Information System Development Life Cycle Models - High Level Models and Methodologies for Information Systems - page 30

deal of emphasis on minute planning and modeling at the start of the project,
shifting that focus to the fluid process of system construction (Agarwal et al. 2000 ).

Another prominent issue is that in faster development cycles, extensive quality
testing will become less prioritized, re

ecting in poorer quality overall, which
means that effective RAD methodologies should reserve space for skilled indi-
viduals in quality control roles (Gottesdiener 1995 ). It is also possible that managers
and leader have unrealistic expectations regarding the timeboxes, creating con ict

with developing teams (Agarwal et al. 2000 ).
Thus, it is possible to assert that in order to be optimized, RAD life cycles must
necessarily be balanced and be open to moderating agents.

2.7 Agile Life Cycle Model

With the popularization of waterfall-like SDLC models, an alternative approach has
been developing that attempts to counter their rigidness and lack of flexibility. We

have seen such examples in the incremental and RAD models. In 2001, the man-
ifesto for agile software development was presented by 17 software developers, in a
new attempt to bring together the best traits of other agile-like models into one
framework. Since then, agile methods of development have become increasingly
popular (Bhalerao et al. 2009 ).
There are 12 principles that guide agile development models, which were out-
lined in the Agile manifesto. These principles can be summed up as follows (Beck
et al. 2001 ):

Customer satisfaction is the highest priority;

￿

Change in requirements is welcomed, no longer an obstacle;

￿

Software is delivered regularly in consecutive releases;

￿

Motivated individuals are key to successful projects;

￿

Face-to-face conversation is paramount to successful collaboration;

￿

Working software is the measure of the project ' s progress;

￿

Sustainable development should be encouraged;

￿

Emphasis on technical and design quality;

￿

Simplicity should be favored;

￿

Self-organizing teams are the best form of project development;

￿

There should be regular discussions on team improvement.

￿

There are numerous subvariations of the Agile model that follow these princi-
ples, with some examples being the scrum and XP models. However, even con-
sidering the variation in timescales or stage description, it is possible to determine
the general path that an agile development process will take, outlined in four steps.
The

first step is project selection and approval. During this stage, a team con-
sisting of developers, managers, and customers establishes the scope, purpose, and
requirements of

the product. There is also a thorough analysis of different