“Agile” describes an approach to software development that substitutes rapid, iterative sprints for the more traditional “waterfall” approach, which moves sequentially through several distinct phases—requirements, analysis, design, coding, testing, and operations. A key problem with the waterfall method is that if the requirements are not well understood in the beginning, the resulting product might not meet the intended user’s needs. The method is not well suited to the changing environments that characterize today’s world. Agile concepts are no longer confined to software development.
