Chapter 2: Agile Methodologies and Approaches
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Conclusion
Now that you ’ ve gone through the process, you can see how valuable this adaptive process is. You ’ ll see
later in the process how much Claudia changes her mind about certain details (such as the home page),
but with Agile methodology and CodeIgniter tools, it ’ ll be easy to adjust course and stay on schedule
and within budget.In the next chapter, you learn how to install and configure CodeIgniter on a LAMP (Linux - Apache -
MySQL - PHP) server and get a quick overview of all the pieces involved (controllers, models, views,
config files, libraries, helpers, and other built - in tools).Keep the following points in mind as you continue on your journey:Agile methodologies are adaptive as opposed to predictive.Agile methodologies work best if you ’ ve got a small team working with a software project that
is easily time - boxed. The team should meet regularly (daily if possible) and communicate about
their achievements, to do ’ s, and risks.It ’ s almost always better to gather requirements by starting top - down and drawing mockups
with the customer.It ’ s important that the product owner (the customer) take charge of the product backlog as soon
as possible. They ’ ve forgotten more about their business than you ’ ll ever know.It ’ s your job as developer to convert product backlog items into functional tasks in a sprint
backlog.It is also your responsibility to estimate properly. Don ’ t overcommit with too many tasks in any
given sprint.Don ’ t forget that many functional tasks can be leveraged across various areas of the current
sprint (and even future sprints). For example, setting up good models for each database table
allows you to quickly and easily work with those database tables for the rest of the project.The point of Agile is to break projects into manageable chunks. The emphasis is always on
potentially shippable software at the end of any iteration or sprint. If a task can ’ t be completed
properly or on time, it ’ s good and proper to try to reanalyze its importance and do something
about it, instead of letting it fester and become a big problem.Because Agile projects tend to be iterative, it ’ s sometimes hard to give accurate estimates to
customers. Remember to think in terms of time spent on units of work and in iterations, and
only give ranges. The further out the timeline, the less accurate you can be. The bigger the unit
of work, the less accurate you can be. For example, if you are estimating a 2 - week job, you might
give an estimate that is plus - or - minus 5 percent. A 6 - month job may be on the order of plus - or -
minus 30 percent.