Agile process

For any old-time conventional software developer, “Agile” is a term which never finds a place in their dictionary of software development. However, it was quite shocking to know that the meeting in 2001 would result in a tremendous change in software development around the word “agile”. Software Development, owing to the robustness that it has to provide, could never be thought of being developed in an ‘agile’ fashion. This is something that never enters into the mind of software developers and the teams.

But, yes, this happened, and we have seen the benefits in our company.

In case, you are new to Web Development and especially ‘Agile web development’ here are some basics, before we move on to explaining how we do it. The definition as mentioned in the Agile Alliance is “Agile web Development or Agile software development is an umbrella term for a set of methods and practices based on the values and principles expressed in the Agile Manifesto.

We at Macronimous were swift to figure out the key advantages of Agile web Development and began to implement the same.

To begin with, our Agile Development Team follows the 12 principles as mentioned in the Agile Manifesto. The outworking of the 12 Agile principles by the Agile Team in Macronimous are as follows:

1. Customer Satisfaction: Customers are important for us and there is nothing that gets a higher priority than Customer Satisfaction. We believe and have experienced that continuous delivery of software keeps our customers highly satisfied. This does not begin after months of Sign Up, but asap, as short as a week and sometimes even lesser than that.

2. Software Modification: The pace at which the changes occur in the software industry is mind-boggling, which is not a reality for this industry alone. Hence, our customers from different industries have swiftly changing specifications and end up requesting changes in the software that we tailor-make. The agile development gives the customer a welcome note at the mention of requirement changes, even during later stages of development, unlike the traditional methodology. The highlight is the customer gets a software which is at par with their industry need.

3. Continuous Delivery: We have observed through the years that most businesses are an amalgamation of different processes. If there is a way to develop a couple of processes and then release it to the customer, they get to see the foretaste of what the entire software will look like. The advantage is an immediate and quick feedback. Not only this, this would give a method for tracking the progress.

4. Continuous Client Involvement: Collaboration of client and developers in a continuous manner is very much in the spirit of Agile. The immediate response to such a thought from the developers are, “they(the clients) are a disruption”. Quite not so! In fact, the reverse is true. The absence of continuous involvement from the client is quite disruptive as we have seen over the years that once the entire application is developed, the client comes in and expresses their expectation as a little different. No amounts of the requirements document and sign-ups have quite fixed this gap. This can be completely excluded by way of having a constant feedback through client involvement in the project continuously.

5. Optimized Use of Resources: Who builds the software matters the most. Who is your architect? Who is your coder? How well is the project implemented? These are all the questions that need a serious consideration. Not always experienced people are effective people. One of the blunders that we have observed in the outsource business is companies approaching us for resources having ‘n’ years of experience. Though we try to convey that we have a more efficient person with less than ‘n’ years of experience, too often they turn a deaf ear, and we end up providing what they ask. Since Agile uses flat hierarchy (no hierarchy) it is quite easy to handpick the right person to do the right job.

We haven’t finished yet! There are 7 more advantages that we know of which we will blog in the upcoming months.

In conclusion, our experience is that embracing the agile methodology helps us to deliver outstanding software applications swiftly.

Why not try implementing a couple of the above-mentioned in your team or company. We would be happy to share more details. Else, if you have already implemented, why not share your experience in the below comments section. We would love to hear from you.

The post 5 Proven Advantages of Agile web Development first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

As all PHP developers would vouch, a development project is replete with multiple areas to focus on – at the same time! With a constant eye on quality, we also need to put efforts to see that the project is being executed smoothly, is on track amongst all team members, and is following all the deadlines set up with the client company. This makes the life of a PHP developer a tough one.

However, not all is lost!

With the advent of seamless collaboration across developers and technological advancements, the online community today provides a lot of tools and techniques to bring down the efforts put on mundane yet critical tasks and instead let you focus on what you love doing best – i.e. programming. Today we present a roundup of some essential tools that PHP developers like you and me would hate to ignore.

Here we go…

1. Pivotal Tracker (for Project Management) – The agile project management tool has remained a perennial favorite with PHP developers for an end to end project management. Ever since its debut in 2008, it has added various exciting features to make the life of a developer easier. It allows seamless micromanagement, prioritization and workflow management of a project, minus the hassles associated with collaboration and scheduling across teams. From the all-encompassing project view to ‘stories’ that form the building block of the project, it has all this and more.
2. Eclipse (for development) – All developers need a base workspace in the form of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and what better IDE than the leaders themselves?

Yes, we are talking about Eclipse

While the IDE can help in development using a wide variety of programming languages, with the right set of plug-ins, PHP development can turn to a breeze. With amazing extensibility, developing web applications in PHP is simpler and much more fun.

3. Laravel (Framework for PHP) – A truly modern framework, Laravel has quickly emerged as the favorite framework for PHP developers worldwide

It makes PHP fun to code and easy to work!

Along with Composer Package that is standard with Laravel version 4 onwards, dependency management becomes silk smooth. No need to install an entire framework to use just one of its offerings. Even user authentication becomes easier with Laravel providing a simple, effective and easy to use interface for validating user credentials.

Like to read more about Laravel and more about how we use it in our own development? Check those links you have already come across.

4. Git (for Version Control) – Trust me, having a team brings up its own set of problems with collaboration and integration. For projects across scale, size and team strength, Git’s open source distributed version control system makes changes across different batches easier to maintain. With Git, distributed, collaborative development of PHP source code. No matter if your team is across different locations or in the same office, your QA and due diligence are now more transparent and secure.

5. Mantis (for Bug Tracking) – The open source issue tracker is a godsend for developers who focus on the quality of the programming code. New developers can get going within minutes of exploring the full-featured bug tracking system. In spite of its simplicity, it offers amazing versatility and tremendous power. Written in PHP, it supports a range of databases such as MS SQL, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. It not only eliminates bugs, but also provides a collaboration and project tracking feature.

The above tools are few, which we use in Macronimous. Find any other tools in your arsenal that makes your life simpler each day with PHP? Do write  to us your comments and let us know.

The post 5 Every day Tools to Power up Your PHP development life cycle first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

Leave your feedback if your process deviates or if you have better flow or even a piece of improvement which might help the users.

Web project development life cycle

Some of you might have a different approach, and I look forward to hearing from you.

The post Web Development life cycle – Process flow diagram first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

A post-project questionnaire for web development clients is a strategic feedback mechanism used to measure satisfaction and technical success immediately after a site goes live. At Macronimous, we have found that the most successful projects aren’t just defined by clean code, but by how well the final product aligns with the client’s business vision. By utilizing a consistent set of questions, you can transform subjective impressions into a roadmap for agency growth and better client retention.

Why does your agency need a post-project questionnaire?

Using a structured feedback loop ensures that no project ends in a vacuum, preventing missed opportunities for process optimization. Many vendors or web development teams often ignore project feedback that is valuable in building a successful team and company. However, client feedback is essential to building a successful business.

After completing a Web Development, Mobile Development, or SEO project, a team’s self-evaluation should prioritize insights provided by the client.

We’ve found that dedicating 10–15 minutes to a thoughtful questionnaire can yield valuable improvements. It enhances our understanding of your needs and results in better deliverables overall. If you can convince your customer to respond, remember—you have an important tool that can help you improve.

Which client feedback questions for web development are essential?

The most effective questions target the intersection of communication, technical execution, and business ROI. To get the most out of your post-project questionnaire for web development clients, you need to ask questions that uncover both praise and pain points. Here is our recommended checklist:

1. How would you rate the final website deliverable in terms of your original vision?
2. Was there any specific moment during development that you found frustrating? (This identifies process bottlenecks).
   

   Project feedback questions are tools to improve!

3. How would you describe our communication and responsiveness throughout the project?
4. Did our developers ask the right questions to understand your technical requirements?
5. Were you given sufficient time to review interim updates and milestones?
6. Does the final website accurately represent your brand identity and values?
7. How effective was our team at addressing your feedback and concerns?
8. Do you feel this project provides tangible ROI for your business? (This is a great lead-in for a testimonial).
9. Would you be likely to partner with us for future phases or new projects?
10. On a scale of 1–10, what is your overall satisfaction rating for this project?

How do you implement your questionnaire effectively?

Effective implementation relies on automation and the integration of data into internal review cycles. You can build an online survey using tools like Zoho or Typeform to capture these client feedback questions for web development and store them in a database.

At Macronimous, we recommend discussing these results during internal “post-mortem” meetings. In our 25 years of experience, we’ve seen that discussing this feedback openly helps identify system defects, improves the development lifecycle, and helps our team reach higher performance levels.

Refining this feedback loop is also a critical part of our WordPress maintenance services, as it helps us understand how the site needs to evolve to meet changing business goals.

Do you have a web or Mobile project in mind?

We at Macronimous can help you with our expert development team.

Feel free to ask us today for a no-obligation Consulting.

contact now

Written by the Macronimous Web Development Team — 25 years of WordPress and web expertise.

The post 10 Vital Questions for Your Post-Project Questionnaire for Web Development Clients first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

In May 15th 2010 Rita expired on breast cancer after suffering for five years, the loss is very big to the PM community.

The post An introduction to Project Management first appeared on Macronimous Blog.