Agile Manifesto

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A question that is often asked in relation to Agile, is what is the Agile Manifesto and should we still take influence from it?

For decades, people have referred to the 4 values and 12 principles of Agile, but what do they actually mean?

And living in this technological era, are they still relevant?

Everyone will give you a different answer, but we want to break down those values and principles to help you understand just what the Agile Manifesto is and how it could benefit your business.

So let us explain what you need to know.

The 4 values of Agile

The Agile Manifesto created in 2001 includes a set of principles and outlines what is valued in development, initially focused on software development. It states what is valued in development is:

Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools
Working Output Over Comprehensive Documentation
Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation
Responding to Change Over Following a Plan

The values of agile are important because they help a team work together and get things done.

By investing in Agile Coaching, you can find out more about how you can incorporate the 4 values of Agile into your workplace.

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It starts with Agile

The key to understanding Agile is to first understand the meaning of Agile originally.

If you haven’t done so already, head to What is Agile? A Comprehensive Guide to find out exactly what you need to know of the origins of Agile.

Already up to date? Let’s get into it.

How Agile Manifesto began

Twenty one years later, what is valued and the principles still hold true. However, they have also evolved and gained more clarity to allow many organisations to successfully apply them to their environments within software and also in all parts of business, product and service development.

It’s important to know that these approaches on the bottom row are not necessarily bad—they are, in fact, quite necessary at times. What this visual show us is that as much as possible we should strive for the approaches on the top row, as they will allow teams to deliver more value, faster.

Let us think about what each of these initial comparisons, pulled from The Agile Manifesto, is really telling us to emphasise.

Agile organisations value and prioritise the following:

Empowerment:

Highlights that people get work done. Processes and tools help them achieve the outcomes, not the other way around.

Output orientation:

Reminds us that in order to realise value, we must get our actual output out to customers. Documentation serves to support the product or service, not the other way around. An example of this would be that a washing machine user guide has no value without the physical washing machine.

Customer Focus:

Is vital to understand what customers really need and want. We must collaborate with them, most commonly through getting feedback. While terms, conditions and other agreements are important, their purpose is to facilitate discussion.

Adaptability:

Reminds us that even though we plan regularly in Agile, it is important to react when circumstances change. We plan using assumptions based on current expectations. As we get new information, we adapt those plans to be increasingly more reflective of reality.

The 12 Agile Manifesto Principles

These principles form the basis of the Agile Manifesto written in 2001. As the Agile Manifesto was written by software developers, the initial principles relate mostly to software development. The Agile Manifesto states “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others to do it”.

Where software is mentioned in these principles, organisations now understand that any product, service or user experience can be developed or improved by adopting these guiding principles.

There are 12 principles of agile working. These are:

Customer satisfaction is the highest priority
Change is welcome
Working software is delivered frequently
Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
Projects are built around motivated individuals
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
Regular adaptation to changing circumstances
Simplicity–the art of maximising the amount of work not done–is essential
Self-organising teams deliver the best results
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly
The team continuously improves its development process
Agile processes promote sustainable development

Agile processes harness change

Agile processes including planning, focusing on delivery within short time frames called sprints and conducting retrospectives of our work to seek improvement apply the agile principles in practice.

With Agile Consulting, you can learn how to incorporate these values into your workplace for a more productive and efficient team.