Nothing to do with fitness... Anyone have direct experience with agile development?

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MireyGal76
MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
in Chit-Chat
I'm working on a course for Agile software development and I've lived my whole life working in waterfall. I'm just curious if people exist (hehe) who've worked on an agile project, where it has worked well (and followed standard Agile methodology).

If such unicorns exist...
- what kind of project was it like (i.e. dev from scratch or COTB)?
- who did the testing?
- did you have a lot of automation?

I'd love to have a fellow geek who can provide me with a bit of insight into real world agile, because my brain is stuck in the waterfall SDLC!

yes. I know... it's not a date/marry/punch thread.. but you'll all forgive me, right?

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  • kchuskey
    kchuskey Posts: 882 Member
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    I have no idea what you just said. Good luck! :)
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
    edited January 2016
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    :laugh:

    :disappointed:
  • EddieHaskell97
    EddieHaskell97 Posts: 2,227 Member
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    Yes

    Project: "Data Lake" generation
    Testing: Development and Q/A
    Automation: Not at first, but we later implemented test IO and Informatica Data Quality / Power Center.

    Sadly, over the last six months we've shifted to Lean instead. :(
  • jlisa24
    jlisa24 Posts: 305 Member
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    What the unicorn did you just say?!
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    EddieHaskell97 wrote: »
    Yes

    Project: "Data Lake" generation
    Testing: Development and Q/A
    Automation: Not at first, but we later implemented test IO and Informatica Data Quality / Power Center.

    Sadly, over the last six months we've shifted to Lean instead. :(

    Why the shift? Was it due to the process not fitting the project need?

    Agile sounds like a perfect methodology, but (as a tester), I cannot fathom how you can fully test each iteration (especially if you have multiple down stream systems or interfaces, or complex data storage). If you're building a simple software application, it seems ideal... but does it work in practice with complex applications too?

    Plus, if customers are end users, how many are willing to accept a partially developed release?
    (ignoring the example of mobile apps that have new features and levels added every few months)
  • kchuskey
    kchuskey Posts: 882 Member
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    9vpvop6dkdzh.gif
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    kchuskey wrote: »
    9vpvop6dkdzh.gif

    tumblr_n2pd61Xhsh1revk8bo1_250.gif
  • EddieHaskell97
    EddieHaskell97 Posts: 2,227 Member
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    MireyGal76 wrote: »
    EddieHaskell97 wrote: »
    Yes

    Project: "Data Lake" generation
    Testing: Development and Q/A
    Automation: Not at first, but we later implemented test IO and Informatica Data Quality / Power Center.

    Sadly, over the last six months we've shifted to Lean instead. :(

    Why the shift? Was it due to the process not fitting the project need?

    Agile sounds like a perfect methodology, but (as a tester), I cannot fathom how you can fully test each iteration (especially if you have multiple down stream systems or interfaces, or complex data storage). If you're building a simple software application, it seems ideal... but does it work in practice with complex applications too?

    Plus, if customers are end users, how many are willing to accept a partially developed release?
    (ignoring the example of mobile apps that have new features and levels added every few months)

    We shifted because we got a new director who was convinced that Lean (especially the A3) was the magic solution. He felt that there wasn't enough structure or participation/collaboration/engagement by all with Agile.

    I too am a fan of Agile, but like you I don't see how it (or even Lean) can test every possible permutation. Still, I believe that with a solid foundation on previous iterations, Agile still works very well.

    Thankfully our software deals more with ETL and financial reporting (usually via Tableau) so we don't have to worry about that too much. However, in my last company we had many users who liked to be "early adopters" of release candidates and such. They were willing to take the risks because they enjoyed playing with new functionality and being involved in the development process. Their feedback weighed in heavily.
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    @EddieHaskell97 Thank you so much!

    I totally think there is a place for agile - particularly when new development is concerned, and even more so when the customer "isn't quite sure" how they want it to look or feel.

    I've been in a project where we spent so much time gathering requirements and then designing and testing a product, and then showing them when most of the dev was complete, and the customer responded with... "ummm, no... that's totally not going to work".

    In that case, it would have been better to work agile... create a shell based on high level understanding, demo it, gather feedback, and iterate, but do it within a bit more of a waterfall approach. - kind of a rapid application development scenario.

    Can agile overcome all scenarios? In my recent experience... I had a massive project with numerous interfaces, a very small test team, and no ability to automate... there's no way we could have managed agile... at least, not the way I understand it (requiring full testing each sprint).

    (I'm just kind of talking out loud here, trying to understand what I'm learning, and determine if I agree that this kool-aid is worth drinking).

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