Role of documentation and software architecture in Cubix

Cubix – An Agile Company

Cubix believes in delivering quality products and on-time software development to their Customers. This is what satisfies us the most as a software development team and is also the reason for our customers’ happiness. Every successful project we deliver builds trust, leading to more projects from our clients. We recognize the importance of software in almost every industry, whether it’s medical, aerospace, finance, automobiles, hospitality, or others. We believe the key ingredient to successful software development in today’s evolving landscape is following Agile methodology. Similarly, the development teams’ commitment for continuous improvement is what makes an organization successful.

Cubix not only follows Rapid Agile App Development process in every project to best fit in the system but also practices as an agile business itself as well where we have the ability to quickly adapt to market changes. Being an Agile company gives us following reasons to succeed:

First-Mover Advantage

Probably the biggest advantage of taking an agile approach is that you can have first-mover advantage over your competitors. While they’re busy planning and perfecting, you’re out there making sales.

Motivates The Team

Working at that speed, and iterating quickly is incredibly exciting and motivating for all of your employees. The Progress Principle is important for motivation, and working on the same project for months with nothing tangible to show for it can be quite demotivating.

Involves Your Customers

Your customers get a constant sense that your company is growing because you keep releasing new features. It also allows you to adjust to customers’ demands, keeping them happy and with you longer.

Within different circumstances, we are always looking for evolution in the latest methodologies of software development and software engineering techniques. For us ‘Agile’ is not just a process, it is a Mindset that we follow.

Documentation in Agile development

A good software project begins with excellent communication among all team members with simple, clean and efficient documentation, which is important to project success. Many companies considers ‘Documentation’ as a low priority element or a backlog item even tough working within the agile framework of software development. In Cubix, it is different because we emphasize on the quality and believe that a good software project must have an up-to date and meaningful documentation. Using agile methods, many prefer working software and minus the comprehensive documentation. The explanations for this phrase appearing in the Agile Manifesto are several, but for us, the most salient is that if we have an extensive documentation, it often creates an illusion that we do not need to talk or have discussion with the client to understand him better, and rather the provided document will apparently cover this function.

However, this thinking is based on precarious fact: it is assumed that whoever writes the documentation really understands the business, and the responsible person (or committee) was able to clearly demonstrate all the features in the system. Also it is believed that these ‘Writers’ will interpret the text well, do not forget potentially important details and that this document will always be updated as the changes happen.

Misunderstanding Agile Practices and Software Architecture

The principles behind agile practices have not yet been fully understood by many of those involved in software development, and even today it is quite common for agile practices to be adopted without criteria, creating an alternative and inefficient software process. In addition, there are much misunderstanding and myths about software architecture, documentations and their correlation to agility.

To address this problem, Cubix Development Team has developed its own way of working with agile software development methods, where documentation are not considered as a backlog. We involve the entire project team in the systems architecture documentation processes displaying the importance of a simple but robust documentation model and breaking paradigms. This allows the developers to be a part of decision making process along with software architecture design and documentation model process which also helps us in future projects as well.

The Agile manifesto and documentation

The adoption of agile software development practices initiated after the Agile Manifesto published in 2001, after which increased the number of “agile projects” rapidly. Today, in most companies there are numerous self-proclaimed agile projects. It is as if any project with little documentation and some related practices were raised to the official level of “agile design” and thus ended quickly, cheaply and well.

However, those who have some experience knows how to complete these projects, usually in the worst possible way. The main problem in cases of failure is the lack of understanding of how the Agile Manifesto principles shape common agile development practices. This lack of knowledge creates the illusion that simply adopting or removing certain practices can elevate a project to agile status. However, true agility goes beyond just following specific practices and requires a deeper understanding of the principles behind them.

In this situation, one of the main practices eligible for removal by those who do not understand the essence of agility is to decrease or in more extreme cases is to end the documentation. Since a lot of people associate documentation with bureaucracy and lack of agility.

In practice, the Agile Manifesto phrase means that we avoid wasting time on documentation that will not be read or that will become obsolete swiftly. Instead, we prefer the software itself to be its documentation, by:

Automated Unit Tests

Code that checks a method / function / class for a given controlled scenario with its expected result. This is documentation for the developers that who will work on the codes in the future.

Automated Acceptance Tests

Code that simulates what the system user will do and its behavior using a feature. This is documentation is for the fact when the team changes what a particular code does.

Clean Code

Actively practicing to make the code clear and consistent so that the next developer that works on it does not have to spend time uncovering or understanding what it does. This is a massive umbrella of good practice in day-to-day development.

How to organize software documentation at the end of each iteration and how to reconcile agility and software architecture?

The most common method of making sure to deliver mandatory documentation is to add a step to our ‘Ready Criterion’ so that the entire team knows clearly that every item developed must be documented and also that any bottlenecks in this step be explicit to all.

Misconceptions About Software Architecture in Agile

Many in agile teams think that software architecture is a bureaucratic and agility does not provide room for documentation. In agile projects, documentation is actually reduced but if the architecture is left out? Quite the opposite.

The Importance of Software Architecture in Agile Projects

In an agile process, software architecture is a paramount to any project. The idea that software architecture and its documentation have no place in agile methods has been widespread. However, it is possible to reconcile both approaches. This can be done by considering the architectural purpose promoted by system disciplines and the concerns related to software processes in agile methods.

It is important to understand that application document especially the software architecture document is an object of extreme importance to software development for multiple reasons. Among them are the formal definition of the system architecture and to demonstrate basic understanding to all team members. Generally the software architecture document describes the architecture of the system as a whole which refers to the constraints, organization, standards, and responsibilities of modules and components.

The Role of Software Architecture Documentation

Software architecture and documentation are matters that go in hand or should be related as the main reason for the success of a system is because of its architecture. Attributes such as cohesion, coupling, and modularity are addressed at the architectural level. These architectural decisions play a crucial role in shaping the system. Therefore, they should be documented to propagate knowledge among everyone involved and concerned about the system. Thus, a project executing agile to achieve the high technical quality cannot give up the documentation.

Although it is a common thought of having a little or no documentation in agile projects. This type of thinking is inaccurate and to have solution to this situation, the next para will explain how to reconcile software architecture and to keep the project well documented without giving up of agility.

What does Agility manifesto means in software development?

Agility in software development represents a set of ideas and practices. These practices have long been influenced by several key members of the development community. These ideas began to evolve from the Agile Manifesto. Launched in 2001, the manifesto introduced a series of principles aimed at simplifying and changing the way software projects were approached.

Main Points of the Agile Manifesto

The main points raised by the agile manifesto were:

• Individuals and interaction between them rather than processes and tools.
• Software in operation rather than comprehensive documentation.
• Collaboration with the client rather than negotiating contracts.
• Respond to changes rather than following a plan.

Within the Agile manifesto points there are a number of principles that provide guidelines to the agile methods as a whole. However, the manifesto itself acknowledges that there is no absolute certainty in these principles. It states, “we are discovering better ways to develop software by doing it ourselves and helping others to do it.” This means that good practices for software development can arise at any time. Likewise, these practices can be replaced or supplemented by even better ones. Agile principles aims to provide a series of values on which effective software development practices are based.

Clarifying the Agile Manifesto: Balancing Working Software and Documentation

The considerations raised by the agile manifesto describes what is most valuable in software development over other ideas. It also considers audacity in formal processes. Ample documentation is not considered worthless, as the manifesto does not suggest. It makes sense that working software holds more value than comprehensive documentation. After all, what’s the point of having detailed documentation if the software doesn’t work? However, many people misinterpret the Agile Manifesto’s principles. They believe it means having functional software without any documentation.

Agile methods do not eliminate all documentation. The software architecture document is the main document in a software project and should never be removed from the project artifacts.

Regardless of the process used in software design, architecture will always be present. It may exist either accidentally, as a result of implementation decisions, or intentionally, when there is a focus on its design and maintenance.

Synthesizing the reconciliation of software architecture and agility, we conclude that teams cannot view architecture as a mere software process. It should not involve creating artifacts and documents without purpose or utility. It must respect the process. Thus, in agile methods architecture must be evolutionary as the process dictates. The architecture should reflect the current design and must accommodate changes, as agile methods imply accepting changes at any time. The most important point is understanding that all software has an architecture, whether intentional or not. Ideally, however, the architecture should be intentional.

Outcome

Good agile coaches explains “doing agile” vs “being agile.” In agile, there are tools like daily stand-up meetings and retrospectives at the end of a sprint. However, it’s important to remember that these are just tools. The real change comes within the company culture. Is the company still a command-and-control type of environment? Agile is about quickly adapting to change, and not being afraid to fail. As a leader, you need to create an environment where you not only accept failure but actively encourage it.

Agile is more about how your team approaches problems, not the tools used to solve them. Experience challenging your team to limit the number of design objects and embrace discussion over documentation. You’ll save time. You’ll save your budget. And best of all, your team can start building products faster, stronger, with more ease.

At Cubix, our team’s goal is always to create the best product possible. Every participant engages and works together to solve the same problems.

Learn more about our Agile Methodology.