Comparison of Agile Methods by The Agile PrepCast

This document contains a comparison of the eight most popular Agile methods. For each method we
show how it stacks up against ten criteria in a comparison table.
The goal is to help those who are preparing for their PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Exam
by providing a much needed “quick reference”. Use it as a cheat sheet in your exam preparation.
The eight methods were selected because they currently represent the most popular Agile methods used
by practitioners around the world. Questions on the exam will most likely be focused on this group. And
the ten criteria were selected because they represent the major differences between the methods.
Knowing the differences will help you in answering exam questions. You can find a description and
definition for each method and each criteria starting on page 5.
But this comparison can be used for other purposes as well. For example if you are chartering a new
Agile project and you are not certain which method to use, then you can use the comparison table to get
a high-level overview of the methods and use it as one of your methods selection criteria.

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Methods Comparison
Criteria Scrum XP DSDM Atern FDD ASD LSD Kanban Crystal Family

Scalability A wide range of Software Any technical or Designed and first Designed for Based on Lean Although Kanban Designed to be
software projects of development business used for large, project Manufacturing; is not considered adaptable to
various sizes; can projects driven by environment where complex banking environments that used when project an Agile projects ranging
also be adapted to need for quick a system needs to projects; good for are high-speed, requires the use of development from small with low
non-software delivery; also for be quickly any large, complex high-change, and a specific set of method, it can be criticality to large
projects such as large, complex developed and project with large high-uncertainty; engineering used with any with high criticality.
product/application projects where deployed; teams. also good for practices or when existing processes
development plan driven preferably any organizations that cost and ROI are and projects to
products. methods are project that is a are highly the main help reduce costs
ineffective. good fit with the adaptive. measurements of and increase
DSDM Atern success. efficiency.
Method as outlined
in the Project
Approach
Questionnaire.

Team size Small Teams Small teams Small team: Small to Large Small to Large Not specified; Not specified; Supports Any
Teams Teams Team Size
(Should consist of (Generally 2-10 (Generally 2-10 (Normally used
at least 5 but no team members; team members in a (Generally 4-20 (Depends on with existing team (Emphasis is on
more than 9 team emphasis is on structured and team members project scope) size) highly-skilled and
members) highly-skilled and disciplined depending on experienced team
experienced team environment) complexity and members)
members) length of project)

Iteration length Medium Short Not specified Short Determined by Not specified Short Project Specific
project schedule
(30-day iterations (2-week iterations; (2-week iterations (1-week iterations) (Up to 4-month
and degree of
recommended as never to exceed 3 recommended as iterations for large,
uncertainty
maximum length weeks) best practice) complex projects)
with preference for (4-week iterations
a shorter iterations) for small projects
and 8-week
iterations for
medium to large
projects)

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 Criteria Scrum XP DSDM Atern FDD ASD LSD Kanban Crystal Family

Roles & Specifically defined Specifically defined Specifically defined Specifically defined Not defined Not defined Not specified; Not defined
responsibilities (normally uses
existing
organization and
project roles)

Process centric People Centric People centric Process centric Process centric People centric Process centric Process centric People Centric
vs. people centric
(Process is (Process is
important but important but
secondary) secondary)

Virtual team Somewhat Not Supported Not Supported Somewhat Loosely Supported Not Supported Somewhat Fully Supported
support Supported Supported Supported
(Team must be co- (Can be applied to (Designed to
(not specifically located distributed (Designed for distributed teams (Can be adapted to support distributed
designed for teams.) multiple teams; but becomes more distributed teams teams.)
distributed teams should be challenging during through virtual
but multiple teams adaptable to collaboration Kanban boards
could easily be distributed teams.) phase.) and other Agile
effectively tools.)
distributed)

Risk mitigation High Risk Medium Risk High Risk Medium Risk High Risk Medium Risk Medium Risk High Risk
level Mitigation Mitigation Mitigation Mitigation Mitigation Mitigation Mitigation Mitigation
(Risk is identified (Despite the fact (Risk mitigation is (Follows most (Risk-Driven is one (Follows most (Follows most (Risk mitigation is
and mitigated that risks are inherent in most of basic Agile of the six basic basic Agile basic Agile inherent in just
daily.) decreased by the principles and principles except characteristics and principles except principles except about all of the
Collocation & Pair the roles and for daily each Component for making often considers principles and
Programming, risks responsibilities that collaboration with Cycle Plan is decisions as late estimation as techniques that are
are also increased are basic to this customer.) initiated by as possible, which waste, which may recommended
by the slower method.) analyzing risks.) increases negative increase negative when using this
delivery of risk.) risk.) method.)
features)

Customer Medium Interaction High Interaction High Interaction Low interaction Low interaction Low Interaction Low Interaction High interaction
interaction
(monthly input) (daily input) (daily to weekly (input not (input not (input not (input not (daily to weekly
input) specified) specified) specified) specified) input)

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 Criteria Scrum XP DSDM Atern FDD ASD LSD Kanban Crystal Family

Pros Maximizes Simple; iterative; Highly dependable; Strong modeling Very strong in non- Seeks to change Allows teams to Strong on
personal values provides well- features; provides technical aspects companies from visualize their work communication;
communication communication; defined guidelines detailed guidelines of software the top down; and eliminate well-defined
and informal based on best for the business for multi-team development guidelines for bottlenecks; can guidelines for
knowledge sharing; practices; puts system, concept projects business lead to exponential project teams; well-
breaks project into emphasis on development, and enterprise very improvements in defined technical
manageable design requirements defined operational practices
pieces; progress is efficiency and
made even if quality
requirements are
not stable

Cons Weak on Lacks design Details and white Only addresses Does not provide Allows little change Using JIT delivery Largely theoretical;
measurement documentation; papers available design and guidelines for in requirements; will inevitably lead does not define
practices; weak on highly prescriptive; only to DSDM implementation; individual literature for to delays at some guidelines for the
business system, lacks measurement Consortium requires highly- development applying in a point when JIT business
technical, and processes; does members; may experienced projects; does not software turns in to "Not In enterprise
concept not address tend towards experts for address technical environment is Time"; doesn't
development deployment bureaucracy modeling aspects; weak on limited; poorly- capture or show
practices metrics defined technical dependent tasks
and measurement very well; hard to
practices see overall project
status

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Methods Description
Method Description
Scrum Scrum is an iterative and incremental agile software development framework for
managing software projects and product or application development. Its focus is on "a
flexible, holistic product development strategy where a development team works as a
unit to reach a common goal" as opposed to a "traditional, sequential approach".
Scrum enables the creation of self-organizing teams by encouraging co-location of all
team members, and verbal communication between all team members and disciplines
in the project. A key principle of Scrum is its recognition that during a project the
customers can change their minds about what they want and need (often called
requirements churn), and that unpredicted challenges cannot be easily addressed in a
traditional predictive or planned manner. As such, Scrum adopts an empirical approach
- accepting that the problem cannot be fully understood or defined, focusing instead on
maximizing the team's ability to deliver quickly and respond to emerging requirements.

XP Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development methodology which is intended

to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements.
As a type of agile software development, it advocates frequent "releases" in short
development cycles, which is intended to improve productivity and introduce
checkpoints where new customer requirements can be adopted. Other elements of
Extreme Programming include: programming in pairs or doing extensive code review,
unit testing of all code, avoiding programming of features until they are actually
needed, a flat management structure, simplicity and clarity in code, expecting changes
in the customer's requirements as time passes and the problem is better understood,
and frequent communication with the customer and among programmers. The
methodology takes its name from the idea that the beneficial elements of traditional
software engineering practices are taken to "extreme" levels

DSDM Atern Dynamic systems development method (DSDM) is an agile project delivery framework,
primarily used as a software development method. First released in 1994, DSDM
originally sought to provide some discipline to the rapid application development (RAD)
method. In 2007 DSDM became a generic approach to project management and
solution delivery. DSDM is an iterative and incremental approach that embraces
principles of Agile development, including continuous user/customer involvement.
DSDM fixes cost, quality and time at the outset and uses the MoSCoW prioritization of
scope into musts, shoulds, coulds and won't haves to adjust the project deliverable to
meet the stated time constraint. DSDM is one of a number of Agile methods for
developing software and non-IT solutions, and it forms a part of the Agile Alliance.

FDD Feature-driven development (FDD) is an iterative and incremental software

development process. It is one of a number of Agile methods for developing software
and forms part of the Agile Alliance. FDD blends a number of industry-recognized best
practices into a cohesive whole. These practices are all driven from a client-valued
functionality (feature) perspective. Its main purpose is to deliver tangible, working
software repeatedly in a timely manner.

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Method Description
ASD Adaptive Software Development (ASD) is a software development process that grew
out of rapid application development work by Jim Highsmith and Sam Bayer. It
embodies the principle that continuous adaptation of the process to the work at hand is
the normal state of affairs. Adaptive Software Development replaces the traditional
waterfall cycle with a repeating series of speculate, collaborate, and learn cycles. This
dynamic cycle provides for continuous learning and adaptation to the emergent state of
the project. The characteristics of an ASD life cycle are that it is mission focused,
feature based, iterative, timeboxed, risk driven, and change tolerant.

LSD Lean software development - is a movement dedicated to reducing errors and wasted
time while maximizing education and efficiency. Its principles were originally used in IT
and manufacturing, and it has since been adopted by the programming community.
The guiding philosophy of lean development is a primary commitment to the value
being created for the end user while intelligently conserving resources. It has large
support among the Agile development community, which it has much in common with.

Kanban Kanban (かんばん(看板) (literally signboard or billboard) is a scheduling system for

lean and just-in-time (JIT) production. Kanban is a system to control the logistical chain
from a production point of view, and is not an inventory control system. Kanban was
developed by Taiichi Ohno, at Toyota, to find a system to improve and maintain a high
level of production. Kanban is one method through which JIT is achieved. Kanban
became an effective tool in support of running a production system as a whole, and it
proved to be an excellent way for promoting improvement. Problem areas were
highlighted by reducing the number of kanban in circulation.

Crystal family Crystal Methods - is a collection of Agile software development approaches, focuses
primarily on people and the interaction among them while they work on a software
development project. There is also a focus on business-criticality and business-priority
of the system under development. Unlike traditional development methods, Crystal
doesn’t fix the tools and techniques of development, but keeps people and processes
at the core of the development process. However, it is not only the people or the
processes that are important, rather the interaction between the two that is most
important.

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Criteria Definition and Description
Criteria Definition / Description
Scalability This is the degree to which this Agile method can be used to support different
types of product development and, different types of projects, or different types
of industries.
Team size This is the ideal number of members on a development team required for
maximum effectiveness of this Agile method.
Iteration length This is the recommended length of time (iteration) to release a product
increment to the customer for this Agile method.
Roles & This is the degree to which specific roles & responsibilities are defined for this
responsibilities Agile method. (Specifically Defined/Somewhat Defined/Loosely Defined/Not
Defined)
Process centric vs. This refers to whether or not this Agile method is more process centric, more
people centric people centric, or a combination of both.
Virtual team support This is the degree to which this Agile method supports virtual team
communication and coordination. (Fully Supported/Somewhat
Supported/Loosely Supported/Not Supported)
Risk mitigation level This is the level of Organic Risk Mitigation inherent on a project simply by
implementing this Agile method. (High Risk Mitigation/Medium Risk
Mitigation/Low Risk Mitigation)
Customer interaction This is the level of customer interaction (High Interaction/Medium
Interaction/Low Interaction) and the recommended frequency of customer
interaction (Daily/Weekly/Monthly) required for maximum effectiveness of this
Agile method.
Pros This is the most appealing aspects of this Agile method. Organizations can
use this information to determine those Agile methods that should be
implemented on their specific projects..
Cons This is the least appealing aspects of this Agile method. Organizations can
use this information to determine those Agile methods that should not be
implemented on their specific projects..

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Sources
Comparison Table
 A Survey of Agile Methodologies, Mkandla and Dwolatzky, The Transactions of the SA Institute of
Electrical Engineers, December, 2004
 OSP International LLC - The Agile Prepcast - www.agileprepcast.com
 http://www.boost.co.nz/blog/development/scrum-and-kanban-a-developers-perspective/
Methods Description
 http://blog.airbrake.io/internet/lean-forward-how-lean-software-development-is-shaping-our-
virtual-world/
 http://codebetter.com/darrellnorton/2005/02/02/lean-software-development-overview/
 http://scrumstudy.com/blog/?p=223
 http://www.wikipedia.org

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