How to Become an Amazing Agile Developer
Wondering what it takes to become an amazing agile developer? Then look no further.
This post outlines all the traits, essential skills, and soft skills that characterize what it means to be an amazing agile developer.
Let’s explore them below.
8 Steps to Become a Rockstar Agile Developer
Here is a step-by-step process on how to become an agile developer:
1. Assume Responsibility for the Quality of Deliverables
An agile developer engages in more than just developing a product and moving on. They observe and make inquiries when any aspect of the agile project goes awry. They work in tandem with the project leaders, product owners, and business analysts by making suggestions where necessary.
They perform audits and test deliverables to the customer requirements and ensure that the technical aspects of the product meet the standard before the Quality Assurance team does their revisions.
The idea is to encourage team collaboration to satisfy both user needs and the demands of a quality product that provides value to the business. This approach promotes to develop software sustainably because it employs the use of estimates, effective code management, and automated testing, and takes user feedback into account.
2. Assume Responsibility for Defective Deliverables
Agile developers must come to terms with the fact that defects happen during software development. These defects compromise a software system’s ability to function and jeopardize the product’s ability to meet an end user’s needs.
While developers do make mistakes, the key is to own up to them and collaborate with the agile teams and business owners to resolve the issue.
However, rectifying the defect takes priority over ruminating on the cause as there is ample time to do so in the retrospective.
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3. Implement the ‘Definition of Done’ Concept
Conventional software development practices encourage the simultaneous building and iterative development of multiple products. However, since agile methodology requires faster product delivery, agile developers employ the team’s Definition of Done, where developers receive criteria to which they aim to comply by the end of a specific sprint.
To adhere to this standard practice, agile developers must first follow a checklist that guides facets of the implementation process such as discussion, estimation, and design.
Developers must also remember the cost limitations of reworking a feature once the team has completed development. Therefore, they must do their utmost to maximize productivity and produce clean coding software.
4. Embrace the Concept of Teamwork
Agile methodologies revolve around the successes and failures of complex problems associated with working within teams. Hence, the agile developer has to be receptive to assisting with the team environment and enacting unconventional roles within the organization. This includes helping with quality assurance and building a rapport with product management, design, operations, and even the business owner.
The objective is to maintain a connection to all facets of agile project management, as this promotes sustainable development of code writing.
Some additional benefits of agile team collaboration include the continuous improvement of code quality, a reduction in conflicting work streams, and overall multi-functionalism within the enterprise.
An amazing agile developer makes every effort to ensure that the entire team itself is successful during every sprint.
5. Be Willing to Learn and Mentor
A high-functioning agile software development team engages in organic cross-training, learning, and mentoring. The best agile developers value this sharing of knowledge as it is vital to the cross-functional productivity of the agile team. No matter how senior they are, agile developers make it a priority to not only learn from their peers but also impart knowledge through mentorship.
The idea is to cross-train within the agile team to spread knowledge of the code base. One way to accomplish this is through code reviews. Code reviews protect code quality while increasing understanding of said code, throughout the team. The opportunity for cross-functional teams to adopt new skills and focus on autonomous organizing techniques becomes more simple as agile developers maneuver through their product’s technology stack.
6. Use a Predictive Approach
A fundamental principle in adopting agile in software development is the need to accept the changing application development environments. Using various platforms such as cloud-native frameworks and reactive runtimes helps with this adaptive approach, That said, this type of approach also hinders a developer’s understanding of what is to happen in the next sprint.
A predictive approach centers on the analysis of known risks and the detailed planning of future sprints. An example of this is the accurate prediction of functions and tasks planned for the development process. What determines the success of this early-stage analysis is the ability to change the direction of the ongoing projects with the project management software.
7. Practice Continuous Integration
Before deploying code into production, agile developers employ continuous integration to improve application quality. This entails combining all developers’ working copies to a shared mainline multiple times during the day. This requires the use of automated tools and frameworks such as cloud-native architecture and hybrid cloud workloads.
Credits: Pagerduty.com
Continuous integration permits developers to build and test applications through automation. The intent is to detect unexpected errors and deter them from happening in production. This in turn increases the margin for product success and customer satisfaction.
8. Explore Communities
An amazing agile developer works on their craft by taking on bigger challenges. This involves becoming active participants in the open-source community. This not only helps to improve your abilities as an awesome agile developer but also inspires other developers with an interest in learning agile practices.
The communities that you choose to join vary based on your interests and curiosities. Whether you opt to join a technical writing or coding community, doing so is an effective way of networking, sharing expertise, and helping other amazing agile developers.
Become a Rockstar Agile Developer Today
In the software development arena, being a good developer does not suffice a good agile developer. Using the agile framework and tailoring it to work to your benefit and that of the company is what makes you a rockstar agile developer.
Doing so means that you must take ownership and responsibility for your performance, be it good or bad.
It also means adhering to deadlines and maintaining favorable team dynamics.
Once you follow this guide and bear these tips in mind, you’re well on your way to becoming an A-class agile developer.
FAQs
Here are answers to the questions that aspiring agile developers frequently ask:
How do I improve my coding skills within an agile environment?
Here’s how to improve your coding skills as agile software developers:
- Practice coding regularly
- Contribute to open-source projects
- Participate in code reviews
- Seek feedback from peers
- Continually learn new technologies and best practices
What are the Key Principles of Agile Development?
Agile principles include:
- Prioritizing customer satisfaction
- Delivering working software frequently
- Embracing change
- Collaborating closely with customers and stakeholders
- Maintaining a sustainable pace of work
To apply them, focus on delivering quality to the customer, breaking down tasks into manageable pieces, and adapting to changes quickly.
What Resources or Tools can Assist me as an Agile Developer?
Some popular tools used in agile software development include Jira, Trello, GitHub, and Slack.
How do I Stay Motivated and Productive as an Agile Developer?
Here’s how to stay motivated as an agile software developer:
- Set clear goals for yourself
- Break tasks down into smaller, manageable chunks
- Celebrate small victories
- Seek out challenges that push you out of your comfort zone
- Maintain a healthy work-life balance
What are Ways to Improve as an Agile Developer?
Continually seek out opportunities, reflect on your experiences, both successes, and failures, and use them as opportunities for growth great development culture, and improvement. Moreover, seek feedback from mentors, and always be ready to try new techniques and approaches.
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