Reignite has taken the best from RAD and the more recent Agile project methodology to create its own 5 Step Agile Project Methodology. As with all Agile Methodologies, the key to success is iteration, a highly visible relationship with the client and flexible, experienced developers who can look at a project in its entirety.
Step 1: Workshop the requirements
To begin a project, Reignite will first conduct a series of workshops with business domain experts, stakeholders, internal IT staff and end users. The deliverable from the first workshop is to get enough information for Reignite to iterate to Step 2 and create an initial mock up of the required solution.
Step 2: Mock up the solution
Reignite will then mock up a prototype of your application based on our initial understanding of your requirements. At this stage Reignite will create a design and consider the high level Usability Features including page layout, navigation and the functioning of major components within the application.
Following the agile approach, Steps 1 & 2 are then iterated until a clear understanding of your application can be prototyped. This typically could take another 2 to 3 workshops. When the stakeholders agree that the prototype is getting close it is time to move onto Step 3.
Step 3: Development
Reignite’s developers take the prototype and implemented it as a fully functioning application. Depending on the size of the project this phase will be broken up into a series of Sprints. It is anticipated that there will be modifications to the requirements as the client has full access to the application being developed. Reignite’s Agile approach gives us the ability to share the application during development with the client and handle change without significant extra costs and usually within the initial agreed development timeframe.
Step 4: Quality Assurance
Continuous Integration (CI) supports many of the development phases of Reignite’s Agile methodology. As code is completed daily by a developer it is contributed to the baseline of the application and automated processes test the new code, check it for adherence to standards and deploy it to a test server. The client and the test team always have access to the test server and thus they have full access to the application as it is developed. This allows for Step 3, Development and Step 4 Quality Assurance to iterate and operate in parallel.
Step 5: Deployment
Deployments to test servers and production servers are also handled by the CI process. CI is particularly helpful with deployment when the various environments are complex with database clusters, load balancing clusters, failover strategies and multiple disaster recovery sites. The Reignite CI process automates deployments and thus dramatically reduces the complexity of deployments reducing costs, reducing human error and speeding up the entire process.
