Our Methodology

ViVOconcepts applies a methodology called 'Agile Application Development'. Some of the principles behind the Agile application development are:

• Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software
• Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
• Working software is the principal measure of progress
• Even late changes in requirements are welcomed
• Close, daily, cooperation between business people and developers
• Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication
• Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
• Simplicity
• Self-organizing teams
• Regular adaptation to changing circumstances
   

History

The modern definition of agile software development evolved in the mid 1990s as part of a reaction against "heavyweight" methods, as typified by a heavily regulated, regimented, micro-managed use of the waterfall model of development. The processes originating from this use of the waterfall model were seen as bureaucratic, slow, demeaning, and inconsistent with fast changing economies.

 

Evaluation

Although agile methods differ in their practices, they share a number of common characteristics, including iterative development, and a focus on interaction, communication, and the reduction of resource-intensive intermediate artifacts. The suitability of agile application development methods in general can be examined from multiple perspectives. From a product perspective, agile methods are very suitable when requirements are emergent and rapidly changing. From an organizational perspective, the suitability can be assessed by examining three key dimensions of an organization: culture, people, and communication. In relation to these areas a number of key success factors have been identified:

• The culture of the organization must be supportive of negotiation
• People must be trusted
• Fewer but more competent people
• Organizations need to have an environment that facilitates rapid communication between team members
• The most important factor is probably project size. As size grows, face-to-face communication becomes more difficult.
• Therefore, most agile methods are more suitable for projects with small teams, with fewer than 20 to 40 people.