Meeting a new coworker recently, I was asked what agile methodology I prefer, and I’ve wondered since if I just babbled at him. To sum up the answer I was trying to give, I prefer continuous integration agile scrum, whenever possible. It is not completely feasible for mobile app development, to continuously release changes to the app. (Not how it feels being a smartphone owner, but go with me for a minute.) Updates have to be bundled into versions, a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) method, and then there is lag time while we wait for user adoption. (Looking at you, over there, who reached a stable enough version of a favorite app on your phone, and then stop updating the app. And the phone OS.) So: scrum-ish, with a tendency toward SAFe, depending on what I’m working on.

The various methods are briefly described here, What Is Agile Methodology?

While places I’ve worked have self-described as Lean Software Development houses, they really weren’t. There was much too much interactivity with management on all levels of the team. Features would be developed and rolled out without the check back of, do we as an organization need this feature? What is the impact to the whole product/application of making this feature change? Will it benefit enough of the customer base, will it bring enough value, to justify the expense of the development hours spent? Time was spent to flesh out the actual request, but those questions were just not asked. If it was requested, it was delivered, irrespective of the amount of task switching or abandoned work that that entailed.

What I think most of the places I’ve worked have been aiming for is Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM). They seemed to want the cachet of saying they were agile dev houses, but still wanted design plans and business feasibility studies. While I clearly want there to be more of a check back in with the larger business as a whole before adding things to the roadmap that aren’t necessarily enhancements, for there to be some analysis to determine if it’s even worth spending developer time on the request, I don’t think it’s necessary or even feasible to do a full proto typing cycle with all software development. I agree with some of what I read, that DSDM an excellent project management system. Once the product/service/process is past the initial release, all of the cycles are perhaps not required. It’s also a very comfortable place for Waterfall Development houses to relocate to, since it’s not that far away.