Agile involves reiterative development, early customer feedback, and intensive communication. It allows development teams to focus on the quick delivery of business value. The Agile manifesto outlines 4 fundamental values and 12 principles that guide Agile software development. By following the Agile Manifesto diligently, you will be able to monitor a project’s progress and success effectively.

The Agile Manifesto reforms the software development processes, while emphasizing the needs of the customer. It provides a theoretical approach to software development. 

The 4 Values of Agile Manifesto

The four Agile values portray the uniqueness of the framework. Each Agile methodology relies on these values to guide the development and delivery of working high-quality software.

1. Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools

Agile places more importance on people over processes and tools. People respond to business needs and drive the development process, so it makes sense to regard people more highly than processes or tools. Communication among team members helps them to be flexible and prompt in solving problems instead of depending on the process and tools to manage the way forward. This makes it more time-oriented and less frequent.

2. Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation

Documentation takes time and causes a delay in development and ultimate delivery. Agile is about streamlining documentation in a form that gives the developer what is needed to do the work without getting enmeshed in intricacies. Agile values working with programming more than documentation. The team takes its time to develop software that is easy to understand, clear, and caters to the tasks that users need to get done.

3. Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation

Contract negotiation is important, but they can easily rule out the possibility of the customer participating in the development process. With customer collaboration, customers can have an open-ended discussion with the developers, as well as clarify things in real-time. The Agile Manifesto describes a customer who is engaged and collaborates throughout the development process. Successful development teams work closely with their customers and communicate with them frequently which allows them to align better with their customer requirements.

4. Responding to Change Over Following a Plan

The traditional software development approach avoided change because it may lead to higher expenses by incurring a cost. Since Agile involves multiple iterations, the tasks keep changing as well as the inputted information. This helps the project get better and more valuable. Responding to change can help teams build a more accurate product and ensure their client’s satisfaction.

12 Agile Manifesto Principles

1.Satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

2.Give room for changing requirements all through the development process for the customer’s competitive advantage.

3.Frequent delivery of working software within a short timescale.

4.Teamwork between business stakeholders and developers throughout the entire project.

5.Support, trust, and motivate the people involved – this will enable them to deliver their best work.

6.Allow face-to-face conversations within the development team.

7.Working software is the primary measure of progress.

8.All parties involved should be able to support a constant development pace indefinitely.

9.Attention to technical excellence and design increases agility.

10.Maintain simplicity – develop just enough to get the job done.

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

12.Teams regularly reflect on how to become more effective and adjust accordingly.

What’s the point?

The purpose of Agile is to align development processes with business needs. Agile values and principles need to be practiced diligently for them to create a positive impact on the development process. The Agile Manifesto encourages customer collaboration, teamwork, trust, and transparency.

It is important to collaborate with professionals who understand the essence of building great and working software. With that being said, contact us to discuss more.