Thoughts on the Agile Manifesto

The Agile Manifesto - What it means to me

The Manifesto for Agile Software Development started out as just that: for software development. Its inspiration, however, goes far beyond software development these days, as we learn to look at delivery of something valuable to a customer with a much broader lens.

At the core of the manifesto stands learning by doing and sharing the learnings. For a team, an organization to become agile, they are well advised to tend to the four values that are fostered by, and feed back into that learning core.

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We value individuals and interactions over processes and tools.

If we open our senses to the people and their interactions, we learn how to better create the product.

For me personally, this is the core driver for all the changes that becoming more agile entails. Having grown up in a culture that puts great importance on processes and tools, and having witnessed the resulting failures often enough, I was awestruck when I experienced the positive impact of good facilitation for the first time, and I was intrigued to learn more.

What does this mean when we apply it to our work?

As we build a product for our customers, we will encounter problems that no process or tool has anticipated because they are based on models, and we work in the real world. Ensuring that people can contribute to the best of their abilities and with the least hurdles possible helps us achieve result more effectively and with less unnecessary conflict.

The beauty of this statement lies in its reflexivity. As we discover Agile and begin to adopt and implement frameworks and practices, we may feel tempted to view some of them as a silver bullet. The manifesto reminds us to consider their impact on individuals and interactions and to keep in mind that our frameworks and practices are mere tools, too.

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We value working software over comprehensive documentation.

If we build it, we learn from the process of building it as well as from the reaction of the customer.

This is a call to create a product so good that it only requires a minimal level of documentation. It is also a call for user experience and interaction design being an integral part of product development. And last but not least it is a call for action: deliver something - something tangible - so that we can start verifying whether it really was the right thing to deliver.

What does this mean when we apply it to our work?

As we work on refining our product backlogs, adding more detail to backlog items, we must be aware of the point at which we have collected enough information, removed enough ambiguity, gained enough certainty, and eliminated enough risk to begin building the product or feature in question. Once it is built and delivered, we can collaborate with the customer to decide whether to pivot or persevere. Only by creating something tangible, more than a mere demo of screenshots or bullet points on some slides, can we establish how to proceed with more confidence. Keeping the documentation to a necessary minimum allows us to focus investments on product functionality and quality and reduces the cost of future changes, as there will be less documentation to update.

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We value customer collaboration over contract negotiation.

If we talk to the customer, we learn more about their needs.

The third value statement is a reminder that we should not assume we understand the customer’s needs correctly and to the full extent from the outset, nor assume we can create the perfect documentation upfront for what is to be delivered.

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What does this mean when we apply it to our work?

We must collaborate with our customer closely, directly, and on a frequent basis. Through collaboration we create a shared understanding of the problem to solve as well as a shared understanding of what a solution would look like that can meet the constraints of time, budget, and quality.

Many of the agile frameworks and methods have an element that builds in conversation with the customer or the user.

Another aspect of this statement is that frequent collaboration will foster the trust necessary to adapt when change to the plan will be required.

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We value responding to change over following a plan.

If we adapt to changes in and around the product team environment and the product’s customers needs, we can learn faster how to create a better product.

The last value is a reminder that the activity of planning, when done collaboratively, is a valuable activity. However, the resulting plan becomes obsolete quickly and requires frequent revision. This value advocates for establishing useful metrics to help the team make necessary decisions on whether to pivot or persevere.

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What does this mean when we apply it to our work?

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited with the idea that “the only constant in life is change”. Despite this ancient wisdom it is a perpetual challenge to prepare and organize for unexpected change, as we humans strive to minimize risk and therefore tend to find comfort in having a supposedly sound plan.

The desired adaptability to change requires a long-term vision, training our adaptability by doing a lot of small changes with less risk, and the ability to measure the impact of the changes that a team implements along the way. The latter allows for frequent inspection and adaptation to stay on course towards that vision. The frequency of inspection and adaptation helps increase the adaptability to change and the resiliency of the team or organization facing the change.

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That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

The last sentence of the manifesto invites to embrace the diversity and uniqueness of teams, organizations and situations, to embrace imperfection, to strive for growth regardless of their status regarding each of the value statements. When as Agilists we accept that the four value statements’ axes aren’t binaries, we can look at the challenges we have in front of us with a lens of thousands of possible, positive ways for improvement and truly start helping.

This change of perspective has enabled me to improve my listening and facilitation skills, allowing me to let go of judgment about something or someone not being agile enough, and helping them to grow at the speed that’s sustainable to them and to the extent they need.