Question

I’m a member of a software development team, working on a small project.
We think that we can release a beta quality product after 2 or 3 month of continuos work.

Since this is our first teamwork, I decided to ask, which software development methodology would you suggest for a small project with small number of developers (less than 10)?

Answer 1

There are two approaches to software development:

1. Write down what you are going to do, do it, then agree that you have done it.
2. Start developing stuff, agree that what you have done is good, repeat until finished.

Both have their adherents and both pop up repeatedly under a variety of names. Each new generation of software developers (ie about every 2 years, this is a fast changing industry and software developers have the lifespan of a mayfly) rejects the previous generation’s approach, re-discovers the approach used by the generation before last, renames it something funky and declares it to be the ONE TRUE WAY.

The choice between the approaches ought to depend on the culture of (a) the customer organisation and (b) to a lesser extent, the culture of the supplier organisation (ie your software developer team).

So, if you work for a buttoned-down conservative enterprise approach 1 is indicated. If you look down and see that you are wearing surf shorts and came to work this morning on your skateboard, go with approach 2.

And, in case you have read this far, the most serious bit is the paragraph before the one before this final one, ie the one starting ‘The choice …’ This is a cultural / organisational issue rather than a technical one. Both approaches have been used on many many successful projects, neither has a monopoly on unsuccesful projects.