A lightweight methodology is a software development method that has only a few rules and practices, or only ones that are easy to follow. In contrast, a complex method with many rules is considered a " heavyweight methodology".Agile Software Development: A gentle introduction
/ref> Examples of lightweight methodologies include: * Adaptive Software Development by

Jim Highsmith James A. Highsmith III (born 1945) is an American software engineer and author of books in the field of software development methodology. He is the creator of Adaptive Software Development, described in his 1999 book "Adaptive Software Developme ...

, described in his 1999 book ''Adaptive Software Development'' * Crystal Clear family of methodologies with

Alistair Cockburn Alistair Cockburn ( ) is an American computer scientist, known as one of the initiators of the agile movement in software development. He cosigned (with 17 others) the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Life and career Cockburn starte ...

, *

Extreme Programming Extreme programming (XP) is a software development methodology intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements. As a type of agile software development,"Human Centred Technology Workshop 2006 ", 2006, P ...

(XP), promoted by people such as

Kent Beck Kent Beck (born 1961) is an American software engineer and the creator of extreme programming, a software development methodology that eschews rigid formal specification for a collaborative and iterative design process. Beck was one of the 17 ...

and Martin Fowler * Feature Driven Development (FDD) developed (1999) by Jeff De Luca and Peter Coad * ICONIX process, developed by Doug Rosenberg: An UML Use Case driven approach that purports to provide just enough documentation and structure to the process to allow flexibility, yet produce software that meets user and business requirements Most of these lightweight processes emphasize the need to deal with change in requirements and change in environment or technology by being flexible and adaptive.

References

{{reflist Agile software development Methodology Software development process Software development philosophies