Archive for category: Agile

Today, the IT industry has a lot of opportunities to offer. Even a decade ago, there were very few professions to choose from. On the other hand, now, you can really start searching for a perfect position for you according to your interests. Students can start thinking about what they want to do in their careers even before they graduate. This way, you will definitely have a competitive advantage!

In case you are still considering your future profession and weighing your choices, here is an option for you. Agile software development is an interesting branch of web development that is full of perspectives. In the course of the last few years, agile software development has become the standard approach for many companies in the tech industry. For this reason, you can be sure that you definitely will have a job!

Of course, many web dev students need help with switching to a new framework or programming language. This is especially true during their last year of studies. Luckily for you, there are excellent dissertation writing services like essaypro, available for learners who are feeling overwhelmed. This way, you can delegate your dissertation to professionals and focus on web development more.

So, are you interested in this field as an option for your future career? Here are 6 agile software development practices that any web dev student should know about!

What is Agile Software Development?

Let’s start with the basics! It’s important to know what you are dealing with before you can learn about particular practices. In general, this is an approach to development that is focused on collaboration and iteration. The main focus of this approach is placed on adaptability, flexibility, and client satisfaction in the result.

There are several main features that define agile software development. Let’s take a closer look at them:

• Collaboration with clients or end users. Developers need to constantly keep in touch with their customers to receive feedback and adjust their final product.
• Short time frames. The scope of work is usually divided into short parts, which are called sprints. In most companies, one sprint is around 4 weeks, during which a part of the project is developed and delivered.
• Adaptive planning. Instead of a rigid schedule and a plan for a certain sprint, programmers work together with other members of the team and create smaller plans according to the feedback they get.
• Multi-functional teams. Usually, team members have different skills and expertise. Developers, designers, testers, and other stakeholders work together collaboratively for the duration of the project.
• Transparent process. There is a lot of transparency in projects that adopt this approach. In most cases, all members of the team have access to each other’s workload. For example, you can use visual boards to add even more visibility to your progress.
• Constant improvement. You need to be ready to learn! Team members constantly hold retrospectives, team buildings, and masterminds to exchange their knowledge. This is how your team evolves!

6 Most Important Agile Software Development Practices

Now that you know the fundamentals of this approach, you can learn more about the most common practices. For web development students, understanding and practicing agile principles and techniques can greatly enhance their skills and make them more valuable in the industry. You can hire the best research paper writing services online. This way, you will have more spare time to practice!

Scrum Methodology

This technique is among the most widely-used agile methodologies that have been adopted by programmers all over the world. Each member of your team will have a specific role assigned to them, so they can promote constant improvement, give feedback, and boost their own expertise. Understanding the basics of Scrum will allow you to achieve maximum efficiency in your career path!

Here are the basic features of Scrum methodology:

• Team roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Development Team, etc.
• Ceremonies: daily stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives, masterminds.
• Artifacts: product backlog, sprint backlog, burndown chart.

User Stories

This is a pretty unique practice that every web dev student needs to get familiar with. User stories are short user-centric descriptions of everything that you are doing. This is a part of the transparency that the agile approach offers to clients and developers. In other words, you need to understand and convey the ‘who’, ‘what’, and ‘why’ of your features or functionalities. This way, you can manage expectations.

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment

Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) is a very important practice in agile methodology. It allows teams to automate the build, testing, and deployment processes for their software. By integrating code changes frequently and automatically running tests, developers can identify issues early on, leading to faster and more reliable deployments.

To set up pipelines and automate the development process students need to be familiar with these tools:

• Jenkins
• Travis CI
• GitLab CI

Test-Driven Development

TDD is a software development approach where tests are written before the actual code. This might seem a little controversial, but it’s actually very convenient for programmers and testers. By following this practice, web developers can make sure that the code they write meets the needed functionality requirements. Their code also maintains stability throughout the development process as a result.

Collaborative Tools

Agile development heavily relies on collaboration and effective communication within the team. As a web development student, you should familiarise yourself with collaborative tools such as project management software (e.g., Jira or Trello), version control systems (e.g., Git), and communication platforms (e.g., Slack or Microsoft Teams).

Retrospectives

As it was mentioned before in this article, retrospectives are a crucial part of the process. These are regular meetings where the team reflects on the previous sprint and identifies areas for improvement. It’s important to understand what went right and what went wrong, so you can further refine your process or rely on other team members for support.

To Sum Up

So there you have it, 6 agile software development practices that any web dev student should know about! Even when you are not sure that you want to go into this field for your career, these practices might help you with your organisation and productivity in other industries as well.