Building software incrementally

When you build software in an Agile environment, you typically want your solution to be ready for release at all times. Incrementally, you build software and add value every iteration (or Sprint). This ensures a quick feedback loop, in which the solution can be tested immediately, even by your end users. This creates the advantage that a customer can respond to features and review the product for any needed or useful changes. It also creates transparency and makes sure that users not only know you’re creating something, but could even be involved.

To compare, you no longer have to announce that you are building a ‘horseless carriage’ and come out and show it years later, you can start with a minimal viable product. Imagine a personal banking app, in which, when it was first released, you could see your current balance. As the app, and the development thereof matured, more quality and features were added as to the point where you can now even adjust certain settings (card availability on other continents) and make (international) transactions, using your fingerprint on your phone. Of course, in between, loads of steps and extra features were launched, all the while the app was available.

Besides upsides for users, building software incrementally also generally makes testing and debugging easier because relatively smaller changes are made during each iteration. It becomes like finding a needle in a glass of water versus in a hay stack. This allows for more targeted and rigorous testing of each element within the overall product.

Of course, this does mean that you have to take certain tasks into account. Surely you don’t want problems to arise related to system architecture, for instance, which were not evident in earlier prototypes! Why create a problem, when you can create a great product?

Join Phani Bhushan, Scrum.org trainer and experienced technical consultant at DevOn, in his webinar on Friday 27^th of October at 12:15 CEST to find out all about incrementally building software.

View the recording on the right!

Date and time

October 27th 12.15 – 13.00 CEST (15.45 – 16.30 IST)

Speaker

Phani Bhushan

Hi, I’m Phani Bhushan. I am currently studying the Dutch language, but will for now still be addressing you in English. I work as a Technical Consultant and a Scrum.org trainer at DevOn, helping organizations to make the transition to the Agile way of working. I personally believe that successful software development starts with good collaboration between business and IT people. Success starts with people who are willing to cooperate with other professions. Indeed, individuals and interactions. Agile methods like Scrum help people to understand each other’s challenges and figure out how they can help one another in order to come up with winning solutions. As a Scrum.org trainer, I teach the Professional Scrum Master and the Professional Scrum Product Owner classes. I’m a technologist at heart, I’m passionate about Continuous Delivery, DevOps, automated testing and Application Lifecycle Management. I love to help organizations implementing Continuous Delivery practices such as: Infrastructure automation, DevOps, deployment pipelines etc.