XPS-MoSCoW: A Prioritization-Based Hybrid Agile Model of SCRUM and Extreme Programming

1. Introduction

Agile is one of the most widely accepted software methodologies used presently in the industry. Unlike other basic methodologies like Waterfall, Agile relies on an iterative process that produces an improved release at each iteration. Agile provides а comprehensive description of the structure of the team, the task prioritization in each iteration, and the outcomes and retrospectives of each iteration (Kassab et al., 2018). Agile supports creating а regular collaboration with the end-user or the customer and each iterative feedback is stored as user stories and used in the decision making of the next iteration. Although the agile compromises on documentation, customer satisfaction, and functionalities are desirable. The broad overview of agile can be described as the project is split into individual features, each having their tasks (Sattar et al., 2020). The phases of operation are called sprints. А sprint can be an individual subsection of the process on which coding, testing, and deployment can be carried out independently. Each iteration’s deployment phase is called а release and а project can have multiple releases. At the finish of each iteration, the customer gives his feedback on the work done in the release and his feedback is noted in а document called user story. The requirements specified in the user stories and the pending tasks from the sprint backlog are put back into the backlog (The backlog consists of all the tasks that are pending from the current sprint and the remaining tasks from the overall set) (Cochrane et al., 2018) The most significant advantage of Agile is that short term goals pose a higher priority than long term goals. Hence а very detailed and complex overview need not be known at the start of the project and can be developed over time. The consistent and constant intercommunication with the customers, coders and testing department enhances the quality of the product. Agile is most widely used in small scale projects as valued risk is low and the development of smaller tasks in phases is more comfortable to carry out in successive sprints. Larger products require more comprehensive documentation and software requirement specifications (SRS), which is the most prominent shortcoming of the agile model. Agile within itself is sub-categorized into multiple models like SCRUM, XP, Kanban, FDD, etc. Each of these individual models has its shortcomings and advantages. The entire use of the Agile model depends entirely on the situation or project in hand (Lei, Howard, et al., 2017)