Most teams practicing Agile can spell out the Agile Manifesto’s four main tenants, they are:
- Individuals and interactions over Processes and tools
- Working software over Comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over Contract negotiation
- Responding to change over Following a plan
However, it’s important to focus on these but not lose focus on the twelve guiding principles of Agile.
- Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
- Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
- Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with preference to the shorter timescale.
- Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
- Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
- The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
- Working software is the primary measure of progress.
- Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
- Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
- Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
- The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
- At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
ACTION ITEM
In your next retrospective, look at these twelve and ask the team how they are applying, or lack their of, these principles. A healthy conversation covering these can lead to action items for your next sprint. Reply with comments below and let me know which principle your teams are struggling with. All this, AGILE, would not be possible without the seventeen engineers that took lead to create the Agile Manifesto. Thank you.
