Agile and Scrum

Software Allies is constantly improving our Agile processes to create the best possible customer experience and products. We use Scrum in combination with User Stories, Iterations, Test-Driven Development and Continuous Integration.  Our processes keep software on target, reduces time to market, and delivers higher quality software.

User Stories and Tasks

We help to bring the product vision to life by turning your features into user stories that can be estimates and prioritized. A story is visible unit of work that has value for the customer or the system. Each story is given a relative cost in points that can then be used to help the customer understand the technical debt involved to implement. Once the story is defined, the development team can then break down the story into tasks that are required to implement the story.

Iterations

Working together we group, prioritize, and place the stories into tentative iterations. Each iteration is typically very short to help keep focus and avoid scope creep. A typical iteration is between 1 to 4 weeks in length and is implemented by an Agile team.

Test-Drive Development

Testing is not an after thought at Software Allies. We start by writing the test cases first and then implementing the code around those test cases. This insures that each story is implemented correctly and tested.

Continuous Integration

Being Agile means we release working software often, this requires an automated testing system and a short feedback loop. When someone on the team checks in the code, a continuous integration servers pushes these changes out to a testing environment where the features can be seen and used as they are released. Also, a suite of automated tests run to make sure the new changes will not cause any issues in testing and production environments. If there are any failures or issues with with the build, then the team will quickly change focus to resolve the issues with the build.