Concepts
The key to maintaining high productivity within the Agile project development is regular review and maintenance of work results. This ensures the preservation of internal quality thereby helping in the reduction of an overall cost of incremental development. Frequently conducted reviews and quality maintenance is a significant part of the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) exam, preparing candidates for proficient project management.
Understanding Reviews and Maintenance in Agile
In Agile methodology, unlike the traditional waterfall model, work is developed incrementally which allows continuous feedback and adjustments throughout the development process. Each work increment is reviewed, tested, and integrated regularly. This frequent review aids in early detection and resolution of defects, thereby maintaining the internal quality of the work and reducing the overall cost of development.
Frequent reviews can take the form of:
- Code reviews: By regularly reviewing the developed code, one can find and fix bugs or issues early in the development process, thereby reducing the time and cost of fixing them later.
- Demonstration meetings: In this meeting, the team demonstrates the completed work to stakeholders to solicit their feedback. The immediate feedback helps in correcting the direction of the project at an early stage, saving costs.
- Retrospective meetings: These meetings take place at the end of each sprint where the team reviews their work, identifies what worked and what didn’t, and makes necessary adjustments moving forward. This continuous improvement process helps in maintaining high project efficiency.
Prioritizing and Maintaining Internal Quality
Prioritization and maintenance of internal quality form the critical pillars of Agile. This is facilitated via different practices like Test Driven Development (TDD) and pair programming among others.
Let’s take a look at a comparison table to better understand these practices:
| Practice | Description | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Test Driven Development | Involves writing tests first before writing the code catering to that test. | Forces developers to think about the requirement and design first which leads to better quality. |
| Pair programming | Two developers work together on the same code at the same workstation. | Promotes knowledge sharing and early problem detection, leading to improved quality and learning. |
By proactively investing in quality, overall cost of development can be reduced significantly. Bugs found early in the development process are cheaper to fix compared to those found later in the development.
Impact on Incremental Development Costs
An initial investment in frequent reviews can seem time-consuming and costly. However, in the long run, these practices significantly reduce the overall development costs. Regular reviews ensure that the product aligns with business requirements. Quality practices like TDD, Pair programming, etc. guarantees internal quality, reducing the time and cost of fixes at a later stage in the development process.
Conclusion
Investment in frequent reviews and maintaining internal quality hold intrinsic value in Agile methodology. It fortifies the development process, aligns the product with business needs, and substantially reduces the overall cost of development. These practices are critical to understanding and demonstrating proficiency in the PMI-ACP exam. Remember, quality is not an act; it’s a consistent habit.
Answer the Questions in Comment Section
True or False: Frequent review and maintenance of work results can reduce the overall cost of incremental development.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Keeping a regular check on the progress, regularly updating the tasks, and maintaining the quality can avoid the extra costs that may arise at a later stage due to extra efforts or error rectification.
Which of the following aids in reducing the overall cost of incremental development? (Multi-select)
- a) Frequent review of work results
- b) Maintenance of work results
- c) Prioritizing internal quality
- d) Ignoring minor errors
Answer: a), b), c)
Explanation: Frequent review, continuous maintenance and prioritizing quality ensure that early detection and addressing of errors are possible, which indeed helps reduce any additional cost.
Who should be responsible for maintaining the internal quality in Agile development? (Single Select)
- a) Developers
- b) Managers
- c) Product Owner
- d) All of the above
Answer: d) All of the above
Explanation: In an Agile Team, all members including developers, managers, and the product owner are collectively responsible for maintaining internal quality.
True or False: Prioritizing internal quality has no impact on the overall cost of incremental development.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Prioritizing internal quality helps prevent errors and create high-quality output, which ultimately reduces the cost of incremental development.
What is one of the key benefits of frequent review and maintenance of work results? (Single select)
- a) It allows errors to build up
- b) It increases costs
- c) It reduces rework
- d) It creates conflict in the team
Answer: c) It reduces rework
Explanation: By frequently reviewing and maintaining work results, potential errors or issues can be identified and addressed early on. This reduces the amount of rework required later on.
In an Agile project, the internal quality of a product should be
- a) Updated once in a while
- b) Ignored to save time
- c) Prioritized and regularly maintained
- d) Deprioritized for speed
Answer: c) Prioritized and regularly maintained
Explanation: Internal quality in an Agile project is important as it can greatly impact the overall quality of the product or service. Regular review and maintenance of internal quality can minimize errors and reduce overall development time and costs.
True or False: Process-improvement activities need not be planned because they can happen spontaneously in Agile projects.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Process-improvement activities are vital in Agile projects and these activities must be planned, executed, reviewed, and enhanced regularly to ensure alignment with project goals and objectives, and improve quality.
Maintenance of work results should be carried out
- a) Daily
- b) Weekly
- c) Monthly
- d) As often as needed
Answer: d) As often as needed
Explanation: In Agile projects, the frequency of maintenance and review activities may vary depending on the project’s requirements, office policy, and/or customer needs.
The biggest cost in incremental development usually comes from
- a) Software purchases
- b) Rework due to error
- c) Employee salaries
- d) Office rent
Answer: b) Rework due to error
Explanation: Rework due to errors or miscommunications usually become the biggest cost in incremental development as it involves repeated efforts, time and resources.
True or False: Internal quality needs to be checked only at the end of the development cycle.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: In Agile development, internal quality should be checked frequently and at each stage to ensure the end product is of high quality and satisfies customer needs.
Performing frequent reviews is key to maintaining internal quality and reducing costs. It’s like catching issues before they snowball.
Can anyone share their experience with how frequent reviews helped in their agile projects?
Thanks for this insightful post!
I’m a bit skeptical about the cost reduction claim. It seems like more reviews would add more overhead.
This is exactly what we focus on in our agile training sessions. Prioritizing internal quality is a game changer.
Regular maintenance is often overlooked but crucial for long-term success.
Appreciate the well-detailed post!
How frequent should reviews be for a large scale agile project?