Agile Notes

Agile as a project management approach was introduced to the world in 2001 in the United States. At
a ski resort in the Wasatch mountains of Utah, 17 self-proclaimed organizational anarchists came
together and combined several lightweight processes to create what we know today as the agile
manifesto. The creators of agile intended it to be a set of values that would improve upon and
transform existing software development processes, but companies in various industries quickly saw
the value of agile, too. Soon, agile was adopted across all fields.
Agile values and principles
The agile values refer to the following four statements

 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 experts see these values as important underpinnings of the highest performing teams, and every
team member should strive to live by these values to apply the full benefits of agile.
The same values we have seen above applies to the 12 agile principles, which are the core of every
agile project:
1. “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of
valuable software.”
Whether you are working to create a product for your company or for a customer, chances are
that someone is awaiting its delivery. If that delivery is delayed, the results is that the
customer, user, or organization is left waiting for that added value to their lives and
workflows. Agile emphasizes that delivering value to users early and often creates a steady
value stream, increasing you and your customer’s success. This will build trust and
confidence through continuous feedback as well as early business value realization.
2. “Welcoming changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness
change for the customer’s competitive advantage”.
When working in agile. Its important to be agile. That means being able to move swiftly,
shifting direction whenever necessary. That also means that you and your team are constantly
scanning your environments to make sure necessary changes are factored into the plans.
Acknowledging and embracing that your plans may change a couple times ensures that you
and your customer are maximizing your success
3. “Delivering working software, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to shorter time scale”.
Deliver your product in small, frequent increments is important because it allows time and
regular opportunities for stakeholders – including customers – to give feedback on its
progress. This ensures that the team never spends too much time going down the wrong path.
4. “Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the duration of
the project”.
Removing barriers between developers and people focused on the business side of the project,
builds trust and understanding and ensures that the developers, or those building the solution,
are in tune with the needs of the of the users
5. “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support
that they need, and trust them to get the job done”.
 A successful agile team includes team members that not only trusts each other to get the work
done but are also trusted by their sponsors and executives to get the work done. Teams build
better solutions when they are empowered and motivated to deliver difficult projects.
6. “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a
development is face-to-face conversations”
There isn’t anything quite like face-to-face communication. Face-to-face communication
allows us to catch certain cues, body language, and facial expressions that are sometimes lost
when using forms of communication like email, chat or the phone. However, we can’t always
be face-to-face. Establishing effective communication norms – no matter the format – is
essential to effective teams.
7. “Working software is the primary measure of progress”.
In Agile teams, the main way to demonstrate meaningful completion of work is to show a
working piece of the solution. In software teams, that might mean a functional piece of
software. In non-software teams, that mean a critical portion of the solution that is ready to be
demonstrated to users or their representative in order to collect feedback. This is in contrast to
traditional or waterfall projects, where the completion of project documents could be used to
measure progress. In agile project management, it is not enough to say that the team is 80%
done with an activity if there is no working, demonstrable artifact available to review.
8. “Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users
should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.”
Maintaining a steady but a careful pace will prevent errors along the way. Also, you never
want your team feel overworked or overwhelmed. On the flipside, a team that is underutilized
may become bored and lose the creative spark to innovate. The agile ideal is to achieve a
steady pace of effort for the team that avoids overtime and burnout.
9. “Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility”.
This principle conveys that just because the team is working fast doesn’t mean they sacrifice
quality. By emphasizing quality and design throughout the project development phase, the
agility, efficiency, and speed of the team will be increased. When a team delivers a well-built
solution, they can quickly respond to user feedback and new information. However, if the
product quality is low, implementing changes can become problematic, complex and slow
down the entire team.
10. “Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential
The team should avoid implementing extra features into solution that weren’t explicitly
requested by the user or product owner. This includes removing procedures that are no longer
necessary and reducing unnecessary documentation
11. “The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.”
Team members should be able to get their work done by designing their own work processes
and practices, without manager dictating how they operate. Team members should also feel
empowered to speak up with questions, concerns, or feedback.
12. “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly.”
In agile, it is important to acknowledge that learning from successes and failures is
continuous. No team is perfect. There will be mistakes, challenges, trials, and triumphs.
Teams should reflect on all of these different aspects of their activities so that they can make
necessary adjustments