What is Agile?

Definition of Agile

Agile refers to a set of principles and practices that guide teams in developing software products through incremental delivery, adaptive planning, and continual improvement. Agile emphasises iterative development, close team collaboration, and frequent customer feedback to deliver high-quality solutions quickly and efficiently.

Summary of the Agile Manifesto and Its Values

The Agile Manifesto, published in 2001 by 17 software development experts, established the foundation for Agile methodologies. It promotes four core values and twelve underlying principles to guide teams toward continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

Agile Manifesto: Four Values

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

Agile Principles

Agile is supported by twelve guiding principles, intended to help teams create successful products in an ever-changing environment. These principles inform day-to-day Agile practices.

1. Satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months
4. Collaborate daily between business people and developers
5. Build projects around motivated individuals and provide support
6. Convey information face-to-face whenever possible
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress
8. Maintain a sustainable development pace
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
10. Simplicity—the art of maximising the work not done—is essential
11. Self-organising teams produce the best architectures, requirements, and designs
12. Regularly reflect and adapt to improve effectiveness

Historical Origins and Evolution of Agile

The Agile approach originated in the late 1990s as software teams sought alternatives to rigid project management models like the Waterfall model. In 2001, seventeen thought leaders signed the Agile Manifesto, formalising Agile values and sparking the formation of the Agile Alliance. Since then, Agile has evolved beyond software development into project management, product development, and operations.

Benefits of Agile

• Flexibility: Respond rapidly to changing customer needs and market conditions.
• Continuous improvement: Regular retrospectives help teams adapt and improve their processes.
• Customer satisfaction: Frequent delivery ensures customer requirements are met early and often.
• Transparency: Iterative development and open communication foster stakeholder trust.
• Reduced risk: Incremental delivery allows for earlier issue detection and correction.
• Enhanced team collaboration: Cross-functional teams communicate daily to resolve challenges efficiently.

Agile vs Waterfall Model

Agile Frameworks and Practices

Scrum Framework

Scrum is a widely adopted Agile framework structured around short, timeboxed periods called sprints. Teams maintain a product backlog of features and tasks, delivering increments of working software at the end of each sprint. Roles in Scrum include Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team. Daily stand-ups, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives reinforce team collaboration and transparency.

Kanban

Kanban emphasises visualising work, limiting work in progress, and optimising flow. Teams use Kanban boards to track tasks and identify bottlenecks, often integrating continuous improvement practices.

User Stories and Product Backlog

Features are typically described as user stories in a product backlog. This backlog is prioritised by the Product Owner and guides the work to be pulled into each sprint or iteration.

Key Concepts: Iterative and Incremental Delivery

Agile projects proceed in small iterations, each resulting in an incrementally improved product. This iterative approach enables rapid adaptation, regular feedback, and incremental value to stakeholders.

Team Collaboration and Cross-functional Teams

Agile emphasises collaboration between customers, stakeholders, and team members from diverse disciplines. Cross-functional teams are empowered to make decisions and deliver complete solutions within each iteration.

Continuous Improvement Practices

Agile teams conduct regular retrospectives to identify areas for improvement and adjust their processes. This culture of continuous improvement leads to increased quality, productivity, and team morale over time.

Further Resources

• Agile software development (Encyclopaedia)
• Agile Alliance: Agile Manifesto

FAQs

What is Agile methodology?

Agile methodology is a set of practices and values that promote adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continual improvement. Agile methods empower teams to respond quickly to change and collaborate closely with stakeholders.

What are the 12 principles of Agile?

The 12 Agile principles include prioritising customer satisfaction through early and continual delivery, welcoming changing requirements, delivering working software frequently, fostering daily collaboration, supporting motivated teams, preferring face-to-face communication, using working software as the main progress measure, maintaining a sustainable pace, focusing on technical excellence, maximising simplicity, enabling self-organising teams, and reflecting regularly for process improvement.

What is the difference between Agile and Waterfall?

Agile is iterative, adaptable, and focuses on incremental delivery with frequent stakeholder feedback. Waterfall is linear, sequential, and requires upfront planning, often only allowing changes late in the project cycle.

What are Scrum and Kanban frameworks?

Scrum is an Agile framework that organises work into fixed-length sprints and uses roles like Product Owner and Scrum Master. Kanban is a visual method for managing workflow, limiting work in progress, and focusing on incremental improvements.

How does Agile improve team collaboration?

Agile improves collaboration through daily communication, cross-functional team structures, and regular stakeholder engagement, ensuring all members align towards shared goals.