The two most discussed terminologies of the millennial project execution methodologies for customized software drive every animated conversation today. The transition from traditional methods like Waterfall, to Agile to DevOps in itself is fascinating!

1. WHAT IS YOUR CALLING FOR CUSTOM
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT?
AGILE OR DEVOPS?

2. THE TWO MOST DISCUSSED TERMINOLOGIES OF THE
MILLENNIAL PROJECT EXECUTION METHODOLOGIES FOR
CUSTOMIZED SOFTWARE DRIVE EVERY ANIMATED
CONVERSATION TODAY. THE TRANSITION FROM
TRADITIONAL METHODS LIKE WATERFALL, TO AGILE TO
DEVOPS IN ITSELF IS FASCINATING!

3. AGILE CUSTOM SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT IS A NEW AGE
SOFTWARE METHODOLOGY ENFORCING ITERATIONS BETWEEN THE
CONSTANTLY CHANGING REQUIREMENTS AND THE EVOLVING
DEVELOPMENT WITH CLOSE COLLABORATION OF CROSS-
FUNCTIONAL TEAMS. THERE IS A CONTINUOUS FEEDBACK AFTER
ITERATION THAT ENABLES CONTINUOUS REFINEMENT OF THE
SYSTEM.
THE SUPER-FAST AGILE

4. THE AGILE METHODOLOGY ADVOCATES A WELL-CONTROLLED
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS THAT INVOLVES FREQUENT
MEETING ON DAILY BASIS TO DISCUSS THE ROAD-BLOCKS AND TO
GET GENERAL UPDATES ON THE PROJECTS. THIS ENCOURAGES THE
TEAM MEMBERS TO ADAPT TO ACCOUNTABILITY, SELF-DISCIPLINE
AND TEAM WORK FOR QUICK DELIVERY OF GOOD QUALITY
SOFTWARE AND FOLLOW PRACTICES AND STANDARDS THAT
ALIGNS WITH THE CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS AND THE COMPANY
GOALS.

5. ONE OF THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE OF AGILE DEVELOPMENT IS
RESPONSIVE TO CHANGE AND WORKING ON TASKS THAT
MATTER. A WELL-ALIGNED AGILE PROJECT HAS A LIST OF TASK
TO BE COMPLETED IN A PROJECT ALONG WITH THEIR PRIORITY.
THEY CONTINUE TO TAKE UP TASKS IN EACH ITERATION
ACCORDING TO THE PRIORITY. THEY ALSO RECEIVE FEEDBACK OF
THE PREVIOUS ITERATION AND WORK ACCORDINGLY THUS BEING
RESPONSIVE TO CHANGE.
ADVANTAGES OF AGILE
RESPONSIVE TO CHANGE

6. AGILE PRACTICES UNDERSTAND THE FACT THAT WE MAY
DISCOVER MORE INFORMATION AS WE PROCEED OR MAY FIND
THAT A PARTICULAR SOLUTION DOES NOT FIT THE CUSTOMER
NEED OR AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PROBLEM MAY BE
UNCOVERED.
THE AGILE PRINCIPLES ALLOW THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE
UNKNOWN AND PRIORITIZATION SUPPORTS DISCOVERY AND
EXPERIMENTATION TO TAKE CARE OF THE UNCERTAINTIES IN
CUSTOM SOFTWARE SERVICES.
ACCEPTING UNCERTAINTY

7. FOR THE PROJECTS TO OPERATE WITH UNCERTAINTY AND
CHANGING REQUIREMENTS THERE IS NEED FOR QUICK
ITERATION AND FEEDBACK ON THE TASKS COMPLETED TO MAKE
SURE THAT THE CURRENT EFFORTS ARE ALIGNED WITH THE
CUSTOMER NEEDS.
QUICK FEEDBACK

8. THE ABILITY TO DELIVER SOFTWARE IN AN ITERATIVE MANNER
PROVIDES THE BUSINESS MORE FLEXIBILITY IN TERMS OF WHEN
A PRODUCT OR A PARTICULAR FEATURE IS DELIVERED TO THE
USER.
FLEXIBILITY

9. AGILE PRACTICES FOCUSES MORE ON DEFINING AND
PRIORITIZING PROBLEMS IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH THE
DEVELOPERS, DESIGNERS AND CLIENTS. HIGH UPFRONT
EFFORT IN DESIGNING, DOCUMENTATION AND CONTRACTS IS
AGAINST THE AGILE MANIFESTO.
LESS DOCUMENTATION UPFRONT

10. LIKE ANY OTHER CHANGES, IF UNDERTOOK WITHOUT
INVESTING SUFFICIENT TIME IN HAVING A THOROUGH
UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESS AS TO WHY THE CHANGES
ARE MADE AND HOW IT WILL IMPACT THE PROJECT, FRUITFUL
RESULTS WILL NOT BE ACHIEVED.
WORDS OF CAUTION
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

11. AGILE PRACTICES REQUIRE FLEXIBILITY, AVAILABILITY,
QUICK PACED WITH QUALITY, FREQUENT REVIEWS WHICH
ASKS FOR SIGNIFICANT CULTURE SHIFT IN THE
ORGANIZATION. FOR EXAMPLE THE STAKEHOLDERS NEED TO
AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW SESSION, THE SALES AND
MARKETING TEAM NEED TO OPEN ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF
CHANGING REQUIREMENTS, THE MANAGEMENT NEEDS TO
UNDERSTAND THAT THE REQUIREMENT ARE IMPLEMENTED
PRIORITY DRIVEN RATHER THAN OPINION DRIVEN.
CULTURE FIT

12. CHANGING TO AGILE PRACTICES REQUIRES MORE FOCUSED
AND STRONG INTER-COMMUNICATION AMONGST
INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMS. REGULAR INTERACTION OF
TESTING TEAM, DESIGN TEAM AND DEVELOPMENT TEAM AT
REGULAR INTERVAL WORKING TOGETHER AS AN INTEGRAL
TEAM IS QUITE PRE-REQUISITE FOR DELIVERING QUALITY
PRODUCT.
INTEGRATION OF SKILL SETS

13. THOUGH AGILE METHODOLOGIES WERE DEVELOPED FOR
SMALL ORGANIZATIONS TO GROW AND ADAPT BUT FOR
LARGER ORGANIZATION WHERE THERE 500 AND MORE
DEVELOPERS. THE REAL CHALLENGE IS HOW TO BUILD THE
INTERRELATIONSHIP AMONG THE SMALLER TEAMS WHILE
STILL MAINTAINING THE COHESIVE APPROACH IN THE
FLEXIBLE AGILE ENVIRONMENT.
SCALABILITY

14. DEVOPS IS PRACTICE THAT INCULCATES BETTER
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS
AS MAJOR PORTION OF OPERATIONS BECOMES AUTOMATED
AND PROGRAMMABLE. IN THE ORGANIZATION LEVEL,
DEVOPS IS A PART OF THE IT TEAM THAT CREATES AND
MAINTAINS THE INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGING THE SHARED IT
SERVICES.
THE VERY COLLABORATIVE DEVOPS

15. THERE ARE SEVERAL BENEFITS THAT ARE THERE BY ADOPTING
DEVOPS FOR CUSTOM SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT.
– IT HELPS TO REDUCE THE TIME FOR THE PRODUCT TO GO FROM
THE DESIGN STAGE TO THE PRODUCTION.
– BUILDING PRODUCTS QUICKLY MEANS DEVELOPERS GET
FASTER FEEDBACK FROM USERS.
– THE AUTOMATION AND TOOLS RESULT IN EFFICIENCY
IMPROVEMENTS.
– CONTINUOUS DELIVERY IMPROVES THE PRODUCTIVITY AS THE
DEVELOPERS AND TESTERS NEED NOT SPEND TIME IN SETTING UP
THEIR ENVIRONMENTS AND NEED NOT MANAGE OTHER
COMPLEXITIES.
– IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT
ULTIMATELY RESULTS IN IMPROVED CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.
ADVANTAGES

16. ONE OF THE MAJOR AREAS OF CONCERN IN ADOPTING DEVOPS
IS QUALITY ASSURANCE. AS THE QA TEAM IS UNAWARE OF THE
TOOLS AND PRACTICES USED BY DEVOPS FOR SPEEDING UP THE
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS AND THE DEVELOPERS CHOOSE SPEED
MANY A TIMES OVER SECURITY, ISSUES LIKE NECESSARY
SCANS AND CODE CHECKS MAY BE SKIPPED OUT.
WORDS OF CAUTION

17. AGILE TEAMS DEPEND ON AUTOMATED BUILDS, CONTINUOUS
INTEGRATION AND CONTINUOUS DELIVERY. DEVOPS TEAMS
USE TOOL WITH VARIOUS METRICS, CONFIGURATION
MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING SCHEMES, VIRTUALIZATION
AND CLOUD COMPUTING.
DEVOPS AND AGILE QUITE SIMILAR

18. AGILE PRACTICES MIGHT SOMETIMES LEAD DELAYED
DELIVERABLES, INCOMPATIBLE COMPONENTS RESULTING
FROM THE DISPARATE SCRUMS OR TEAMS AND NEW FEATURE
BREAKING THE OLD ONES. ONE OF THE IMPORTANT REASON
FOR THESE PROBLEMS IS LACK OF ADEQUATE
COMMUNICATION AND CONSISTENCY. THIS IS WHERE
DEVOPS CAN HELP BRINGING IN CONSISTENCY, FASTER
DELIVERY AND SMOOTH COORDINATION WITH BOTH
AMONGST THEMSELVES AND ALSO THE DEVELOPERS,
OPERATION TEAMS & VARIOUS OTHER DEPARTMENTAL
TEAMS.

19. AGILE INVOLVES CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS LIKE DESIGNER,
TESTER AND DEVELOPER. DEVOPS TAKES THIS AHEAD BY
ADDING OPERATIONS PERSON WHO FOR TRANSITION FROM
DEVELOPMENT TO DEPLOYMENT. DEVOPS BRINGS IN
AUTOMATION OF PROCESSES AND THUS TRANSPARENCY
AMONGST THE TEAMS.

20. AGILE ENCOURAGES HOW WE THINK ABOUT DEVELOPMENT,
INSTEAD OF MAKING LARGER CHANGES IT ADVOCATES
SMALLER BUT MANAGEABLE CHANGES THAT EVENTUALLY
LEADS TO A BIGGER CHANGE. DEVOPS CAN HELP BRING IN
THIS CULTURAL CHANGE WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION,
THROUGH COMMUNICATION AND MAINTAINING STABILITY
WITH FLEXIBILITY.

21. THOUGH AGILE AND DEVOPS HELP MAKE THE DEVELOPMENT
TO DEPLOYMENT PROCESS MORE EFFICIENT, BUT IT IS
IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHERE THE DIFFERENCES ARE.
AND DIFFERENT TOO!

22. AGILE REQUIRES FREQUENT DEPLOYMENT OF CODE WHEREAS
DEVOPS IS MORE CONCERNED WITH APPROPRIATE
DEPLOYMENT OF THE CODE.
SPEED

23. AGILE TEAMS GENERALLY INCLUDE SELF-DRIVEN MEMBERS
WHO CAN DO THE JOB OF OTHER MEMBER OF THE TEAM
WHEN REQUIRED, TO PREVENT ANY KIND OF SLOWDOWN.
DEVOPS IN CONTRARY SUPPORTS SEPARATE TEAMS FOR
DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS OF CUSTOM SOFTWARE
SOLUTIONS AND THE MEMBERS ARE BOUNDED WITHIN THEIR
TEAMS BUT ARE UPDATED WITH THE FREQUENT
COMMUNICATION.
SPECIALIZATION

24. AGILE APPROACH FOLLOWS DAILY INFORMAL MEETING
DISCUSSING THE PROJECTS DAILY UPDATES AND GOALS WHICH
MEANS IT ISN’T VERY DOCUMENT INTENSIVE. THE DEVOPS ON THE
OTHER HAND DON’T HAVE FREQUENT MEETING BUT HAVE
EXTENSIVE MEETING WHICH NEEDS TO BE DOCUMENTED IN ORDER
TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY THEIR UNDERSTANDING AND THE
PLAN OF EXECUTION. DEVOPS REQUIRE THE DESIGN DOCUMENTS
AND REQUIREMENT DOCUMENT IN ORDER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND
A SOFTWARE RELEASE.
DOCUMENTATION AND
COMMUNICATION

25. SMALL TEAMS IS ONE OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF AGILE
PRACTICES WHICH ENABLE FASTER MOVE AND ACCEPT
FLEXIBILITY. DEVOPS ON THE OTHER HAND, HAVE MULTIPLE
TEAMS THAT WORK TOGETHER EACH TEAM PRACTICING
DIFFERENT PROCESSES.
TEAM SIZE

26. AGILE TEAMS HAVE SHORTER SPRINTS WHICH RARELY LASTS
FOR MORE THAN A MONTH. BUT DEVOPS VALUE RELIABILITY
AND HENCE FOCUS LONG-TERM PLANNING.
SCHEDULING

27. DEVOPS EXTENSIVELY DEPENDS ON AUTOMATION TO
MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY. AGILE PRACTICES ON THE OTHER
HAND DOES NOT REQUIRE AUTOMATION MUCH OF
AUTOMATION AS THERE ARE SMALL SPRINTS WHICH CAN BE
MANAGED WITHOUT AUTOMATION.
AUTOMATION

28. THUS, DESPITE SEVERAL DIFFERENCES, WHETHER TO USE
BOTH THESE THEORIES IS A DECISION AN ORGANIZATION
HAS TO TAKE JUDICIOUSLY, THOUGH EXPERTS BELIEVE
AMALGAMATION OF THE TWO HELPS IN MORE RATIONAL
DECISION MAKING AND IMPROVISING THE CUSTOM
SOFTWARE SERVICES MANIFOLDS.
IN A NUTSHELL

29. QSS TECHNOSOFT
THANK YOU