Agile Manifesto: Exploring the Values & Principles

[Peter_DevSamurai]

Hi, I'm Peter from DevSamurai. Today, let's deep dive in what QA and QC normally run into and how to overcome those challenges in agile testing.

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So What is the Agile Manifesto? 

The Agile Manifesto is a written record that delineates the fundamental values and principles of the Agile philosophy. Agile Manifesto stands on 4 foundational values and is driven by 12 underlying principles, aiming to create a balanced and sustainable development environment.

The Four Core Values of the Agile Manifesto

1. Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools

The first value prioritizes human interaction and collaboration over rigid processes and tools. While processes and tools are integral to project management and development, the Agile Manifesto emphasizes the importance of fostering a collaborative environment where individuals work cohesively to solve problems and innovate. Thus, the belief is that effective interaction among competent individuals is the cornerstone for finding solutions to unforeseen challenges and achieving project success.

2. Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation

This second value shifts the focus from extensive documentation to the delivery of functional software. It advocates for delivering software with essential features promptly and iteratively, enabling feedback from users and stakeholders early in the development process. Similarly, this approach ensures that the software developed is in tune with user needs and expectations, reducing the time and resources spent on extensive documentation that may not add value to the end user.

3. Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

Agile underscores the importance of continuous customer involvement throughout the development process. In other words, this collaborative approach ensures that the evolving product aligns with customer expectations and that any changes in requirements are addressed promptly and effectively. Plus, it reflects a shift from contractual adherence to cooperation, fostering a deeper understanding of customer needs and a more adaptive development process.

4. Responding to Change over Following a Plan

Finally, flexibility and adaptability are central to Agile. Elaborating on that, even with a well-structured plan, the Agile Manifesto emphasizes the ability to adapt to changes and emerging realities in the project landscape. To clarify, this value promotes a dynamic development environment where learning and adjustments are integral, allowing for the continuous refinement of the project to meet evolving needs and challenges.

The 12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto

1. Customer Satisfaction through Early and Continuous Delivery

The foremost principle is delivering valuable software early and continuously, prioritizing customer satisfaction and feedback.

2. Welcome Changing Requirements

Agile welcomes alterations in requirements at any stage of development, harnessing changes for the customer’s competitive advantage.

3. Deliver Working Software Frequently

The emphasis is on consistent, frequent delivery of functional software, preferring shorter timescales to enhance adaptability.

4. Collaboration between Business People and Developers

Business stakeholders and developers must collaborate daily to ensure alignment between business objectives and development activities.

5. Supportive, Trusting Environment

Building projects around motivated individuals, providing the environment and support they need, and trusting them to accomplish tasks effectively is pivotal in Agile.

6. Face-to-face Interaction for Information Conveyance

Direct, face-to-face conversation is the most efficient and effective method of conveying information within a development team.

7. Working Software as the Primary Measure of Progress

Progress in Agile is principally measured by the delivery of functional software, aligning development efforts with tangible outcomes.

8. Maintain a Constant Pace Indefinitely

Sustainable development is key in Agile, requiring a balanced pace that can be maintained indefinitely by all stakeholders.

9. Excellence and Good Design

Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility by creating a robust, adaptable development framework.

10. Simplicity and Maximizing Work Not Done

Simplicity in design and development, focusing on what is necessary and maximizing the amount of work not done, is essential in Agile.

11. Self-Organizing Teams for Best Architecture, Requirements, and Design

Empowering self-organizing teams enhances the emergence of the best architectures, requirements, and designs, fostering innovation and adaptability.

12. Regular Reflection and Adjustment

Teams must regularly reflect on their effectiveness and adjust their behaviors and actions accordingly to improve performance and outcomes.

Use AgileTest to Get Started with Agile

AgileTest positions itself as a commendable competitor to Xray & Zephyr. In this capacity, it facilitates effective management of requirements and defects and offers API and CLI integrations, ensuring synchronized operation with automated testing, BDD, CI/CD pipelines, and various DevOps tools. Such integration elevates the efficiency and performance of your software development processes significantly.

Moreover, AgileTest is unwavering in its commitment to enhancing its offerings with forthcoming features like Sprint Test , designed explicitly for the assessment of the Scrum team’s work sprint-by-sprint, and upcoming Automation features. These advancements provide open APIs and functionalities to support automated testing, and integration with CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps tools.

For more details, check out this video

=> If you love to test our app for free, try our app on the Atlassian Marketplace! 

[Bill Sheboy]

Greetings community!

When writing commentaries / interpretations of the Agile Manifesto and the Principles behind the Agile Manifesto, I respectfully suggest:

• providing links to the original sources, allowing readers to compare what was stated versus what was interpreted; and
• not leaving off portions of either from the interpretations, such as the first and last sentences of the manifesto.

For the missing references, please see:

https://agilemanifesto.org/
https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

Kind regards,
Bill