What are agile principles?
Agile principles are the twelve guiding statements outlined in the Agile Manifesto. Popular among software teams, agile is an iterative project management methodology used to create and deliver products quickly.
In 2001, 17 practitioners in the software industry created the Agile Manifesto, a short document proposing a new way to approach software development. The Manifesto includes four values and 12 principles to drive a more flexible and collaborative process.
Project management software provides the tools for agile teams to manage and track their workflow and progress. Teams can use a Kanban board to organize project tasks and create visualizations like burndown charts to track progress toward a project or sprint.
The 12 agile principles
The Agile Manifesto lists the 12 essential guidelines for working together as an effective, efficient team.
- Strive for customer satisfaction. Development teams should work toward continuous product improvement and delivery. Delivering a minimum viable product (MVP) sooner is better than making customers wait for long stretches for products and updates.
- Be flexible with changing requirements. Agile is an iterative methodology; change is inevitable. While making adjustments early in the process is typically more cost-effective, accepting late-stage customer requests protects the development team’s reputation, ensures product quality, and generates more revenue.
- Deliver working software frequently. Developers should deliver products within two weeks to two months and strive for the shorter end of this timeframe. Short feedback loops mitigate risk and help customers feel heard.
- Foster collaboration between business people and developers. Weekly check-ins aren’t enough; daily is preferred. In agile, teams break down silos between the business and technology sides to ensure all parties are on the same page.
- Harness the energy of motivated team members. Committed and motivated individuals raise the effort and output of the group as a whole. Teams should provide these workers with the resources and support to be successful.
- Communicate face-to-face. Agile specifies that teams should communicate face-to-face when possible. This adds a layer of non-verbal communication. However, for efficiency’s sake, the development team can opt to send messages or emails to stakeholders.
- Measure progress through working software. In agile, the true measure of progress is not movement on a Gantt chart, burndown chart, or demo delivery. To demonstrate success and complete a sprint, a team must deliver a fully developed, tested, and approved software product or feature.
- Encourage sustainable processes. Even though time-boxed periods are called sprints, agile teams should approach them like a marathon. Developers should maintain a steady, constant pace to avoid burnout and fatigue.
- Maintain attention to technical excellence and design quality. Both are needed to maintain agility as a team as they inspire confidence in stakeholders and prevent costly do-overs down the road.
- Keep it simple. This means removing unnecessary steps or meetings from the team’s to-do list so that only essential work remains. Essential work is defined as items that add value to the project or product.
- Allow teams to self-organize. Teams that organize themselves find the best ways to get jobs done and create the best designs. Without a manager taking a top-down approach, they feel empowered and accomplished.
- Reflect regularly. Agile software teams constantly reflect on what’s working and what’s not so that they can make changes to processes for future sprints.
Benefits of agile principles
Software teams have adhered to agile principles for decades because of their many advantages over traditional development approaches. Some specific benefits include:
- Increased flexibility. The agile principles promote adaptability; team members should respond quickly to obstacles and strategic shifts. This nimble approach helps teams become more efficient and reduces the risk of missed deadlines.
- Better collaboration. Agile encourages collaboration between team members, customers, and stakeholders. With open lines of communication and daily meetings, or stand-ups, teams can work together to solve problems quickly and increase their team alignment.
- Improved customer satisfaction. The twelve principles make customer satisfaction a priority. By delivering working software that meets customers’ needs, the software development team increases customer loyalty and builds a positive reputation in the industry.
- More visibility and transparency. The principles emphasize the importance of transparency by prominently displaying data and progress for all to see. For example, a team might use a burnup or burndown chart to report project or sprint progress, increase trust, and improve accountability.
- Improved risk management. The agile methodology encourages teams to identify obstacles early so they can plan to mitigate them. By following the principles, teams have less risk of overall failure since projects are continuously improved and refined instead of presented all at once.
Learn more about the agile project management methodology and its benefits for software development teams.
Kelly Fiorini
Kelly Fiorini is a freelance writer for G2. After ten years as a teacher, Kelly now creates content for mostly B2B SaaS clients. In her free time, she’s usually reading, spilling coffee, walking her dogs, and trying to keep her plants alive. Kelly received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Notre Dame and her Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Louisville.
