Agile manifesto

What is the Agile Manifesto? 

The Agile Manifesto for Software Development is a unifying philosophy for frameworks like Extreme Programming, Feature-Driven Development, and Scrum. It is a significant departure from the traditional waterfall-style approaches.

The creators of Agile Manifesto: Around 17 people assembled in 2001 to discuss the future of software development. It had representatives from Scrum, Dynamic Systems Development Method, Extreme Programming, Adaptive Software Development, Crystal, Pragmatic Programming, Feature. Out of these 17, 14 people were the signatories of the Agile Manifesto.

The vision statement for the Manifesto for Agile Software Development reaffirms: “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.

Through the experience, we have come to value:

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Agile Framework is a self-organizing, cross-functional platform for teams to employ the relevant practices for their context. And yes despite being self-explanatory and self evolutionary it still needs managers to oversee the entire process.

Managers are needed to:

• Provide guidance when teams can’t resolve issues for themselves

• Make sure team members have the appropriate skill sets

• Create an environment that allows for team success

• Clear roadblocks and secure outside resources as needed

The Agile Manifesto story Before Agile Manifesto went mainstream and before it was envisioned software developers were looking for better more responsive ways to work, mixing traditional and cutting edge ideas, and were trying to find the best combination possible for execution and delivery. Their different approaches focused on:

• Close synchronization between the business stakeholders and development team

• Rapid delivery

• Well oiled, close-knit, and self-organizing teams

• Better ways to create, confirm and deliver code

They started to develop frameworks that other teams could use, including Scrum, Extreme Programing, FDD, and DSDM.

The values behind the Agile Manifesto: Embracing change in the traditional software development process is a pain. Whereas in Agile releasing a minimum viable product can be evaluated and adjusted from iteration to iteration.

The four Agile Manifesto values are:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.

2. Working software over comprehensive documentation.

3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.

4. Responding to change over following a plan.

The principles behind the Agile Manifesto.

The 12 Agile Manifesto principles include:

1. The topmost priority is to serve the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

2. Change is welcome even late in development. Agile harnesses change and give an edge to the customer.

3. The focus is to deliver working software frequently and in a shorter time scale.

4. Developers, Business stakeholders must work in tandem daily and throughout the project.

5. It is the driven individuals who deliver the project. They should be given the environment and support they need and should be trusted to get the job done.

6. A face-to-face conversation is the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team.

7. Working software is the most important measure of progress.

8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

9. Pay continuous attention to technical excellence, and good design enhances agility.

10. Simplicity is essential. This is the art of maximizing the amount of work not done.

11. Self-organizing teams produce the best architectures, requirements, and designs.

12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective and adjusts its behavior accordingly.