How Does Agile Help When Requirements Keep Changing?
One of the many Agile myths is that it is difficult to manage evolving requirements. However, veterans of the software testing world know that agile development is a superior method to manage the constantly changing needs that many software development projects encounter.
After all, one of the Agile Manifesto’s core principles is to welcome changing needs, even late in development. Agile procedures take advantage of the change to help customers gain a competitive edge.
It’s a fact that customers always change their requirements — they’ll want one feature today and completely want another one in the next week or so. This completely changes the competitive environment. New and improved technology is now available. There are several reasons why you should be flexible in your requirements rather than sticking to a rigid strategy that may result in budget waste and outmoded technology at launch.
Here are five ways Agile can aid in the management of shifting requirements:
1. Customer feedback is solicited at all stages of the development process
We’ve all worked on software development projects that last for a couple of months. Customer involvement is consistent at the start of the project, during the requirements collecting phase, and finally at the completion of the project, with no gaps in between. When software fails to meet specifications or customer expectations, disappointment usually follows in such cases.
Working in Agile-style two-week sprints and using a different approach helps handle changing needs and avoid embarrassment in the following ways:
- Get input from customers and stakeholders on features as quickly as possible.
- Stakeholders may add new needs, alter priorities, or rethink requirements on a feature or architectural level, which improves scope control.
- Because agile teams may pivot on requirements as required, it allows project teams to take risks and develop based on client input without sacrificing too much time or money.
- At the conclusion of each sprint, an Agile development team should be able to deliver a functional product.
2. The backlog of products determines the development priorities
The product backlog takes time for software testers to accustom themselves to. It’s basically a prioritized to-do list of features to create from the scrum team.
Managing or grooming the product backlog may be akin to an art form in and of itself. The backlog is managed by the scrum master in certain businesses. Other businesses may opt to manage it through product managers or cross-functional team leaders. In any case, it’s a much more open process because everyone from the whole team to stakeholders and consumers may have an influence on the backlog’s priorities.
3. Routine meetings serve to promote communication
Another technique for handling constantly changing user needs is to hold daily meetings, often known as stand-ups. These meetings take place at the same time every day and allow team members to discuss the work they’ve done as well as any roadblocks they’ve encountered.
Developers, team leads, and stakeholders (if invited) can share knowledge in a well-managed daily meeting. Issues and comments regarding product needs that may develop throughout the implementation phase might be part of such data. The impact of changing requirements on the project timeline may be discussed right away, and management and team members can offer their feedback.
4. Developer tasks and information are available on task boards
Too frequently, product requirements documents are reviewed only once and then filed away in an email inbox for the life of a project. The notion of a task board is used in agile development to divide jobs into several columns and make them accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These boards divide projects into the stages listed below:
- Task Lists (Todos)
- In progress
- In testing phase
- Completed
Agile task boards began as whiteboards in testing, but have now grown into a category of Agile project management applications. Many of these Agile project management solutions are cloud-based, with client applications for Android and iOS.
Because of the visibility they provide, task boards aid in the management of shifting needs in the following ways:
- Every team member can see the status of the project requirements.
- Project needs that are influenced by changing requirements have evident dependencies.
- Shows threaded comments from the developer and other team members on the changing requirements before and throughout sprints.
5. User stories and sprints are used to orchestrate change
I worked in the IT sector for a few years throughout my formative years, creating requirement papers. I got into the habit of documenting every feature that was being developed.
You can successfully manage change if you properly organize user stories and sprints.
A product owner, for example, crafts a story. Developers can use the story to create a new application feature. A salesperson offers feedback from a customer during or after the sprint when the feature is created, demonstrating that the feature is lacking key functionality. During the upcoming sprint, the product owner might develop a new story to complete the feature with the missing functionality.
Engineering change is an essential viewpoint of project management
Changing requirements will always be a source of frustration for development teams. Agile development equips project teams with the platform, culture, and agile testing tools they need to efficiently manage to change needs and produce products and services that meet or exceed the expectations of their consumers. This is crucial to a company’s success!
Another important aspect of business success is prioritizing people and tasks above tasks and deadlines. Kualitee was developed with this in mind to help you manage change and project unpredictability. As a consequence, you’ll be able to make well-informed decisions that result in outcomes that everyone is proud of and pleased with. Try Kualitee for Free!
