ABSTRACT
Objectives ◾ Discuss the “stability-agility” dichotomy of methods in the context of business and software ◾ Provide an overview of prevalent Agile methods used in software development, including
their comparison and impact on delivery ◾ Understand the commonalities among prevalent Agile methods to enable abstraction of com-
mon practices that can be used by both business and software initiatives within the organization ◾ Relate the Agile methods to the Agile Manifesto in order to understand the foundation of
these Agile methods ◾ Present an overview of the life cycles of planned methods (waterfall, spiral) to understand
their foundation ◾ Outline a metamodel that would form the basis of a process (in this case, eventually, of a
composite process) ◾ Consider a practical Agile manifesto that would replace the keyword “over” by “together with”
Introduction is chapter begins with a discussion on the conceptual background to Agile methods, which provides an understanding of the reasons for the phenomenal popularity of these methods. An overview of Agile methods presented in this chapter provides completeness to the discussion on Agility and how it is currently being used in practice. e discussion on contemporary Agile methods also paves the path for understanding its challenges (as discussed in Chapter 3) and the formation of a composite Agile approach (part of the discussion in Chapter 4). e Agile Manifesto, the cornerstone of all Agile methods, is also discussed here. A pragmatic approach to Agile methods
understanding of Agility from a very practical viewpoint.
