Methodology

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a structured framework that helps teams structure and manage the software development process from planning to deployment. It uses defined stages like planning, development, testing, and deployment to help teams stay aligned, manage complexity, and reduce delivery risk. This structure ensures that product managers, engineers, and stakeholders share a common understanding of the project goals and maintain focus on outcomes (The Product Manager and Clark, 2022). For the Clubs Connect project, the SDLC framework was adopted to provide a structured, standardised approach with clearly defined phases. This framework guided the development team in planning, designing, and building the system systematically, ensuring that the final product met the client’s requirements and the highest standards of quality.

Agile Methodology

The SDLC model selected for the Clubs Connect project is the Agile methodology, also referred to as the adaptive or incremental model. Agile organizes the SDLC phases into iterative development cycles, delivering small, incremental changes in each cycle (The Product Manager and Clark, 2022). The Agile approach was chosen because it supports adaptive planning, rapid execution, and ongoing evaluation, leading to more responsive and successful outcomes (Atlassian, n.d.). Given the project’s limited delivery timeline, Agile enables development and feedback to occur simultaneously, ensuring that improvements can be made iteratively. This methodology also allows close collaboration with the client, keeping them actively involved throughout the project and enabling adjustments in response to evolving requirements.

Scrumban

Initially, the Kanban framework was considered for the Clubs Connect project due to its flexibility and focus on continuous delivery. However, the team also needed to work in timeboxed sprints to meet deadlines. Since Scrum’s reliance on frequent ceremonies was not aligned with the team’s preferred working style, Scrumban was identified as the most suitable approach. Scrumban is an Agile development methodology that is a hybrid of Scrum and Kanban (Scrumban = Scrum + Kanban) which gives teams the flexibility to adapt to stakeholder and production needs without feeling overburdened by their project methodology. Scrumban provides the structure of Scrum with the flexibility and visualization of Kanban, making it a highly versatile approach to workflow management (Lynn, n.d.).

Following guidelines adapted from Atlassian (2024), the Scrumban approach for the Clubs Connect project will be implemented as follows:

Methodology: Fixed-length sprints were used, with work-in-progress (WIP) limits preventing burnout while maintaining steady progress. Tasks were tracked visually using a Scrumban board, allowing for a continuous flow of work and visible progress for the client.

Roles: While Scrum roles can be incorporated into Scrumban, the team has opted for a flat structure where all members contributed equally, without formal role distinctions.

Artifacts: The primary artifacts included the Scrumban board and Scrumban task. The board featured a To Do column for upcoming tasks, In Progress for active tasks, and Done for completed work. A Backlog column stored additional requirements identified during the project, enabling them to be moved into To Do as needed.

Events: At the start of each sprint, we held a Sprint Planning Meeting to outline sprint goals and move tasks to the “To-Do” column. In place of daily scrum meetings, we conducted one or two weekly Kanban meetings which included a service delivery review, delivery planning, replenishment meeting, or operations review meeting or a combination of these depending on the project needs. This approach reduced time spent on frequent planning logistics and minute-taking, allowing more focus on executing the work. The meetings are defined as follows:

• Replenishment Meeting – Decide which new tasks to start from the backlog, prioritising urgent ones and clarifying responsibilities to avoid confusion.
• Service Delivery Review Meeting – Review completed work to ensure it meets project and client needs, check task cycle times, and identify workflow improvements.
• Delivery Planning Meeting – Finalise realistic deadlines for delivering completed or nearly completed work to the client.
• Operations Review Meeting – Assess cross-team operations, resolve bottlenecks, and improve collaboration between different teams.

We leveraged ClickUp to keep the team aligned and updated on completed work, work in progress, and upcoming priorities. While Kanban meetings emphasize prioritising key tasks and reducing completion time, Scrum meetings focus on individual team members’ task plans and personal improvement. Therefore, Kanban meetings were a better fit for our goal of focusing on the project rather than holding traditional daily sprint meetings.

Finally, we held a Sprint Retrospective to reflect on the previous sprint and identify actionable improvements for the next one.

Process Flow: Tasks progressed through the following stages: To Do → In Progress → Done