Background of Agile Development
Technology is becoming the center of virtually all areas in our lives. Companies have jumped on the bandwagon and are now offering different products that enhance the use of technology.
Agile consulting companies are among those that have positioned themselves to take advantage of the gap in the market. Agile development has been defined as the collective and gradual software development approaches. The common agile methodologies are Scrum, Lean Development, and Extreme Programming among others.
Different agile methodologies take their own unique and specific approach. However, they all have a shared common vision. Their core value is equally shared vide Agile Manifesto. The principal objective of all agile methodologies is to empower people such that they can collaborate and be able to make decisions more efficiently.
How to Evaluate the Top Agile Consulting Companies
Before you settle on an Agile consulting company, the following should be considered:
Are They Adaptive or Dogmatic?
When consulting companies are dogmatic, they have a set of practices which they live by and believe in. They will prefer if you can adopt some of these practices. Alternatively, any coding they do will hugely be borrowed from their traditions.
On the other hand, Agile Consulting providers are said to be adaptive when they can borrow from their best practices and tailor the solutions to meet the software requirements of your company. Agile consultancies that are adaptive have been found to be the best since they are flexible enough.
Carefully evaluate your requirements and pick the best although a lot of companies prefer adaptive, agile consultancies.
Let us use a practical example of pair programming. An adaptive consultant will likely be flexible regarding the time his team will spend pairing. A dogmatic company, on the other hand, will stick to the pair programming and treat it as default.
Is the Working Arrangement Remote or Colocated?
Agile consultancy companies will either share the location with the team from your company or work outside.
How is this a consideration? When agile consultancies share space with the team from your office, they can emulate the working hours of your organization, the organization’s culture, and work processes. With the agile consultant joining your office, they are adaptive. Alternatively, your team can join them at their office and collocate. In this scenario, they are dogmatic. It works both ways.
The agile consultancies can also work remote where individual team members work from either their homes or different office locations.
It is preferred that you choose an agile consultant who will colocate at either office. Colocation breeds collaboration which is good for your staff to get experience. This experience is particularly ideal if the team is new in their professions or they have switched careers, and they need an experienced hand in the industry.
However, if you are on a cost-cutting spree, then working remote is ideal. By working remote, you can do away with costs of flights, accommodation, and other direct costs.
