How agile software development methods drive teams to get products in the hands of customers fast
Agile software delivery has a higher success rate when compared to waterfall delivery. An abundance of evidence supports this. Agile results in a higher-quality product, lower costs, and a faster, more predictable delivery to market. In fact, we’ve seen a tenfold decrease in costs for delivery of identical software products for manufacturers when an agile approach is used.
Why, then, do some companies still insist on the slower waterfall process?
Blame the industry. Historically, manufacturers have relied on establishing a predictable model for building a specific widget, then optimizing to a granular level—all before any development begins. Fixed costs, scope, and schedule: It’s called waterfall. For companies looking to adapt quickly, it just doesn’t work.
Manufacturing organizations can realize 80 percent of the value of agile by changing over a fraction of their processes and practices. In this white paper, we outline how manufacturers can implement these processes and achieve the following for competitive advantage:
Reduce project (product) size
Use lean requirements to jump-start delivery
Upgrade tools to improve communication
Invest in continuous integration and delivery
Integrate quality assurance (QA) into delivery teams
