Agile Methodology

Agile is an iterative and incremental software development approach where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between cross-functional teams.

Instead of delivering everything at the end, Agile delivers working software in small, frequent increments.

---

Key Agile Terms

🏃 Sprint

• A time-boxed iteration where development and testing happen
• Usually 1–4 weeks (most teams use 2 weeks)
• Each sprint should deliver a potentially shippable product increment

---

🛒 Product Backlog

• A prioritized list of all work items

• Contains:

  • Epics
  • User Stories
  • Bugs
  • Technical tasks

• Owned and prioritized by the Product Owner

---

⭕ Epic

• A high-level business objective
• Too large to complete in a single sprint
• Broken down into multiple user stories

Example: Online Credit Card Application Flow

---

🔰 User Story (US)

• A requirement written from the end-user’s perspective
• Focuses on who, what, and why

Format:

As a <user>,
I want <feature>,
So that <benefit>.

---

✅ Task

• A small, actionable unit of work
• Created by the team from user stories
• Assigned to developers or QA

---

Agile Team Roles

🤵 Product Owner (PO)

• Owns the product vision and roadmap
• Manages and prioritizes the product backlog
• Accepts or rejects completed user stories

---

😎 Scrum Master

• Facilitates Agile ceremonies
• Removes impediments/blockers
• Ensures the team follows Scrum practices
• Acts as a servant leader (not a manager)

---

🤔 Business Analyst (BA)

• Translates business needs into clear user stories

• Clarifies:

  • Business rules
  • Acceptance criteria
  • Edge cases

• In some teams, BA responsibilities are handled by the PO

---

👨‍💻 Developers

• Design, develop, and unit-test the application
• Responsible for delivering working code in each sprint

---

🕺 QA / Test Team

• Validate user stories against acceptance criteria

• Perform:

  • Functional testing
  • Regression testing
  • Automation testing

• Ensure quality before release

---

👬 DevOps

• Manages:

  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Builds and deployments
  • Infrastructure and environments

• Enables faster and reliable releases

---

Agile Process (Scrum Ceremonies)

🔻 Sprint Planning

• Conducted at the start of the sprint

• Team:

  • Reviews backlog items
  • Estimates effort
  • Commits stories based on capacity

---

🔻 Daily Scrum / Stand-up

• 15-minute daily meeting

• Each member answers:

  • What did I do yesterday?
  • What will I do today?
  • Any blockers?

---

🔻 Sprint Review / Demo

• Conducted at the end of the sprint
• Team demonstrates completed features to stakeholders
• Feedback is captured for future sprints

---

🔻 Sprint Retrospective

• Conducted after sprint review

• Focuses on process improvement

• Discusses:

  • What went well?
  • What didn’t go well?
  • What can be improved?

---

Advantages of Agile Methodology

✅ Delivers working software frequently ✅ Early detection of defects and risks ✅ Flexible to changing requirements ✅ Strong collaboration across teams ✅ Continuous improvement through retrospectives

---

Agile vs Waterfall (Quick Comparison)

Agile	Waterfall
Iterative	Sequential
Flexible	Rigid
Early feedback	Feedback at end
Continuous testing	Testing at final stage