On the slopes of Agile Manifesto #20thAnniversary

11th February 2021 marked 20 years since the creation of the Agile Manifesto in the Wasatch mountains of Utah.

Attended by 7 of the 17 founders Alistair Cockburn, Robert C. Martin, Jon Kern, Jim Highsmith, James Grenning, Arie van Bennekum & Steve Mellor we heard about the history behind the values and principles that hold as much worth today, as they did when first dreamt up.

The first value of 'Individuals and interactions' stemmed as the core of the manifesto, and reason it comes first is people, humanity is of highest importance. The group 'generously listened' to each other and what this translated to was a respectful & collaborative approach to agreeing on defining a culture. 17 thumbs up was how the values were locked down - which the founders admitted, was a rarity in that scenario and something that needed 'egos to be left at the door' to work.

For those not familiar with the 4 values, they are unwrapped below;

The values were agreed upon to remain as they were written. The idea to update them over time was questioned, but the group dismissed this as they discussed 'they wouldn't have been able to all agree again on any change, the first time round was unique'

This was the Past of how the values that comprised of a way of working got the 'Agile' naming.

You can find the full session available here, which continues the story of the present & future.