Hi all
Two terms I keep coming across, and many jobs I apply for ask for experience with ‘agile’ and ‘scrum’ environments.
In particular, my latest interview requires:
Experience of working in a range of Agile environments is essential…
What do they mean? And what does this sort of process involve?
Thanks for your views,
Barry
They are project management methodologies. The alternative is usually described as a waterfall approach - probably the more traditional method. I’ve only worked in the latter, so can’t tell you a lot about them.
This is what I mean, in english, what does this involve? I had the impression agile simply means sitting down as a group with your team and discussions about the work you’re all doing, is that right?
Barry
If you simply Google the term “Agile Development” you will run into many resources that will explain it to you quite well.
As far as SitePoint resources, here’s a few:
Learnable Introduction: https://learnable.com/courses/introduction-to-agile-scrum-2838?_ga=1.262455940.962704547.1427890316
And an article about Agile: http://www.sitepoint.com/love-agile/
But I’d encourage you to also just Google it and read some Wikipedia or other articles about “What is Agile Development”.
Learning to do a little bit of research will take you a long way as a developer - and to be honest, Googling a question like this - basically a definition question - will probably get you results faster than waiting for forums answers.
A project management methodology is just a way of organising one or more projects. As I said, I’ve not worked with Agile/SCRUM, but a traditional waterfall approach would run as follows:
I know Agile/SCRUM goes more towards what they call short “sprints” (usually around 2 week in duration) where a defined set of deliverables is produced, then rinse and repeat. It sounds more iterative than the traditional sequential approach. As for meetings with the team, that happens with all approaches and is really down to what the project manager needs to deliver their project.
Thanks for the feedback Jeff. I’ve googled this many times, though everything has always been written in way that I find slightly complicated to understand due to some terminology that is used, though thanks for the links I’ll give a another look. And what I’ve found, different companies have a different meanings and processes regarding agile/scrum, hence me posting here to get a basic/better understanding.
Perfect Chris, thanks!
This is kind of what I was looking for, makes a bit more sense now with the process listed like this.
Funny enough, I’ve done this sort of thing in the past, it’s just when you’re not familiar with the process, you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. My main reason behind this thread is so I can understand what the process is and how I’ve used it in the past and talk about this in front of clients.
I think I have a good understanding now, some good examples here, and links I’ll be reading through.
Thanks again,
Barry 
Sorry - your question makes it appear as though you don’t know what agile development is - which is an easy question to resolve using the Internet 
As for how various companies use it - you’re definitely right with this:
And what I’ve found, different companies have a different meanings and processes regarding agile/scrum
When they ask for experience in a range of such environments, they probably just want you to be familiar with agile/scrum - and not just from one company’s implementation of it. Unfortunately that’s a barrier if you’ve never really been involved with either - but if you can develop an understanding of the process, it might be forgiven.
Remember too that often, even “hard requirements” for a position can be bent. If they want 5 years experience developing in PHP, and you have 3, you might still be a good candidate if the rest of your resume matches what they want. Same with this. I wouldn’t completely be turned off by them. Sometimes these requirements really are requirements; other times they’re a wish list, more like; still other times they’re set by people not even involved with the development who don’t know what they’re doing.
I think @chrisofarabia nails it as a simple explanation when he says that the way it differs from the traditional is the focus on shorter sprints with deliverables - instead of a project from conception to completion, you may have several week “sprints” with particular deliverables, milestones, whatever. Something tangible. Sometimes even releases or updates, depends on the situation.
Thanks for the further information Jeff, appreciated.
Just got back from interview, after all that ha, the only real question I got asked was about how I do my testing… I mentioned using Adobe Edge with multiple devices, talking with the team and using ticketing systems to track our work.
Anyhow, thanks again, and know doubt will come in useful, don’t know if I have the job yet, have to wait and see 
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