What is “iterative” software development?
The concept of building enterprise software (or anything complex) iteratively is about delivering usable solutions early and often. Rather than locking a team, no matter how skilled, in a room for months or even years until they have created a complete, “big bang” solution, delivery teams should be releasing new builds of the software in days or weeks, not months or years. And these builds are not unstable hacked-together piles of source code or prototypes that may (or may not) demonstrate value but be mostly thrown away later. These are stable, usable, completed software products, which may be transitioned into production for use by actual system users, if called for by the business. This is the value of a truly iterative process. The other key best practice necessary to take full advantage of an iterative approach to software development is acknowledging that an iteration means a full roundtrip through the software development lifecycle. A common mistake with RUP, for example, is to
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