Editor’s notice: This text was final up to date on 29 December 2022.
The Agile Manifesto marked the delivery of Agile, knowledgeable worldview that has sparked innovation in methods the authors didn’t anticipate and reached far past the world of software program.
The Agile Manifesto specifies 4 values and 12 ideas that information environment friendly software program product growth.
On this complete information, we’ll introduce you to the idea of Agile product growth after which break down the Agile Manifesto with a concentrate on its 4 values and 12 ideas.
Earlier than we get into the historical past of the Agile Manifesto and a detailed breakdown of how its tenets are applied in follow, let’s shortly evaluation its values and ideas:
What are the 4 Agile Manifesto values?
The 4 values of the Agile Manifesto are:
- People and interactions over processes and instruments
- Working software program over complete documentation
- Buyer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to alter over following a plan
What are the 12 Agile Manifesto ideas?
The 12 ideas of agile software program growth as outlined within the Agile Manifesto are as follows:
- Our highest precedence is to fulfill the client by way of early and steady supply of precious software program.
- Welcome altering necessities, even late in growth. Agile processes harness change for the client’s aggressive benefit.
- Ship working software program often, from a few weeks to a few months, with a desire to the shorter timescale.
- Enterprise folks and builders should work collectively day by day all through the challenge.
- Construct initiatives round motivated people. Give them the surroundings and assist they want, and belief them to get the job accomplished.
- Essentially the most environment friendly and efficient technique of conveying data to and inside a growth workforce is face-to-face dialog.
- Working software program is the main measure of progress.
- Agile processes promote sustainable growth. The sponsors, builders, and customers ought to be capable of keep a continuing tempo indefinitely.
- Steady consideration to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
- Simplicity — the artwork of maximizing the quantity of labor not accomplished — is crucial.
- The perfect architectures, necessities, and designs emerge from self-organizing groups.
- At common intervals, the workforce displays on how you can grow to be more practical, then tunes and adjusts its habits accordingly.
Click on by way of the soar hyperlinks above (or simply hold scrolling) to study extra about what every of the 12 Agile ideas means in follow and how you can apply it in your group. Many of those ideas intertwine, so anticipate to see lots of overlap.
Desk of contents
What’s Agile?
Agile is a mindset and philosophy round constructing merchandise that espouses collaboration, customer-centricity, and anticipating and responding to alter.
A typical false impression is that agile is about growth velocity or velocity; it isn’t. Additionally counter to standard perception, agile is neither a technique nor a framework. These labels are reserved for extra particular and prescriptive agile fashions.
For example, scrum is an instance of a preferred agile “framework” — a set of directions for placing the agile values and ideas into follow. Thought leaders and consultancies create many agile fashions. These frameworks shouldn’t be confused with Agile itself.
What’s the Agile Manifesto?
The Agile Manifesto is a brief, 68-word assertion that establishes a broad system of objective and values for significant, environment friendly, steady software program growth:
We’re uncovering higher methods of growing software program by doing it and serving to others do it. By way of this work now we have come to worth:
- People and interactions over processes and instruments
- Working software program over complete documentation
- Buyer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to alter over following a plan
That’s, whereas there’s worth within the objects on the precise, we worth the objects on the left extra.
Don’t let the assertion’s brevity idiot you; these phrases pack a punch. The Agile Manifesto has modified the tech world and impacted how groups work throughout all industries, not solely software program.
A quick historical past
The Agile Manifesto established the idea of agile product growth. The temporary however daring declaration was written and signed in 2001 by 17 seasoned software program engineers, a few of whom have been writing code for the reason that Sixties and ’70s. The machines and programming languages obtainable on the time have been as sluggish as the companies they supported. Computer systems served elite science use circumstances greater than enterprise.
All through the Seventies and ’80s, waterfall, or “heavyweight,” practices dominated product growth, the place the emphasis was positioned on upfront planning and documentation. Coming into the brand new millennium, these specialists had been collaborating on what have been known as on the time “light-weight” software program growth practices.
Common light-weight frameworks of the Nineteen Nineties have been Crystal, Excessive Programming, and scrum, the most well-liked framework at the moment. The creators of those main frameworks and others have been all signatories of the Agile Manifesto.
In the present day, agile is the usual. It began with the Agile Manifesto.
Breaking down the Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto consists of a easy preamble, 4 values, and one clarifying sentence. Let’s dig into every aspect and unpack what it means in additional element.
Preamble: Steady studying is essential
The primary sentence of the Agile Manifesto is essentially the most neglected and understated. Although seemingly insignificant, the signers have mentioned this preamble truly took a substantial period of time to put in writing.
Folks usually reference the 4 values with out contemplating the introduction, nevertheless it’s essential to ascertain a philosophy of fixed change and enchancment in addition to generosity:
We’re uncovering higher methods of growing software program by doing it and serving to others do it.
Let’s get much more granular and zoom in on the primary 5 phrases of the Agile Manifesto: “We’re uncovering higher methods….”
To embrace the Agile Manifesto means to decide to steady enchancment — in different phrases, to be joyfully and perpetually dissatisfied. From there, we must always bear in mind how a lot the discoveries of others have helped us. Share learnings; there are all the time new learnings available.
I’ve seen this play out in dash retrospectives, postmortems, supervisor and/or peer suggestions, evolving processes, and definitions of accomplished (DoDs) — sharing learnings and listening to the understandings of others is essential to any agile challenge. When you go searching and see lots of course of that has gone unchanged for a while, you most likely haven’t been “uncovering higher methods.”
The world adjustments and life adjustments. To be agile means to embrace change and steady studying.
The twist on the finish
All through the 4 worth statements, it may be straightforward to overlook that none of these items are dangerous. The purpose of an excellent over assertion is that one half is sweet, however the different is even higher.
Earlier than we dig into the 4 values, let’s skip to the bit on the finish, the place the Agile Manifesto tells us how you can learn the values appropriately. That is additionally essential however usually forgotten:
That’s, whereas there’s worth within the objects on the precise, we worth the objects on the left extra.
As we evaluation the 4 Agile Manifesto values, we must always acknowledge that the precise aspect is sweet, however the left is much more precious.
The 4 agile values
The 4 values as stipulated within the Agile Manifesto are as follows:
- People and interactions over processes and instruments
- Working software program over complete documentation
- Buyer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to alter over following a plan
1. People and interactions over processes and instruments
To be agile means to be all-in on folks. The primary worth of the Agile Manifesto is perhaps essentially the most forward of its time. The authors knew that individuals mattered and collaboration was important.
We will infer extra concerning the intention right here by trying on the 12 Agile Rules, that are an elaboration of the basic values.
Of the 12 Agile Rules, no less than six contain human relationships:
- Precept No. 4 establishes a brand new form of relationship the place “enterprise folks and builders should work collectively day by day”
- Precept No. 5 says to “construct initiatives round motivated people. Give them the surroundings and assist they want”
- Precept No. 6 asserts that “face-to-face dialog” is the easiest way to speak
- Precept No. 8 introduces the symbiotic relationship between “sponsors, builders, and customers”
- Precept No. 11 claims one of the best deliverables come from “self-organizing groups”
- Precept No. 12 encourages groups to “[reflect] on how you can grow to be more practical” and alter accordingly
It’s essential to recollect how these even over statements ought to be interpreted. The precise aspect of the assertion (processes and instruments) is effective. Nonetheless, people and interactions are extra precious. To rephrase this primary Agile Manifesto worth, we would say, “Processes and instruments are good, however people and their interactions are much more essential.”
In the actual world, I’ve seen this play out in cross-functional squads made up of product, engineering, design, high quality assurance, knowledge analytics, and even advertising and marketing stakeholders — working day after day, in a single workforce, on a buyer downside.
2. Working software program over complete documentation
Whereas the primary Agile Manifesto worth might be essentially the most foundational of the 4, the second worth is perhaps essentially the most controversial at the moment. The emphasis on “working software program” usually alarms fashionable tech professionals. What’s so nice about software program that solely “works?”
I’ve a good friend who’s a product supervisor at a big firm. Whereas growing their product, they spent as much as a 12 months digging into person analysis and discussing buyer insights with out transport something to the client. Ultimately, they produced a small, insignificant function that didn’t meet any actual buyer want.
So in circumstances like these, everybody needs to be a thinker and empathize with prospects, however nobody can truly ship.
Getting a minimal viable product (MVP) out now’s higher than getting a “excellent” product out a lot later. After all, a “working” product isn’t the tip objective, however it’s required for delivering worth to prospects and companies. If we’re not transport, then what are we truly conducting?
Complete documentation is sweet, in line with the Agile Manifesto. That is how the even over statements work. For instance, the second worth might be rephrased as, “Documentation is sweet, however delivering working software program is much more essential.” A product with no documentation is preferable to having documentation and no product.
3. Buyer collaboration over contract negotiation
Within the third Agile Manifesto worth, the reference to “contract negotiation” tends to perplex some readers. Take into account that the precise aspect of the assertion remains to be precious, so contract negotiation is sweet. However what is that this contract negotiation that we’re speaking about?
Contract negotiation refers to any agreements concerned within the work, internally or externally. Sure, this consists of any political dealings and vendor paperwork, however there’s extra to it than that. Many agile professionals would interpret contract negotiations to additionally embody deadlines, funds agreements, and scope agreements with inner stakeholders or prospects.
A contemporary paraphrase is perhaps, “Enterprise commitments are good, however the voice of the client ought to come first.”
I’ve seen agile groups dwell out this worth by prioritizing analysis and discovery work forward of execution to make sure the precise resolution is constructed. I’ve seen granular Gantt charts changed with quarterly and month-to-month Gantt charts or higher-level Now-Subsequent-Later roadmaps.
4. Responding to alter over following a plan
The fourth and remaining Agile Manifesto worth asserts that following a plan is sweet, however responding to alter is much more precious.
Earlier than the light-weight frameworks of the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s, organizations would possibly’ve spent years planning an answer, then years constructing the answer. By the point the unique resolution was prepared, the issue had advanced sufficient to render the answer ineffective. Most of these experiences and observations led engineers to hunt higher methods of growing software program.
A widely known quote from former U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower involves thoughts: “Plans are nothing; planning is all the things.” The purpose is that plans are good to work on, however they need to all the time take into account the fixed uncertainty surrounding them. Plans are solely pretty much as good as their flexibility.
The 12 agile ideas
To evaluation and for fast reference, the 12 Agile Manifesto ideas (in shorthand) are as follows:
- Fulfill the client
- Welcome altering necessities
- Ship working software program often
- Work collectively day by day
- Construct initiatives round motivated people
- Talk face-to-face
- Measure progress by working merchandise
- Keep a continuing tempo indefinitely (marathons, no sprints)
- Pay steady consideration to technical excellence
- Maintain it easy
- Belief your workforce to self-organize
- Replicate and adapt
1. Fulfill the client
Our highest precedence is to fulfill the client by way of early and steady supply of precious software program.
What does it imply?
As agile professionals, we imagine in relieving buyer ache by delivering precious merchandise and options shortly and often. Why? We will get suggestions quicker to enhance and enhance worth to prospects — and since we all know that we by no means get it totally proper the primary time.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 1
- Deal with prospects’ issues
- Construct minimal viable merchandise
- Function with minimal precious processes
- Foster a tradition of studying and iteration in your workforce
2. Welcome altering necessities
Welcome altering necessities, even late in growth. Agile processes harness change for the client’s aggressive benefit.
What does it imply?
Embrace uncertainty. The surroundings is continually altering, and alter is one thing we are able to use to our benefit. To be aggressive, not solely ought to we anticipate change, however we must always welcome it.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 2
- Replace dash objectives mid-sprint extra often
- Set the tone for others by not being stunned when wants change
- Rejoice when your workforce pivots
- Use steady discovery habits to remain in tune with buyer issues and the market
3. Ship working software program often
Ship working software program often, from a few weeks to a few months, with a desire for the shorter timescale.
What does it imply?
Take child steps. There are a number of benefits to releasing extra minor product updates extra often. Delivery smaller increments often and with the ability to deploy shortly mitigates danger. Moreover, you possibly can add worth to the enterprise by delivering extra often and studying quicker.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 3
- Check how shortly your workforce can get a change dwell by making small adjustments (e.g., a remark in some code). This may assist you gauge the place you’re and optimize your capacity to answer change
- Break up tales into smaller items. Want some inspiration? Take into account what it would appear to be to solely have one-point tales or solely tales that may be delivered inside a day
4. Work collectively day by day
Enterprise folks and builders should work collectively day by day all through the challenge.
What does it imply?
Who’s included in “enterprise folks?” I interpret this phrase to seek advice from anybody not on the tech groups — e.g., product, design, advertising and marketing stakeholders, and so on. After all, it relies on the group, challenge, or final result you hope to attain.
Regardless of who’s concerned, transparency and collaboration ought to be day-to-day normalcy.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 4
- Take into account inviting different stakeholders to workforce conferences whereas managing expectations on roles and duties as obligatory
- Make planning and roadmap artifacts extra accessible so others can observe together with progress and ask questions or present suggestions
- Create a visible of the workforce however embody colleagues who won’t technically be on the identical workforce in line with the official org chart
- Use an open Slack channel (or chat software of selection) as an alternative of retaining it non-public
5. Construct initiatives round motivated people
Construct initiatives round motivated people. Give them the surroundings and assist they want, and belief them to get the job accomplished.
What does it imply?
There are lots of phrases packed within the fifth agile precept: motivation, surroundings, assist, belief — with particular person folks on the heart of all of it.
A supportive surroundings will imply various things to totally different folks. It comes right down to understanding your workforce and how you can talk with and assist the people inside it.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 5
You would possibly discover this precept essentially the most difficult as a result of it can’t be remoted to a selected degree in a corporation. For instance, as a product supervisor, your fingers is perhaps tied in some ways.
That mentioned, some issues are all the time inside your management. To enhance the work surroundings as a supervisor, you possibly can:
6. Talk face-to-face
Essentially the most environment friendly and efficient technique of conveying data to and inside a growth workforce is face-to-face dialog.
What does it imply?
Video conferencing instruments have made “face-to-face” conversations extra easy than ever, however they nonetheless don’t totally change in-person interplay.
On the similar time, there are many benefits to distant work, so the takeaway isn’t that groups have to be colocated, both.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 6
- Flip your video on
- Meet in individual sometimes
- Don’t be shy to leap on a fast name to hash one thing out in actual time (utilizing Slack’s huddle function, for instance)
- When utilizing textual content, sprinkle in emoji reactions to keep away from any confusion about your tone
7. Measure progress by working merchandise
Working software program is the first measure of progress.
What does it imply?
Mainly, it means to chop by way of the BS. The seventh agile precept stipulates that working software program is the “main measure of progress,” however some of us get alarmed as a result of they learn “solely measure of progress” as an alternative.
This precept can really feel out of contact in a world the place we worth buyer downside statements, fancy visible frameworks, person analysis, market analysis, analytics, and anthropology.
Whereas these components are essential, what good are they if we aren’t getting any instruments out into the wild to assist prospects in actual life?
How you can apply Agile precept No. 7
8. Keep a continuing tempo indefinitely (marathons, not sprints)
Agile processes promote sustainable growth. The sponsors, builders, and customers ought to be capable of keep a continuing tempo indefinitely.
What does it imply?
Agility signifies that burnouts, late nights, and last-minute emergencies ought to be uncommon. The cross-functional workforce ought to plan to maneuver at a sustainable price. This may be supported by adopting the opposite agile ideas, as nicely.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 8
A typical mistake folks make when studying the eighth precept is to misread the phrase “tempo.” Most frequently, “sustaining a continuing tempo” means the workforce ought to decelerate, not velocity up. Plan forward and put methods in place that make it regular to react to alter.
9. Pay steady consideration to technical excellence
Steady consideration to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
What does it imply?
It is best to take pleasure in your craftsmanship. Vince Lombardi, famed NFL head coach for whom the Tremendous Bowl trophy is called, as soon as mentioned, “Perfection isn’t attainable, but when we chase perfection, we are able to catch excellence.”
The ninth agile precept doesn’t goal for perfection; we must always acknowledge that excellence within the tech world is a quickly shifting goal and to hit it requires “steady consideration.”
How you can apply Agile precept No. 9
- Host lunch-and-learns and “brown bag” instructional alternatives
- Construct in time to include tech debt into sprints
- Foster a tradition by which workforce members are inspired to take care of high quality and sustainable implementations for longer-term agility
10. Maintain it easy
Simplicity – the artwork of maximizing the quantity of labor not accomplished – is crucial.
What does it imply?
This phrase may appear counterintuitive at first look and sometimes strikes folks as odd or unnecessarily complicated, nevertheless it’s truly fairly profound. Mainly, it means much less is extra.
Maximizing the quantity of labor not accomplished requires a psychological shift from doing extra to doing much less. Basically, because of this you spend extra time doing solely what is critical and waste much less time complicating your processes.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 10
- Perceive the rationale and the imaginative and prescient for what you’re engaged on
- Take into consideration what is absolutely wanted. Take into account a light-weight framework, corresponding to MoSCoW or Wants vs. Good-to-Haves
- Decide the best resolution to the issue and take into account the tradeoffs
11. Belief your workforce to self-organize
The perfect architectures, necessities, and designs emerge from self-organizing groups.
What does it imply?
The perfect work comes out of groups which are allowed to plan and execute amongst themselves.
Precept no. 11 isn’t about anarchy or some progressive working mannequin the place folks type their very own clans and do no matter they need — bear in mind, this assertion was written in 2001.
The purpose of the eleventh agile precept is that motivated and supported people are trusted and allowed to immerse themselves in an issue house and give you one of the best resolution.
Belief doesn’t simply magically emerge, in fact, so this recommendation is typically simpler mentioned than accomplished.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 11
- Create organizations of groups which are motivated and empowered. Prepare these groups on framing issues and divergent and convergent pondering
- Create groups which are cross-functional to attenuate dependencies
- Replicate on how groups are measured and what habits this encourages
12. Replicate and adapt
At common intervals, the workforce displays on how you can grow to be more practical, then tunes and adjusts its habits accordingly.
How you can apply Agile precept No. 12
The primary mistake groups usually make is operating dash retrospectives which are too predictable and too formal. Discover this agile precept makes no point out of a time-frame; there’s no identify or construction for this workforce reflection.
The second mistake (which regularly stems from the primary) is an absence of accountability; too usually, there isn’t a follow-up or monitoring of motion objects. I don’t imagine each commentary in a retrospective-like dialog must have an motion merchandise. Nonetheless, when motion objects are outlined, you need to set up some accountability to make sure that progress is made.
How you can apply this precept
- Verify in often along with your workforce and colleagues
- Monitor subsequent steps when obligatory
- Have enjoyable and be real
What the 12 Agile ideas aren’t
Now that you’ve got seen and perceive what all 12 Agile Manifesto ideas are, let’s evaluation what they’re not.
The agile ideas aren’t a technique or a part of a technique. The ideas aren’t actually a framework, both. Within the Agile world, frameworks are the extra prescriptive units of guidelines, methods, and processes to assist groups put the agile ideas into motion.
The agile ideas are statements that add extra colour to the higher-level values of the Agile Manifesto. They’re the particular stances of execs who worth steady studying and enchancment in an more and more unpredictable world.
Is the Agile Manifesto nonetheless related at the moment?
I imagine the Agile Manifesto has aged fairly nicely, all issues thought of. It’s nonetheless a set of values that provides a wholesome problem for tech and enterprise professionals alike.
Not solely does the Agile Manifesto stay useful, however many different industries outdoors of software program growth have adopted it. Merely tweaking a couple of references to “software program” has gone a good distance towards serving to advertising and marketing groups, human assets, and lots of others to ship precious outcomes extra effectively.
Regardless of dozens of Agile Manifesto options, extensions, and requires full alternative, the overall consensus is that the doc has stood the check of time remarkably nicely. Arguments from critics are sometimes misguided, unconvincing, or simply not including sufficient worth to get widespread consideration. There may be a lot content material on the market now, a brand new Agile Manifesto would should be revolutionary to get traction.
Agile Manifesto TL;DR abstract
To summarize the important thing takeaways from this Agile Manifesto information:
- The preamble, which is essentially the most neglected a part of the manifesto, encourages regularly “uncovering higher methods” and “serving to others” alongside the best way
- Worth No. 1 is essentially the most forward of its time and locations folks, collaboration, inclusion, and relationships on the heart of Agile. To paraphrase this worth for contemporary software program growth: Processes and instruments are precious, however folks and relationships are much more essential
- Worth No. 2 is essentially the most controversial at the moment as a result of it espouses “working software program over complete documentation.” Fashionable paraphrase: Sturdy documentation is sweet, however truly delivering options is best
- Worth No. 3 is essentially the most misunderstood as a consequence of “contract negotiation” and vagueness round “buyer.” Fashionable paraphrase: Commitments are good, however constructing the precise factor is best
- Worth No. 4 is the guts of Agile: “Responding to alter over following a plan”
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