A combination of methodologies and techniques that can help teams and companies to adapt to the ever-changing nature of software projects and also reduce the risks associated with them.
It was a huge revolution in the software industry that happened in 2001.
Agile disciplines and methodologies groups
Process-oriented
How teams and organizations should work, collaborate, and organize.
Focuses on building the right thing.
Technical-oriented
How to develop, grow, maintain and deliver the software.
Focuses on building the thing right.
We don’t do Agile. Either we are Agile or we are not.
Agile methodologies are all about quick and short feedback loops. It helps to know if a feature is commercially viable sooner and reduce the risk of investing resources in something that is not needed.
Agile hangover
Many Agile projects are now, steadily and iteratively, producing crap code.
Many companies went through partial transformation. They changed only first half - the process. Process became more important than technical excellence But the software is still the main deliverable, and technical-oriented disciplines and methodologies are what makes developers better and helps them write better software.
Agile coaches sold their customers a Toyota dream, focusing only on the changes in their process, but not on the quality of their cars. Both should be highlighted, and neither should be ignored.
Software craftsmanship addresses that.
Agile manifesto
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 is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
12 principles
- Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
- Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
- Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
- Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
- Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
- The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
- Working software is the primary measure of progress.
- Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
- Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
- Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done - is essential.
- The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
- At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.