4th February 2018

Agile Project Management & Development is how we do everything at Synapse. It’s a way of working that’s very different to traditional Waterfall Project Management, enabling us to be a more adaptive, efficient development team.

Agile Development is generally broken up into eight stages: 

• Conception
• Initiation
• Analysis
• Design
• Construction
• Testing
• Implementation
• Maintenance

When following a Waterfall methodology, these stages would be followed sequentially. Each leads into the next, so only when one stage is fully complete is the next begun. Any unplanned changes would send the entire project back to the first stage. This type of project management is best for when there is no time pressure, and a fully completed scope of what the project requirements are, with no expectations for this to change.

Agile does things slightly differently. When using this methodology, the project is broken up into modules. These modules are developed incrementally, still following the stages of project management, but allowing for regular feedback and improvements that wouldn’t be possible with Waterfall.

A modular approach also allows for a product to be launched at a much shorter lead time, as the project can be launched with the basic functionalities, to be updated when others are completed.

The biggest advantage of an Agile project is that it allows for new ideas to be introduced at any stage. In industries where standards change quickly, and projects may need to incorporate scope changes that weren’t anticipated at conception, this is a vital requirement.

We’ve been in the technology industry since 2004, and have used both Agile and Waterfall methodology in our projects. We’ve found that with Agile we’ve had a faster, more successful project that can adapt to the changing nature of our industry. It’s for this reason that we recommend Agile to all of our clients and why we’re well known for rapid delivery and implementation.