Agile Development: Implementation, Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Abstract

As software languages have evolved from procedural-based applications to object-oriented, so too have the software development processes. This paper will give a brief explanation of traditional software development methods such as the waterfall and spiral models and will delve deeper into current trends surrounding agile development. A brief overview of scrum and extreme programming will be presented, but the focus will largely be on exploring in depth the more common, broader agile development processes. Several case studies on agile development will be presented that will highlight the growing pains and lessons learned associated with agile development. The case studies presented will help to illustrate how software development is an ever-evolving process that private and public sector industries employ to create products for businesses and consumers.