Agile methodology, Flow Pilots’s preferred way of developing

The moment has come. You realised digital growth and transformation are inevitable to lead a future-proof business. If you didn’t see the importance of this growing process before, we sure hope the Covid-19 consequences were an eye-opener.

In this digital transformation, we believe the end-user should always be your main focus. (Read more about this in one of our previous blog posts.)
But finding a partner that will help you with this transformation and who works in a way that guarantees the best collaboration is something that’s sometimes overlooked.
That is why today we want to walk you through our agile development methodology and why we recommend this way of working.

Agile methodology is a type of project management process, mainly used for software development, where demands and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customers.

Flow Pilots uses a scrum-based agile development methodology. The main advantage of this approach for the customer is that development passes through a number of iterations (typically 2 to 3 weeks per iteration). After each iteration, we will deliver a fully functional version of the application, based on the scope that was defined for that sprint. At the start of each sprint, we discuss the scope of the next iteration. This approach gives the customer the flexibility to steer the scope and development priorities during the project while keeping the budget under control.

Design, development and testing are performed according to this methodology. This approach makes sure that the customer’s expectations, timing and budget are in balance throughout the entire project and that we can adapt to changes in requirements or shift when priorities are changed.

Development Sprints

In an agile project methodology, we typically work with 2-week sprints. Each development sprint contains a number of “formal” meetings of which the planning meeting is the first one. During this meeting the client determines the priorities for the coming sprint and, in doing so, what functionalities will be developed over the next 2 weeks. At that moment the client has the option to make changes to the initial planning. He or she can even add or delete functionalities.The only limitation is the amount of development work that the team can execute in one sprint. In a fixed-budget project, adding user stories, of course, means that something else has to be removed from the backlog.

At the end of the sprint, there is an acceptance and review meeting where the result of the past sprint is demonstrated, and feedback can be given on the developed functionalities. This feedback is important for us to determine where we need to adjust our process.

 The planning and review meetings are organized at the same moment or at different times, depending on the project need or the customers’ wishes.

Working this way gives us – and the client – the opportunity to react quickly and optimise features along the way, while having a decent workable tool relatively early in the developing process. This way of working guarantees a relatively transparent and clear communication between both parties, ensuring an optimal collaboration. 

So when choosing a digital partner always make sure to inform yourself about their working process. It’s of great essence to have a partner who actively involves you in the process. It helps to keep focus, sets the priorities right and defends the project internally. 

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for any questions, we are here to help: captain@flowpilots.com