Introduction

Why is there an increasing interest in the Agile approach? Not only established organizations, even start-ups are now readily adopting Agile.

When Agile was introduced, not many organizations had the willingness to adopt it. However, over the years the way Agile enterprises marched ahead with pioneering software products encouraged the others in the industry to follow suit.

The Agile Methodology is based on two contemporary principles – one, the flexibility to respond to change; and second, the swiftness in responding to emerging opportunities. As per a report published by betanews.com, “97 percent of organizations now practicing Agile development methods and out of which 22 percent of respondents report that all their teams are agile, 26 percent more than half, and 48 percent less than half’.

So, what are the benefits of adopting Agile that it has become so very popular in the last decade? Let us explore the reasons why.

Top reasons organizations should adopt Agile

Reason # 1 – Agile helps in enhancing innovation.

Today, most organizations are looking at innovation as the stepping stone and the way to reach out to it is technology. In an Agile ecosystem, there is greater autonomy and flexibility in working that helps team members work in a creative space. In such a versatile Agile environment the working model is based on shared leadership where team members are given more responsibility and encouraged to work with greater freedom.

Such a shared leadership model enables enhanced decision-making, the liberty to experiment and create, design, and innovate to find unique solutions. For enterprises, the benefit is innovation while for employees is augmented employee satisfaction.

Reason # 2 – Agile Manifesto emphasizes change management

Organizations that work using traditional and conventional methodologies resist change as much as possible, at least initially. The objective is to escape and postpone adopting change until it becomes inevitable. So, change management becomes the last resort rather than the platform or the reason for growth.

In Agile enterprises, the ability to respond to changes is integral to the software development process. In Agile practices, change is not taken as a constraint; rather the belief is that the software development process is evolutionary by nature and the way to build optimized software is continuously embrace change as a necessary part of the process.

Reason # 3 – Agile is the perfect answer to address customer satisfaction

Agile works on small-sized Sprints and iterations. At the end of each Sprint, there is a delivery. In a conventional software development ecosystem, realizing that the software needs to be changed midway can be quite complicated and expensive. As a result, there could be customer backlash and loss of credibility in the market. In the Agile environment, the customer is updated on the progress anytime; therefore, any changes for enhanced customer satisfaction can be brought about without much effort with ease and flexibility.

Reason # 4 – Expect more accuracy with Agile

Comparing the traditional methodology with the iterated-Agile Methodology, one can expect greater accuracy with the latter. This is because, in the conventional system, the software product is tested at the end after development is completed. This means that if there are bugs, it can take some good amount of time to resolve as the product need to start from initially. Resolving bugs in the Agile ecosystem is easier because the development happens phase-wise; making it a good reason to adopt Agile.

Reason # 5 – Agile promotes effective communication

Agile practices encourage Daily Scrum. This means that the team meets daily which helps improve communication. The daily meeting also brings in transparency between the deliverables; sets in the right platform for discussion of challenges and issues and also bring better clarity in deciding the goals and commitments for the next phase.

Reason # 6 – Agile approach helps organizations to deliver products faster to customers

Speed is of essence today. It brings in a competitive edge for the brand. The faster the software team can deliver a functional product to its customer, the better is the reputation that is created for your brand. Traditional software development does not give such enhanced efficiency and speed, but Agile does offer such speed because it is short-sized and iterated.

Reason # 7 – Agile enables early returns

Small Sprints with clear-cut goals and deliverables that are fast helping to create and offer value to the business fast. You can expect ROI faster with Agile as the approach of the software development process. In the conventional process, deliverables were delayed because the product was launched or shipped only when it was completely ready. This delayed ROI too.

Reason # 8 – Agile approach involves Stakeholders throughout

Be it the top management of cross-functional teams, customers and end-users, or any other entity that benefits from software, every Stakeholder is involved throughout the process of software development in an Agile environment. The engagement is part of the Agile Manifesto where Stakeholders are asked for their opinions with everyone feeling a part of the process.

Reason # 9 – Agile facilitates customer feedback from users in the real-time

Traditional software development often ended in products where half of the product features are never used by users. The story has been the same for years now. With Agile, however, things are different. Here, work happens in Sprints or phases with a deliverable after the end of each of these Sprints. Since the deliverables are used by the customer, they can share feedback and inform the required changes that become part of another Sprint.

Reason # 10 – Top benefit of adopting Agile is that Agile help reduce costs

All the above processes directly influence the costs that the business puts in the software development process. Faster output, with effective processes, Stakeholder involvement, and accurate products all help in reducing the cost of production. Here, there are no assumptions that are used to make the final product; every phase of development is based on customer need and feedback; that help in minimizing costs.

Conclusion

These are a few of the top reasons to adopt Agile in your enterprise. Benefits that have produced results for others and there is no reason why it should not for you. Implementing Agile Methodologies in organizations gives faster results with increased effectiveness.

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