Evolution of Agile

We will walk through major SDLC models that were popularly used prior to Agile. Keep in mind that I am only going to cover a very few that were the most popular during their times. We will also look at the Evolution of Agile.

Till now

60s, 70s, 80s

During the 60s, 70s, and 80s the waterfall development model originated in the manufacturing and construction industries; where the highly structured physical environments meant that design changes became prohibitively expensive much sooner in the development process. When first adopted for software development, there were no recognized alternatives for knowledge-based creative work

90s, 2000s

During the 90s and 2000s, a more mature form of the Waterfall model was more popular. The V-Model. The V-Model is an extension of the waterfall model and is based on the association of a testing phase for each corresponding development stage

2010s

During the 2010s, the need for an increase in speed to market demanded a more flexible SDLC model. Agile SDLC model is a combination of iterative and incremental process models with a focus on process adaptability and customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of working software product

2020s

Now in the 2020s, we are looking at more mature mutated forms of Agile. “Scaled Agile” and “DevOps” have gained popularity. But who will win?

Watch Video (Evolution of Agile)

Classic Waterfall

The waterfall model is a breakdown of project activities into linear sequential phases, where each phase depends on the deliverables of the previous one. In this example that I am going to take, let us consider a project that is due release in 4 months and then see how much time each phase typically takes.

Today this is more suited for smaller projects where requirements are well defined. Now, there may be additional phases. I made it more generic so that you get the idea. I am not going to do any video on comparison between SCRUM and Waterfall. Our focus will only be on Agile and SCRUM.

V-Model

The V-model is an SDLC model where the execution of processes happens in a sequential manner in a V-shape. It is also known as the Verification and Validation model. The V-Model is an extension of the waterfall model and is based on the association of a testing phase for each corresponding development stage. This means that for every single phase in the development cycle, there is a directly associated testing phase.

Under the V-Model, the corresponding testing phase of the development phase is planned in parallel. So, there are Verification phases on one side of the ‘V’ and Validation phases on the other side. The Coding Phase joins the two sides of the V-Model.

Evolution of Agile

• Hirotaka Takeuchi is a Professor of Management Practice in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School
• Ikujiro Nonaka is a Japanese organizational theorist
• The article The New New Product Development Game, in which they emphasised speed and flexibility for new product development. This article is considered to be the one of the roots of the Scrum framework
• Jeff Sutherland is one of the creators of the Scrum software development process
• Founded in 2001 SCRUM alliance is a member-driven non profit certifying body in the agile space.
• The primary reference for the scaled agile framework was originally the development of a big picture view of how work flowed from product management, through governance, program, and development teams, out to customers was first formally described in a 2007 book

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