1.1.3 Early and Frequent Feedback

Question 1

Why do Agile projects have short iterations?

Answer 1

Agile projects have short iterations enabling the project team to receive early and continuous feedback on product quality throughout the development lifecycle. One way to provide rapid feedback is by continuous integration (see Section 1.2.4).

Question 2

What are the advantages of Agile teams using early & frequent feedback?

Answer 2

Agile teams can incorporate most new changes into the product development process. Early and frequent feedback helps the team focus on the features with the highest business value, or associated risk, and these are delivered to the customer first. It also helps manage the team better since the capability of the team is transparent to everyone. For example, how much work can we do in a sprint or iteration? What could help us go faster? What is preventing us from doing so?

Question 3

The benefits of early and frequent feedback include:

Answer 3

The benefits of early and frequent feedback include:
 Avoiding requirements misunderstandings, which may not have been detected until later in the
development cycle when they are more expensive to fix.
 Clarifying customer feature requests, making them available for customer use early. This way,
the product better reflects what the customer wants.
 Discovering (via continuous integration), isolating, and resolving quality problems early.
 Providing information to the Agile team regarding its productivity and ability to deliver.
 Promoting consistent project momentum.