#1: The Agile Values

Hi,

Welcome to my newsletter! I hope you are having a great week.

Each week I will share one insight, one?quote and one?question around a theme; this week, it is the?Agile values.

Without further ado, let's get to it.

One Insight I've Had

In 2001, a group of brilliant software engineers created the Agile Manifesto. It was a revolutionary style of product development that broke free from the stifling and limiting project management frameworks. It was an incredibly compelling vision and inspired some of the most creative, intelligent, and progressive product development ever witnessed.

The Agile Manifesto contained four values and 12 principles rather than rules and regulations.

It favoured lightweight frameworks over deeply comprehensive, detailed, and mandatory steps.

Twenty-one years later, we're seeing Agile evolve as it becomes more mainstream. It took roughly 25 years before we learned how to harness the opportunity of electricity. It has taken approximately 25 years to do the same with the Internet.

Agile is no different, and we're only now starting to see this philosophy and culture of excellence integrated into traditional organisations.

In the 21st Century, the degree of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity has made it almost impossible to work and innovate effectively using 20th Century tools, frameworks and dogma.

I am passionate about helping to grow and nurture the next generation of Scrum Masters and Agile coaches that will take the opportunity of Agile and Business Agility to the next level.

I've created a?YouTube channel?and a?blog?that answers some of the most frequently asked questions and serves as a guide to many of the daily challenges scrum masters and agile coaches encounter. This newsletter also provokes thought and discussion around Agile, Scrum and continuous improvement as a Scrum Master.

Despite the success of Agile to date, seen in companies like Netflix, Amazon and Spotify, I firmly believe that we have only just begun to scratch the surface of what is possible using this culture and philosophy of business agility. I look forward to working with you as we start our journey to mastery.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

One Quote

"Individuals and Interactions?over?Processes and Tools. Working software?over?Comprehensive Documentation. Customer Collaboration?over?Contract Negotiation. Responding to Change?over?Following a Plan.

The word 'over' is crucial because we want both sides of the equation; it's just that experience demonstrates that the left-hand side of the value is invariably more indicative of success than the right-hand side of the value."

– John McFadyen, from 'How does a Scrum Master help instil Agile values and principles in a scrum team?'

And A Question For You

When was the last time you sat down and reflected on the Agile values and principles?

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