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RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS

Comparative Analysis of Agile Software Development

Methodologies-A Review
Kiran Hiwarkar 1, Aditya Doshi 2, Rahul Chinta 3, Manjula R4
1,2,3
( Post Graduate Students Department Of Computer Science Engineering, VIT University, Tamilnadu,India)
4
(Associate Professor At Department Of Computer Science Engineering, VIT University, Tamilnadu, India)

ABSTRACT
Software development methodology consists of dividing the software development process or work into different
phases in order to achieve better planning and management. As the software development proceeds, factors such
as requirements, needs, priorities, underlying technology may change. Thus development process must be highly
dynamic and a good software development methodology must adapt to these evolving and changing
requirements. Traditional software development models are unable to handle such dynamic requirements. To
cope up with such dynamic requirements a set of software development methodologies referred as „Agile
Software development methodologies‟ are used. Comparison between different Agile software development
methods will help in the selection of appropriate development model given a particular scenario.
Keywords: ASD, DSDM, FDD, Scrum, XP
continuous and fast delivery of the project. This
I. INTRODUCTION methodology is not prediction
Today‟s situation of software development oriented but it is more adaptive. Agile is designed in
with frequently changing requirements, where the such a way that it works well in the frequently
traditional method fails in many scenarios. The most changing requirements [2]. The main advantage of
common traditional approach for developing this method over the traditional one are increase in
software is “Waterfall Model”. The major the development speed and reduction in the cost.
drawbacks of this method are, it uses downward Some of the method which follows the
approach for development, development of complete Agile principle but in practice works slightly
software at one time, most of the energy is wasted in different are “Extreme Programming”, “Lean
the documentation and taking signs and approvals Software Development”, “Scrum”, “Adaptive
and in the traditional approach we can‟t move next Software Development”, “Dynamic System
until we complete previous stage, almost one third of Development Method,” “Crystal”, “Kanban”,
the time and resources are spent on the testing [4] “Feature Driven Development” [5]. This survey is
this scenario leads to delay in the delivery of the mainly focused on the comparison of the widely
final product. Now a day‟s software developing and used agile methods such as “Extreme
maintaining plays an important role in all the Programming”, “Scrum”, “Adaptive Software
industries. So the development need to more Development”, “Dynamic System Development”,
accurate and fast thus methodology need to be “Feature Driven Development”.
changed according to the changing scenario.
Converse to the traditional approach the II. LITERATURE REVIEW
“Agile Methodology” works better in the current Software development methodologies are in
scenario of frequently changing requirement.” use since the very inception of software industries.
Agile” means fast and incremental approach for The term software engineering was result of
developing projects with strong focus and “software crisis” [18]. The Software crisis presents
customer‟s involvement [3]. In this methodology several issues that were prominent in the software
documentation of the project considered as the non- industry in 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Some of the
productive work as it has no direct value at the end important issues were: -
of the software development. Agile system is with • Projects not being completed within given time
little paper work oriented and more focused on the and budget.
coding. In this methodology source code is • Inefficient and low quality product.
considered as the way of communication and • Product Unable to satisfy customer
documentation between man to computer and people requirements.
to people [3]. Agile is nothing but group of the Ensure that any miscellaneous numbering
methods which are mostly based on the iterative system you use in your paper cannot be confused
work flow. Main moto of the agile methodology is with a reference [4] or an equation (3) designation.

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to develop a high quality product within the assigned

time and budget and are capable of handling
changing requirements. Agile software development
views the software product as combination of small
modules that communicate and collaborate with each
other to realize a large software structure [5].
The Manifesto for Agile Software Development,
also known as the Agile Manifesto, was presented in
2001(agile alliance). In February 2001, 17 software
developers published the Manifesto for Agile
Software Development which says "uncovering
better ways of developing software by doing it and
helping others do it” [16]. The agile manifesto
presented 12 principles to ensure delivery of
valuable software product among which core
principles were:
1. High priority to customer satisfaction.
Fig 1. Traditional Software Development Life Cycle 2. Adapting to changing requirements.
3. Promoting communication within the
To addresses these issues in a systematic development team
and structured way, software development 4. Frequent interaction and with the customer.
methodologies (SDM) were proposed in late 1960s. Agile software development emphasizes on quick
With SDM the software development process was and valuable delivery of the small working units of
viewed as a set of phases consisting requirement product and improvising it by adding features or
gathering, designing, implementation, validation and functionality as required in the subsequent iterations
verification and maintenance. The systematic or increments. Unlike traditional models it promotes
approach to the software development addressed (to the communication within the teams and among
some extent) the issues defined by “Software crisis”. individual involved rather than documentation. It is a
Several SDMS were proposed over the time, each result oriented methodology which adapts to the
having its own advantages and disadvantages. Each changing requirements, ensures delivery of a high
SDM is suitable for a particular kind of project quality product through continuous unit and
based on factors such as type and complexity of integration testing, and promotes parallel
project, time and available resources, team size etc. development and testing of the features.
Traditional software development methodologies
such as waterfall model, spiral model, RAD (rapid
application development) are serial models in which
development process moves step by step. It begins
with gathering the requirements from the user. Then,
the architecture of the product is pictured and finally
coding phase begins. Following figure depicts the
general steps followed by traditional software
development models.
The important factor which needs to be
considered with traditional models such as waterfall
model is end user requirements. For the success of
the project it is important to have clear
understanding of the customer requirements. All the
requirements must be specified clearly at the
beginning. Vagueness or uncertainty in the
requirement specification may lead to bad quality
product and any lateral chances in the requirements
are not entertained. In most of the traditional models Fig 2.Agile Software Development Life Cycle
it is not possible to move to next phase or step until
the previous phase is completed and the work is Several Agile methodologies were proposed over
validated. They also involve heavy documentation. time such as XP, Scrum, FDD, DSDM, ASDM,
To deal with the changing requirements the Crystal, Lean etc. each of which is suitable for
concept of Agile software development was developing a specific kind of product.
proposed [16]. Agile software development
methodologies follow iterative incremental approach

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III. OVERVIEW OF AGILR 3.3 DSDM

METHODOLOGY “Dynamic System Development
Different Agile Methodologies have been Methodology” was firstly presented in 1995 by
presented over the time that is suitable for a “Stapleton” [5]. In 1994 very huge number of
particular domain. Popular ones are: projects combined which were required to be rapidly
a) Scrum developed. DSDM mainly focus on delivering the
b) XP projects as early as possible without affecting the
c) DSDM quality of the project. This methodology is the agile
d) ASD methodology thus it also works on the same
e) FDD principle as agile that is incremental as well as
iterative method. The project development cycle of
3.1 Scrum this methodology is modified such a way that cycle
Presented by “Jeff Sutherland, Ken of project management combined with project
Schwaber, Mike Beedle” in 1996 Scrum is the most development cycle [5]. This method creates
widely used agile development methodology [19]. prototype as early as possible to make sure that to
Scrum basically addresses the managerial issues of proceed to next step or not. Function prioritizations,
product development rather than the technicality of analysis of the risk, documentation of prototype of a
the project. Thus more emphasis is given to the function are outcomes of the phase of this method
managerial skills of the personnel involved such as [6].
project managers as well as developers. This methodology is more suitable for the
Scrum is light weight methodology that projects whose requirements are very frequently
follows an incremental approach for software changed rather than project with well defined
development [5]. It proceeds by implementing small requirement, project which are real time. This
requirements within 2 to 4 weeks of iteration known methodology has good control over quality of
as “sprints” and iterate the process to achieve the product, risk, cost and time[5]. This method‟s
core objective. Prime Importance is given to regular iteration length and size of team varies depending on
standup meetings in order to effectively manage the size of the project. Testing in this methodology is
sprint. Each sprint is followed by testing and risk done throughout the projects life cycle. The most
analysis and thus reducing the overall project risk. famous prototyping technology “MoSCoW” [5].
Scrum teams usually consist of 6 to 10 members and This method is quit heavier as compared to other
communication among the team members and agile methodologies as it is more restrictive than
between the teams are important. Scrum suits well to others.
small projects.
3.4 ASD
3.2 XP In the year 2000 Jim Highsmith and Sam
XP (extreme programming) model was Bayer presented Adaptive software development
presented by “Ward Cunnigham, Ron Jeffries, Kent methodology [5]. It basically addresses the
Beck” [5]. It is a simple development model that managerial activities of the project and thus limited
effectively handles the uncertain of frequently to the same has evolved from RAD (rapid
changing customer requirements. It emphasizes on application development) model and gives prime
the engineering practices in order to develop a importance to rapid or quick development of
quality product and quickly adapt to the unstable or software product [7]. It is an incremental and
changing requirements. iterative development strategy which involves
XP developer teams follow the concept of constant prototyping of the product according to the
pair programming. Pair programming refers to a pair user requirement. ASD follows three important
of developers or programmers working together on a phases: Speculate which involves initialization and
single workstation where one (the driver) is planning out the project, collaborate which involves
responsible for coding and other (the observer) is concurrent development of the products
responsible for observing the code line by line as it functionality or features and Learning which means
is typed in and suggest improvements or changes if reviewing the quality of each functionality or feature
any [1]. Due to the practice of pair programming before and after integration. It is preferred for large
success of the project largely depends on the and complex projects.
communication among the team members. Teams
are collocated and project requires on site customer 3.5 FDD
so that regular feedback can be gained. “Feature-Driven Development” designed
by “Jeff De Luca” and “Peter Coad” in 1999.
”Felsing”and “Palmer” describes about FDD in 2002
[5]. This models working principle is also same as

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the other which is nothing but incremental and • The meetings are of informal nature and no
iterative but varied in some of the factors. These documentation is maintained.
model mainly focused phases are building and • Due to use of pair programming technique
design. Development of overall model, building a Success of XP largely depends on the
list of features, Plan of development, package communication.
design, completion of client valued functions. This • FDD and DSDM relies on reports and
model includes fast deliveries as well as perfect documentation for the communication.
monitoring. FDD is mostly not suitable for vary • Face to Face meetings are used for
large project it woks good for small and average communication in ASD.
type of projects. Team size changes depending on
the size of the project. Length of iteration is up to 4.4 Size and complexity of the project
fourteen days. If iteration length exceeds over the Each methodology is suitable for a particular kind of
given period, then models are broken down in to sub project
modules. • XP and ASD are usually preferred for small and
less complex projects.
IV. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS • XP is suitable for projects where there is
Even though several Agile methodologies constant change in the product specification.
are available, each applies to a specific set of • Scrum, FDD DSDM can be applied to any size
project. A Software development project has several project.
factors associated with it such as project size, Table 1 compares above methodologies
complexity, allotted time and budget etc. Selecting with respect to different parameters.
appropriate methodology for software development
depends on such factors. Thus a comparative V. CONCLUSION
analysis of agile methodologies will help to decide Agile methodologies are gaining popularity
which can be used under a given situation. and are now preferred over traditional software
development methodologies which have several
4.1 Documentation shortcomings such as inability to cope up with the
One of the main principle of agile software constantly changing user requirements and
development is to reduce the amount of time and exceeding the allotted time and budget. With
effort spent on documentation. But documentation traditional software development models product
being important cannot be completely removed. requirements must be clearly specified beforehand.
• While using methods like Scrum, XP and ASD Considering the current business environment, it is
documentation is of least importance. important that the development methodology used
• Compared to others projects under FDD easily adapts to the frequently changing end user
requires more documentation. requirements.
• DSDM requires moderate level of
documentation which is still less than FD.

4.2 Interaction with Customer

Agile gives prime importance to frequent
communication with the end users. Still the degree
of involvement is different in each methodology.
• XP and Scrum have high involvement of
customer in the development process.
• In ASD and DSDM customer or end user
involvement can be seen during the start and
end of the iteration.
• While FDD uses reports to communicate with
the customers. Fig 3. Survey on Agile Methods

4.3 Meetings Agile software development methodologies

Communication is one of the core handle the evolving customer requirements through
principles stated in the Agile manifesto[16]. Success iterative and incremental approach. It has shorter
of the agile methodologies depends on the effective development iteration with each iteration or
communication among the team members. increment followed by testing and risk analysis
which results in faster development and delivery of a
quality product.

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Characteristics XP SCRUM DSDM FDD ASD

Approach Iterative, Iterative, Iterative Iterative Iterative,

Incremental Incremental Incremental

Iteration Cycle 1-6 weeks 2-4 weeks In 20% percent 2 days- 4-8 weeks
Period of total time 80 2weeks
% of product.
Suitable project size Small and For large and All types of Large scale Smaller and simple
and complexity simple complex complex and as projects projects
project problems. well as simple
project.
User Involvement Actively Through Through Through Through frequent
involved product frequent reports releases
owner releases
Documentation Basic Basic More than XP Highest Basic
Documentati Documentati and Scrum among all Documentation
on on
Major Practices Simplicity, Scrum Time boxing, Object Time boxing,
Pair meetings MoSCoW, Modeling, Risk Driven,
programmin Prototyping Development Feature based.
g by feature,
Test driven use of UMl
development diagram
Concurrent feature Possible Possible Possible Possible Possible
development

Table 1: Comparison of Agile Methodologies

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