Methodology

Managing complex software development projects is about efficient utilization of resources, risk management, accurate estimation of budgets and timelines, experienced selection of appropriate technologies, and scheduling feature development to meet time-to-market requirements. Risk is a reality in every project. At Keyideas we follow some Well-known agile software development methods like Agile Modeling, Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum.

Agile Modeling is a practice-based methodology for modeling and documentation of software-based systems. It is intended to be a collection of values, principles, and practices for modeling software that can be applied on a software development project in a more flexible manner than traditional modeling methods.

Our Software Development Methodology

Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements. As a type of agile software development, it advocates frequent “releases” in short development cycles (time-boxing), which is intended to improve productivity and introduce checkpoints where new customer requirements can be adopted.

Other elements of extreme programming include: programming in pairs or doing extensive code review, unit testing of all code, avoiding programming of features until they are actually needed, a flat management structure, simplicity and clarity in code, expecting changes in the customer’s requirements as time passes and the problem is better understood, and frequent communication with the customer and among programmers. The methodology takes its name from the idea that the beneficial elements of traditional software engineering practices are taken to “extreme” levels, on the theory that if some is good, more is better. It is unrelated to “cowboy coding”, which is more free-form and unplanned. It does not advocate “death march” work schedules, but instead working at a sustainable pace.

Critics have noted several potential drawbacks, including problems with unstable requirements, no documented compromises of user conflicts, and lack of an overall design specification or document.Scrum is an iterative, incremental methodology for project management often seen in agile software development.

Although Scrum was intended for management of software development projects, it can be used to run software maintenance teams, or as a general project/program management approach.