When everything is changing rapidly on a project, and clients demand an overview of the results at the earliest phases, using a lean or agile-driven approach might be your choice.
Agile Software Development For me, Agile resembles a living entity. It requires a specific iterative approach that allows
more autonomy in the development workflows and relies on efficient cooperation within a team. It may encompass Scrum, Kanban, or other ad hoc adaptations as per an organization's philosophy.
Unlike Waterfall, an agile software development life cycle demands self-organization from each team member. Once formed, team members should remain the same throughout a project. Their learning curve is steep, and project documentation and scope are flexible and may change continuously.
Agile-driven software development teams would focus on customers' involvement and decision-making from the very first iteration that normally takes one or two weeks. After each iteration, a customer gets some functionality and can perform user acceptance testing.
Lean for Software Projects The lean methodology originates from lean manufacturing, and it's all about using resources wisely. My experience shows that the concept of resource-wise development focuses on more learning, less resource waste, postponed decision-making, and expedited delivery.
Lean software development teams strive to cut out everything that doesn't add value to a project, like unnecessary meetings, documentation, or inefficient multitasking.
According to HBR, this approach might be game-changing for small and mid-size organizations seeking alternatives for growth. Lean management allows business owners to launch customer-centric products quickly and make the launch cheaper and less risky than traditional business development approaches.
Lean may be a perfect choice if you need to modernize or upgrade processes within your organization. On the other hand, Agile may help you efficiently manage teams of up to a dozen employees.