Understanding the 12 Principles of Agile Manifesto

Yaz Tokdemir PMP, CSP
Nov 2 · 5 min read

Agile is all about inspection, adaptation, and transparency. Regardless of your experience level with Agile practices and techniques, the groundwork for Agile methodologies is based on best practices set to enable collective environments where diverse and self-organizing teams can learn, grow and produce in a continuous manner.

There are 12 principles of Agile manifesto that help teams to form an agile foundation of collaborative work and discover better ways of developing software. These 12 principles act as a simple guideline to build high performing agile teams in software development.

“Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.”

When customers receive the software in iteratively and incrementally, they become more satisfied compared to waiting from start to finish until the project ends. That is why the minimal viable product (MVP) is one of the most important concepts that Agile introduced to the world.

scrum master and product owner are working collaboratively on user stories to refine and prioritize product backlog items
scrum master and product owner are working collaboratively on user stories to refine and prioritize product backlog items

“Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.”

The agile methodology involves iterative practices where short cycles of development phases occur. These are called “Sprints” which help deliver working software frequently to the client. This allows development teams to get constant feedback from customers and begin receiving a return on their investment at the early stages of the product development lifecycle.

“Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.”

Agile encourages teams to accommodate changing requirements. The software development process requires changes at various stages, and it means that our original plan may no longer be the best option. Therefore, we need to be able to adapt and change our direction to better fit the changing circumstances.

scrum team members are having a sprint planning meeting and working on user story estimations and acceptance criteria
scrum team members are having a sprint planning meeting and working on user story estimations and acceptance criteria

“Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project”

Collaboration is the key to success in any project where the business stakeholders, development team and customer work in harmony throughout the project lifecycle. This practice also provides the ability of a rapid change in project direction if necessary.

“The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is a face-to-face conversation.”

Don’t expect high productivity communicating by sending emails when you can talk to someone in person. Real conversations also foster team communication.

“Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need and trust them to get the job done.”

It’s a fact that empowered teams build better products. Agile methodologies encourage creating a positive atmosphere at the workplace by motivating the team members and trusting them to do the job.

an agile team is having a conversation during a sprint review meeting discussing about user stories
an agile team is having a conversation during a sprint review meeting discussing about user stories

“The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.”

Best results = Self-organizing teams. Giving the team autonomy is better than micro-management(please check here for 3 Coaching skills that will make you a better manager). In Agile, decisions are made for the team, by the team because they are self-organizing. The team knows the best ways to achieve the vision.

“Working software is the primary measure of progress.”

Agile adopts the idea of delivering working software to the customer as the main outcome of a project. The primary measure of success for a project will only be fully functional software delivered at the right time.

“Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.”

As Agile adopts the iterative and incremental delivery methods, maintaining a steady output of small and releasable features is not only a more maintainable working approach but also helps you forecast when features might go live.

an agile team is having a sprint retrospective meeting to discuss about development team performance on the sprint
an agile team is having a sprint retrospective meeting to discuss about development team performance on the sprint

“Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.”

Cutting corners may seem beneficial sometimes but its benefits won’t last long, and it usually comes back to bite you later. Building a product on top of poorly written code will probably cause you more headaches with all bugs and defects.

“Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.”

Agile methodology adopts simplicity at the very center of the product development model. The best results often come from simple and understandable actions. Keeping it simple doesn’t necessarily mean cutting corners, it means not over-working it.

“At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.”

Improvement is the way to go. Even if you think you are working effectively, there is always room to grow. In Agile, skills and techniques can always be fine-tuned and adjusted for more work efficiency.

Conclusion

Agile is getting more and more popular each day. Projects are moving to the agile method of software development as companies started seeing its benefits since its introduction in 2001(Check Agile Manifesto). If you are a project manager in software development, it is good to apply the Agile practices to the work. It will help you to build high performing teams, foster the collaboration among team members and yield high-quality output.

*If you would like to learn more about Agile and Scrum, please visit my website. I publish at least one new article every week.

Yaz has 10 years of experience in Fortune 500 companies and global engineering firms managing mission-critical information technology and large-scale software development projects. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering and several professional certifications including Project Management Professional (PMP®), Agile Certified Professional (PMI-ACP®), Certified ScrumProfessional® (CSP®), Scrum Master Certified (SMC™), ITIL®(Information Technology Infrastructure Library) v4 Foundation and Six Sigma Green Belt.

This article first appeared on my Agile Coaching & Leadership Blog at https://yaztokdemir.com/the-3-levels-of-listening-for-managers/

Yaz Tokdemir PMP, CSP

Written by

Certified Agile Coach, Scrum Trainer, PMP Instructor, Lean Six Sigma Practitioner @ www.yaztokdemir.com

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