Top 5 Stages of the Agile Software Development Lifecycle 2023

Top 5 Stages of the Agile Software Development Lifecycle 2023

Software development is a vast field that offers a lot of variety. This variety option is not only limited to tech stack, tools, and software products. You have different software development approaches available to choose from. However, the most popular among them these days is agile software development. It is an iterative way to approach software development that emphasizes customer satisfaction.

Unlike other traditional development methodologies, Agile does not deliver the final product directly to the customer. Here, development teams work in small timeframes with specific goals known as sprints. These sprints usually last for one to three weeks. Development teams split the whole project into small fragments and each member takes care of a specific aspect of the product.

Although Agile methodology simplifies the way to achieve the best results on development projects. But it is a complex mechanism on its own. We will try to get hold of the 5 main stages involved in the agile development lifecycle going further in this blog. So let us begin…

5 Key Stages in Agile Software Development Lifecycle

Agile is a comprehensive development methodology involving several different stages and processes. The following are the 5 main stages of the agile development lifecycle:

1.Project Ideation

It is the first and initial stage of the agile development process. Here, the project is initialized, and the process is usually known as the inception or envisioning of the project at hand. In this stage, the development team, the stakeholders, and the clients sit together to discuss the project vision and the ROI justification. These discussions are usually about high-level feasibility and rarely involve the specific details of the project. During this phase, different tasks are allotted to the respective team members. Also, the time and work resources to be used during the project are determined. Although all these things are done even before the project draws its first breath. But these are important in terms of checking the economic viability of the project.

2.Planning

This is the first step that gives the agile lifecycle its shape for the development team. It is the speculative phase where team members sit together with the sponsor or product owner. Here, they all set the requirements straight and finalize exactly what they are looking for. The discussion is about the processes that would make the project completion possible by building the backlog at the story level. Most agile software development services allocate special focus to the planning phase. This is because it sets the tone for the whole development lifecycle. Team members use the business opportunity in a wider context while planning the development process. They try their best to map out the functional and financial viability of the project.

3.Development

This is the first moving phase of the agile development cycle. Development starts once all the product requirements are defined and the stakeholders and product owners have agreed upon the specs. The agile development process takes place in incremental phases, sprints, or iterations with the goal of delivering high-quality working products. During the development phase, the team ensures the following:

• Collaboration between the development team, stakeholders, and product owners.
• Following all the guidelines associated with the norms of coding convention and maintaining the quality of the product at the same time.
• Adhering to the scope, budget, and schedule of the project sent by the stakeholders in the beginning.
• Must deliver working products at the end of every cycle.
• Frequent testing.

The agile lifecycle involves several iterations and testing is done after each iteration. It is done to ensure the product is meeting the agreed-upon specs.

4.Production

After the product is completely developed and deployed, the end user can use it. In this phase, the team looks out for early-stage issues such as bugs or small defects in the code that they might have missed during the testing. If found, it is handed over to the concerned team responsible for maintenance, production, and support. However, the handover depends on what type of product you are delivering as your final output. The production phase starts with the deployment of the product and ends with retirement.

5.Retirement

It is the last stage of the agile software development lifecycle. This phase is also known by different names such as decommissioning, sunsetting, and the ‘end-of-life’ stage for the software product. It happens when the product is no longer cost-effective within the current business model and therefore phased out. The product owners notify the customers about the migration to newer releases or alternative options. There might be several potential reasons for a product being retired. The most common one is that a newer release is being deployed.

Few Final Words

Now, you know about the five key stages of the agile development lifecycle. Agile is certainly the most effective and efficient way to command a software development project. This is the reason why most development firms are using agile as their primary development approach. Moreover, a lot of software outsourcing services also prefer agile methodology over traditional development approaches.