What is the Agile Manifesto?
10 min
Beginner
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Explain how scrum is a pivotal element of the Agile Movement
- Recognize the four values that underpin the Agile Manifesto
- Identify the twelve principles of the Agile Manifesto
- Explain how the twelve principles guide practices and enable teams to operate with agility
What is the Agile Movement?
The Agile Movement supports flexible, lean ways of working.
The Agile Movement emerged as a response to traditional, rigid project management approaches that often struggled to keep up with changing requirements and customer needs. Rooted in practices that include flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement, agile supports a culture where teams iterate quickly and respond effectively to change.
By embracing agile practices, teams can improve productivity, enhance customer satisfaction, and create a more dynamic and innovative working environment.
The Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto was created in 2001 by 17 developers who wanted to improve the software development process. They were looking for an alternative to documentation driven, heavyweight software development processes and over the course of 2 days developed the manifesto below that is still the center point of agile working today.
Is the Agile Manifesto applicable if you don't work in software? Yes! Although the Agile Manifesto was created with software development in mind, it can be applied to any team in any industry.
You can read the original Agile Manifesto at agilemanifesto.org.
The Agile Manifesto is built on four values that shape how teams work.
👇Click the boxes below to explore the four values of the Agile Manifesto.
Twelve principles
Twelve principles that guide how teams operate
The Agile Manifesto isn’t just about values – it’s backed by twelve principles that guide how teams operate. These principles emphasize continuous delivery, sustainable development, simplicity, and self-organizing teams. Here’s a quick breakdown:
👇Watch this video to learn more about the twelve principles.
The twelve principles help your team work in an agile way
👉 Let's consider a scenario to help break it down:
Acme Inc. is developing a sanitization system. They're three sprints into development when a major competitor unexpectedly releases a similar product with a unique feature: AI-powered system analysis.
Ideally, the team shouldn't be interrupted in the middle of a sprint, however there are times when an interruption is unavoidable to produce a product that is more effective for the customer. So, while they are midway through their plan, they need to respond quickly to maintain market competitiveness.
Agile teams embody the twelve principles, welcome changing requirements, and work closely with business stakeholders to adapt quickly to market demands, so what would Acme Inc.’s agile response look like?
👇Click the plus icons below to explore Acme Inc.'s agile response.
What is scrum?
Scrum is a cornerstone of the Agile Movement.
Scrum is a framework teams can use to create better outcomes. Scrum means shifting your mindset from working for an individual or a customer toward working for a team that holds the power to make meaningful change for the customer. Ultimately, everything you do within scrum creates change using the power of collaboration within a team, and each team member needs to embody the scrum values throughout the process.
Let’s look at a case study - The agile restaurant
The customer is always right… right? It’s easy to assume that any work that occurs in a customer service role is directly for the customer. We’d like to introduce you to Riccardo’s Restaurant in London. At the helm is Riccardo Mariti who, alongside Dr. Jeff Sutherland, the co-creator of Scrum, decided to venture into uncharted territory by integrating Scrum into the fine-dining industry.
What actions did Riccardo take to empower his staff?
👇Click the boxes below to see how Riccardo used scrum to help his team.
By challenging traditional hierarchical management of day-to-day tasks, Riccardo reduced the time needed for previously unwieldy tasks and found cost savings in the way staff were scheduled. By empowering his staff to be experts in what they were doing, he improved customer satisfaction and the job satisfaction of his employees.
The scrum approach created a fair and transparent system where the team established the rules and expectations for being a member. When you prioritize team autonomy, you cultivate an environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute.
If you’d like to read more about the agile restaurant you can find the case study here.
How was this lesson?
next lesson
What is the scrum framework?
- The definition of scrum
- Deliver products with scrum
- Adapt scrum to your work