2

I have been working with waterfall model till now. Now We are moving to Agile. Now as we all are new to it everybody is using a different term i.e. some says "Agile Methodology", others "Agile Model" and some one else is saying "In Agile Process".

Now My Question is, is an agile methodology, Model or a process?

Improve this question
4
  • 1
    How does your question relate to testing?
    – Niels van Reijmersdal
    Dec 7, 2016 at 8:27
  • @NielsvanReijmersdal : Testing is a broad word, During testing we use some processes. Agile is one of them. If we are using a process in which we have not worked before , As a tester i need to understand what is the process we are going to implement now. Also this is a most common asked Interview Question for a tester.
    – Keshav
    Dec 7, 2016 at 9:08
  • Interesting, but this was not clear from your question. I would try to add more context to your questions. I think a tester should have a full view of the full application software development life cycle. Process quality is just as important as structural and functional quality. Hope my answer helps :)
    – Niels van Reijmersdal
    Dec 7, 2016 at 9:11
  • Agile is word of the English language - plain and simple - and that's how we ought to treat it. Methodology, model and process are all different words. You could pair them with anything, including the word Waterfall, or, to take other unrelated examples, John, Road, Tree, etc. I've tried to split up the words and explain this in the answer below. I hope it gives you a mechanism to answer your questions, if nothing else.
    – Meezaan-ud-Din
    Dec 7, 2016 at 14:02

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
2

I suggest trying to break things down into simple English.

Agile - able to move quickly and easily.

Methodology - a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity.

Model - a thing used as an example to follow or imitate.

Process - a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.

If I was to sum it up (and no one is saying I am right):

The Agile Methodology is what is described by the Agile Manifesto.

The Agile Process is a process that tries to accomplish this, whatever the end. So, Scrum does this generically (but is popularly used for software development - it was also used to manage construction of Heathrow Terminal 5 in London, UK). XP does this just for software development (or programming), and so on so forth.

An Agile Model would be the implementation of an Agile Process done at a company that another company is trying to copy or replicate. This might have more details and specifics in it, INCLUDING the Agile Process that was followed, how many staff were on what teams playing what roles, etc. etc.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    I feel this is the correct answer
    – Keshav
    Dec 8, 2016 at 6:12
1

Agile software development methodology is an process for developing software (like other software development methodologies – Waterfall model, V-Model, Iterative model etc.) However, Agile methodology differs significantly from other methodologies. In English, Agile means ‘ability to move quickly and easily’ and responding swiftly to change – this is a key aspect of Agile software development as well.

Agile development model is also a type of Incremental model. Software is developed in incremental, rapid cycles. This results in small incremental releases with each release building on previous functionality. Each release is thoroughly tested to ensure software quality is maintained. It is used for time critical applications. Extreme Programming (XP) is currently one of the most well known agile development life cycle model.

A series of actions or steps taken in order to develop agile methodology is simply called Agile process.

Improve this answer
1

Agile is a methodology. It is a set of methods and principles described in the Agile manifesto.

methodology

a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity.

Agile frameworks often contain a suggested workflow or process, the Agile process mostly consists of an iterative release model. There are also Agile design modeling technique's.

Complete Agile implementation frameworks are:

Please stay away from Scrum if you do not plan to combine it with XP practises or the LeSS technical excellence topics.

Reads:

Improve this answer
1

TL;DR: Yes.

The long version:

"Agile" is a methodology, a model, a process, and a philosophy, depending on context.

  • The Agile Philosophy is best summed up by the Agile Manifesto linked in Neil's answer. It's a statement of relative values that are used to guide agile methodologies.
  • Agile Methodologies are methodologies that build on and formalize the agile philosophy into something concrete a development team can use to guide their practices.
  • An Agile Development Model is a set of practices as part of an agile methodology that form a guideline for software development and testing. The terms "model" and "methodology" are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference: a methodology is the theoretical statement of practices, where a model is the practical guideline to actually implementing those practices.
  • An Agile Process is any process implementing an agile development model. There are numerous examples: Scrum, XP, Kanban...

All of them will be called "agile" depending on context.

Improve this answer
1
  • Can you give any examples to substantiate your definition of Agile Methodologies and Agile Development Models? I suspect the way you are defining it now might collide with the dictionary defintions of process, model and methodology.
    – Meezaan-ud-Din
    Dec 7, 2016 at 13:43

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.