- To better understand the Agile mindset,
you have to start by looking at
the manifesto for Agile Software Development,
or what's commonly called the Agile Manifesto.
The Agile Manifesto
is a set of statements of four values and 12 principles
that are intended to help you embrace an Agile mindset.
The first part of the manifesto outlines the values.
It reads, "we are uncovering better ways
of developing software by doing it
and helping others do it".
Through this work, we have come to value individuals
and interactions over processes and tools.
Working software over comprehensive documentation,
customer collaboration, over contract negotiation.
responding to change over following a plan.
That is while there are value on the items on the right,
we value the items on the left more.
Notice that these are just the values.
The manifesto also includes some principles
that we'll go over in another video.
An Agile team should have a mindset
that's consistent with the values and principles
in the Agile manifesto.
So you can think of this as a guide
for how to think about your work.
To give you a little background,
the manifesto was sketched out in a white board
back in February of 2001,
it was part of a meeting with 17 middle-aged men
in a conference room on the ski slopes in Utah.
These developers wanted to find a new way
for large organizations to deliver software.
They wanted to start a revolution
against their organization's
cumbersome development processes.
That's why they use language like manifesto and values.
You don't usually hear words like that in business meetings.
None of these developers thought that you should give up
planning and documentation.
They just thought that organizations
needed to change their focus.
That's why they point out at the end of the manifesto,
that they put more value on the items on the left
than they do value items on the right.
Over the years, the Agile manifesto
has become a battle cry for organizational transformation.
The manifesto is typically written on a whiteboard
or posted on the wall of an Agile team shared workspace.
It's important to keep in mind that these values
are just designed to show you the big picture.
Taken at face value, they're not very actionable.
Think about if your manager told you one morning
that they wanted you to focus on individuals
and interactions and less on processes and tools.
You probably wouldn't know where to start,
but that's okay because the values are not designed
to be practical, they're starting points
to change the way you think about your work.
Even after several decades,
the values and the Agile manifesto
still represent radical departure
from how most organizations operate.
Most organizations still prefer long-term plans
and have very cumbersome tools and processes.
So when starting your transformation,
take a look back to the manifesto and see
if these changes are consistent with the Agile values.