in matrix form.

At the Optimised level, the development teams are self-organized and capable to develop a product as per demand and schedule. The optimized level team focuses more on continuous learning on the basis of key performance indicators. The organizations at this level invest in automation to enhance productivity.

Distributed Agile Teams

Nowadays, agile project teams do not necessarily work in collocated space in the same time zone. The work can be done anywhere and anytime. Due to the rapid development in technology, globalization, increasing outsourcing, and talented resource availability in a different location the work is distributed in an agile manner.

According to The Modern Workplace 2019: People, Places & Technology study by Condeco,

Condeco concluded that remote working is the major trend in America

43% of U.S based organizations stated that more employees are expected to work remotely in 2020.

There are many benefits of distributed agile teams

• Flexible schedule
• Comfort working from home
• Higher Productivity
• Can avoid commuting
• Better work-life balance
• Better health
• Reduces attrition
• Improves morale

Scaling Agile

The scaling framework such as Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Scrum of Scrums were developed to meet the long-term planning benefits and help organizations in scaling lean and agile practice.

The proper scaling framework is required to implement the Agile Methodology. Scalable Agile Framework (SAFe) is the most used agile scaling framework which enables to implement Agile Methodology such as SCRUM at the bigger enterprise level.

According to the 13th State of Agile Survey Report (2019),

The Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) continues to grow in adoption as the scaling method of choice and was identified as the scaling method of choice by 30% of respondents.

Cloud-Based Solutions for agile development

The cloud-based solution is an on-demand service, storage, and networks accessed through cloud computing infrastructure. In order to reduce the time required to code, test and deploy, cloud-based solutions are in great demand and dominate in an agile environment.  The cloud-based tool reduces cost, boosts efficiency and increases scalability

According to Forbes,

IDC predicted that by 2022, 70% of enterprises will integrate cloud management.

The team can access world-class enterprise technology by using a cloud-based solution.

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