Agile
Definition
Agile is a software development methodology that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and rapid iteration, enabling teams to adapt to changing
Use Cases
- Spotify: Rapidly delivering and iterating on consumer-facing music streaming features — Organized engineering into small, cross-functional teams (often described publicly as squads/tribes) that plan work in short cycles, use frequent releases, and incorporate continuous user feedback to adjust priorities. (Faster iteration on product features and the ability to respond quickly to user needs and market changes.)
- ING: Improving speed and quality of digital banking product delivery — Adopted Agile ways of working at scale by forming cross-functional teams, using iterative planning and delivery, and emphasizing continuous improvement and customer feedback loops across product areas. (Shorter time-to-market for digital changes and improved alignment between business and technology teams.)
- Microsoft: Shipping frequent updates to large software products and cloud services — Uses iterative development practices with cross-functional collaboration, automated testing, and regular release cadences to deliver incremental improvements and respond to feedback. (More frequent releases and faster incorporation of customer feedback into product improvements.)
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between Agile and DevOps?
- Agile focuses on how teams plan and build software in small, frequent increments with regular feedback. DevOps focuses on how teams deliver and operate that software reliably (automation, CI/CD, monitoring, infrastructure practices). They work well together: Agile helps you build the right thing, and DevOps helps you ship and run it smoothly.
- When should I use Agile?
- Use Agile when requirements may change, you can deliver work in small increments, and you benefit from frequent stakeholder or customer feedback. It’s especially useful for new products, customer-facing apps, and cloud projects where you can release often. It may be less effective for work that is highly fixed-scope with limited ability to iterate (for example, some tightly regulated or hardware-dependent deliverables), unless you can still break delivery into small validated steps.
- How much does Agile cost?
- Agile itself has no licensing cost—it’s a way of working. Costs usually come from people and tools: training/coaching, time spent in planning and reviews, and software for work tracking and collaboration (e.g., Jira, Azure Boards, GitHub/GitLab). Cloud costs are indirect: Agile often encourages frequent builds/tests and CI/CD pipelines, which can increase or optimize compute usage depending on how you run them.
Category: software
Difficulty: basic
Related Terms
See Also