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Currently i'm doing a project in school and I would like to ask a question: Do Agile Methodologies have an impact upon Software Quality?
I'm not really looking for a specific and clear answer to this, maybe, can someone give me some links of where I could find this any help in terms of that question?
If we separate quality into the three aspects of software quality: Functional, Process and Structural. I think the Agile methodology has a clear impact on all three. I will try to explain by quoting some relevant Agile princibles.
Process quality
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.
Most Agile frameworks like Scrum use retrospectives to continuously improve process quality.
Functional quality
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Getting continuous feedback should result in better functional quality as users explain what works, what doesn't and what works unexpected. As you deliver working software frequently you can measure the functional quality better and adapt faster, compared to a slow release-cycle like once a year.
Structural quality
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Most Agile frameworks (except Scrum) advocate clear technical practises. Practises like TDD, pair programming, continuous delivery, clean code and others all lead to higher structural quality.
The eXtreme Programming Agile framework has some good starting rules when it comes to coding that are advisable to improve not only your agility, but also your overal product quality.
Scrum...
This just scratches the surface of what I think what Agile brings to table to improve quality of a software product. Just keep in mind that Scrum lacks some key technical practises and that you should combine it with XP and or the LeSS practises. Without these practises you will most likely only improve your process quality.
It depends on:
The four Agile manifestos:
All four manifestos above are aiming at improving software quality and providing customer satisfaction.
But going Agile does not necessarily mean your software quality will be improved (well, software quality will be improved over time but there may be setbacks in short terms).
For a company I used to work for hired Agile coach to attempt to implement Agile, but it turned out:
In a sense, Agile Methodologies are guidelines, that is why there are no hardline definitions regarding how Agile should be implemented.
For various software projects that are of different sizes, software companies that are of different sizes, tradition and culture, there is no guarantee that introducing Agile will help them improve quality.
