Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto was created in 2011 by a set of 17 signatories. This document establishes the main values and principles of the agile methodologies.
In the 90’s the software industry was facing a series of problems. Projects were normally delivered over time, over budget, and misfitted.
In February 2001, 17 people gathered in Utah to discuss the way they work. Above all, these 17 professionals already used agile methodologies like XP, Kanban, and Scrum. Consequently, in the end, everyone understood that even using different methods they all have common foundations. As a result, this will let them create the Agile Manifesto.
Even if it was created thinking in the software development, early cross barriers and start being used in other areas. In fact, Today is almost impossible to find someone that will say that it doesn’t benefit from faster, more productive, and informative delivers. This is due to the fact that the team is getting closer to the client, asks for feedback more often, and shows work in progress more often to the customer. This is because the manifesto was created and teams are adopting him.
Values of the Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto establishes 4 guiding values. They are:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
People are the ones who develop products and services. Because of that, it is important that communication is constant and clear. Consequently, this will allow the team to solve problems in an easier way. Processes and tools are also important but must be simple.
Working software over comprehensive documentation
The project’s objective is to develop software and is only concluded when the software is working. And to sum up, this is what the client wants. Documentation is important to use the software, but if the software doesn’t work, the documentation is not useful.
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
The team must see the client as an ally that works closely with them to reach objectives and the target. In other words, thinking of the client as an enemy can only lead to bad results.
Responding to change over following a plan
Teams must develop software in a very uncertain environment. There is no need to have a very detailed plan that must be followed step by step. There must be a margin to collect feedback and adjust to changes whenever needed.
To sum up, these values don’t pretend to deny procedures, tools, documentation, contracts, and plans. Instead, they pretend to establish a scale of priorities to introduce flexibility into projects. In the end, if the team doesn’t focus on the essentials and is worried about the accessory, the project can be harmed.mer: From Journeyman to Master.
Principles of the Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto establishes 12 principles of the agile method. They are:
- Guarantee client satisfaction, through the fast and continuous delivery of functional software.
- All changes are welcome, even the ones that arrive near the end of the project
- The team must deliver functional software frequently
- There must be a constant collaboration between the people that understand the business and the team
- Projects must be built around motivated persons. In other words, give them the support and environment they need and trust that they will manage to have the work done
- Face-to-face conversations are the most effective way to communicate with the team and inside the team
- The primary measure is a functional software
- Agile processes promote sustainable development. In other words, sponsors, programmers, and users must be able to keep a constant pace indefinitely
- Keep continuous attention to technical excellence and good design to increase agility
- Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential
- The best architectures, requirements, and projects emerge from self-organized teams.
- on a regular basis, the team must analyze how can be more efficient, adjusting their behavior accordingly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the manifesto, was, without a doubt a milestone in software development. He proved that developing software is not the same for everybody.
Some time ago, a new manifest, known as modern Agile appeared. But as it is not consensual, we leave it to you to evaluate this manifesto.
The Signatories
Robert C. Martin imagined a meeting with many people from software development to discuss the way they worked. His main objective was to find a solution to the problem the industry he was working for was facing. In the end, only 17 people show up. The reality is that even though they were so few, they ended up changing the direction of software development by creating the agile manifesto. The 17 signatories that were at the meeting are:
- Robert C. Martin
- Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum.
- Jeff Sutherland, the inventor of Scrum.
- Kent Back, co-creator of eXtreme Programming (XP).
- Ron Jeffries, co-creator of eXtreme Programming (XP).
- Mike Beedle, co-author of Scrum, Agile Software Development.
- Arie van Bennekum, of Integrated Agile.
- Alistair Cockburn, creator of Crystal, an agile methodology.
- Ward Cunningham, creator of the wiki concept.
- Martin Fowler, partner developer of Thoughtworks.
- James Grenning, author of the Test Driven Development.
- Jim Highsmith, creator of Adaptive Software Development (ASD).
- Andrew Hunt, co-author of the book, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master.
- Jon Kern acts in agile projects until today.
- Brian Marick, programmer and software testing consultant and author of several books of programming.
- Steve Mellor, computer scientist and idealist of Object-Oriented Systems Analysis (OOSA).
- Dave Thomas, programmer and co-author of the book, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master.
