Introduction to Principles of Agile Manifesto
Ever since the inception of the agile manifesto in the software development industry, it has achieved a remarkable feat in disrupting the whole idea of project management and delivery for organizations. When traditional methods of developing software in terms of writing complicated codes were prevalent, the agile manifesto has made life simpler for software developers, irrevocably making it construct simpler code programs that would take much lesser time for its’ testing and debugging, right up to delivering the project to the client before the stipulated scheduled time. The agile manifesto was created and introduced by a set of thoughtful leaders who were representatives from diverse programming and software development backgrounds. In this topic, we are going to learn about the Principles of the Agile Manifesto.
History
Much before the agile manifesto was known to the world; software development was a tedious process. This, in turn, led to many projects ending up unsuccessful because of not having the technical know-how processes to customize, edit, build, or alter a project’s specification to meet client standards. Furthermore, the primitive ‘Waterfall Model’ that existed as a one-time resolute to fix software development issues failed to streamline projects effectively, continuing to deliver projects beyond their deadlines.
The Agile Manifesto and its’ 12 principles were as a result introduced to curb these issues to a large extent. These 12 principles act like a guiding force that supports the project teams in executing agile-based projects. Collectively, these principles are used to like a litmus test to identify if a project is being run on agile or not.
How Does it Work?
Delivering the right technology to meet the client’s business requirements like features and applications is what exactly is taken care of by the agile manifesto. It is an absolute alternative to what used to exist earlier- documenting heavy-weight software development processes. Instead, agile software promotes simpler functional bits to be broken up to deliver a complete application just when they are finished and ready. The agile manifesto has 4 key-driven values, and surrounding it are 12 principles to focus on the development and also the delivery of high-end, quality worth software for business clients.
Principles of Agile Manifesto
Below are the 4 key-driven values, which are as follows:
1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
People should ideally be much more valued than tools or processes because it is clients who set up business expectations, needs, and requirements. Thus, people drive the development process.
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
Earlier, a huge amount of time was lost and wasted on documenting product development and project delivery details. In addition, different parameters of technical aspects needed approval for each. Agile software makes the documentation more streamlined, making it software-oriented through the concept of ‘user stories.
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
The agile manifesto invites a customer to be a collaborator all throughout the development process instead of being a negotiator compromising on technical issues. For example, periodic demos could be given to a customer to ensure satisfaction is met at all phases instead of negotiating on interests.
4. Responding to change over following a plan
Formerly, change was viewed as a burden and an expense, which has now been differently perceived by agile software. Agile allows the software to modify its’ process and make it a better fit for the needs of the client than just an unfixable project.
12 Principles that Surround the Concept of Agile Manifesto
Given below are the 12 principles that surround the concept of agile manifesto:
- Ensuring customer satisfaction from beginning to end of a project, promising to add valuable software on a continued basis, as and when required.
- Any change in requirements is gladly welcomed. This may happen even late during the development phase. In order to give the customer a cutting-edge competitive advantage, agile takes care of changes in the process.
- Delivering software as frequently as possible, from a few weeks to a couple of months, with more emphasis on short timescales.
- Developers and all those involved in the business should work together as a team in unison, right from the inception of the project until its’ delivery.
- Motivation plays a prime factor for individuals to get projects completed on due time. Therefore, a sound environment should be created, thriving on trust and support to get motivated individuals to pull one another up and build the project to get the job done.
- Effective and transparent passage of communication should be practiced to convey information that may be crucial for a project. Timely meetings, face-to-face conversations are vital here.
- The success of a project is to be measured by its’ working progress. The amount of work completed in developing the project is a key parameter that measures success.
- Seeking excellence is an ongoing thirst that should never be stopped. All teams should see it upon themselves to maintain a speed at which the software can be delivered on time.
- Attention to minute technical details enhances design outcomes. The right combination of skills and design, along with the speed of the team working on the project, ensures that the product has been improved, sustaining changes and flaws without any difficulties.
- Simplicity on the outside no matters the complexity inside.
- Self-organized teams help build beautiful architectures, requirements, and designs.
- Regular introspect on how to get more effective and better in improving designs, advancing skills, and acquiring techniques that would promise better results.
Conclusion – Principles of Agile Manifesto
The primary motive of the agile manifesto is catering to development to various business needs. The success of the agile manifesto has spoken volumes and is very apparent. Agile-based projects are purely customer-driven and involve the active participation of the customers and their guidance. In the agile system, teamwork is promoted and encouraged as it has been already proven time and again that learning in a group could yield far better results, and great results could be achieved when people are together. Of course, the digital media and the internet of things are important, but an individual’s contribution through effective communication and interaction through feedbacks, discussions, and ideas leads to much better results.
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