Agile Software Development is a relatively new approach to old software development methods, particularly the Waterfall development method. Subsequent to the term being coined in 2001, the Agile Manifesto was formed to act as the standards to be followed. The manifesto is made up of a group of methodologies which are “based on iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing and cross-functional teams.”

Highlights of the Agile methodology include, dissecting the tasks into smaller components which require minimal planning. These are called Iterations and can last up to four weeks. Every Iteration runs through the full software development lifecycle and aims to deliver a release with minimum bugs. The methodology also promotes face-to-face communication over written documents. If the team is not located in the same room as is normally the case, videoconferencing is the preferred method for communication.

Through frequent inspection, adaptation, promoting teamwork, self-organization, accountability, rapid delivery of high-quality software, and aligning development with customer needs and company goals Agile methodology is delivers a disciplined project management process.

There are many Agile tools which can help development teams. Some of them are:

1. JIRA Studio as a hosted development suite
2. JIRA + GreenHopper for agile project management
3. Confluence for agile collaboration
4. FishEye for code analysis
5. Bamboo for continuous integration
6. Clover for code coverage
7. Crucible for code reviews
8. Pyxis – creators of GreenHopper