The Agile Manifesto
Agile is a quick, simple, lightweight and effective way of managing projects. In traditional project management models, everything is sequential and strictly planned, but in the Agile framework, the unpredictable nature of product development is taken into consideration by welcoming changes. Instead of a one-time delivery of a full-featured product, the Agile approach focuses on breaking the product development into iterative deliverable pieces of functionalists.
In 2001, a group of software practitioners proposed the Agile manifesto for pursuing better ways of developing software. This new method is based on four key values and twelve principles. The Agile Manifesto values “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”, “Working software over comprehensive documentation”, “Customer collaboration over contract negotiation” and “Responding to change over following a plan”. There are different frameworks to practice the Agile concepts and the Agile manifesto in a real working environment. One of these frameworks is Scrum. Scrum is a lightweight framework for developing complex products.
Four Values of the Agile Manifesto
We look at each value of Agile Manifesto in more details in the eyes of the Scrum framework.
1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Scrum is a team-based approach with the aim of delivering value to the business. Scrum focuses on cross-functionality and autonomy of the development team. Though tools and processes are also important, without having a team working and interacting effectively, it would be much more difficult to achieve a successful final product. Apart from team member collaboration, scrum encourages interaction with customers and stakeholders to get their feedback on the developed product. To provide the opportunity for team interaction, Scrum provides different time-boxed events such as daily stand-up meetings, sprint planning meetings, and retrospective meetings.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course:
Course Contents
Section 1: Agile Project Management
Section 2: Using the Agile Manifesto to Deliver Change
Section 3: The 12 Agile Principles
Section 4: The Agile Fundamentals
Section 5: The Declaration of Interdependence
Section 6: Agile Development Frameworks
Section 7: Introduction to Scrum
Section 8: Scrum Projects
Section 9: Scrum Project Roles
Section 10: Meet the Scrum Team
Section 11: Building the Scrum Team
Section 12: Scrum in Projects, Programs & Portfolios
Section 13: How to Manage an Agile Project
Section 14: Leadership Styles
Section 15: The Agile Project Life-cycle
Section 16: Business Justification with Agile
Section 17: Calculating the Benefits With Agile
Section 18: Quality in Agile
Section 19: Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 20: Quality Management in Scrum
Section 21: Change in Scrum
Section 22: Integrating Change in Scrum
Section 23: Managing Change in Scrum
Section 24: Risk in Scrum
Section 25: Risk Assessment Techniques
Section 26: Initiating an Agile Project
Section 27: Forming the Scrum Team
Section 28: Epics and Personas
Section 29: Creating the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 30: Conduct Release Planning
Section 31: The Project Business Case
Section 32: Planning in Scrum
Section 33: Scrum Boards
Section 34: Sprint Planning
Section 35: User Stories
Section 36: User Stories and Tasks
Section 37: The Sprint Backlog
Section 38: Implementation of Scrum
Section 39: The Daily Scrum
Section 40: The Product Backlog
Section 41: Scrum Charts
Section 42: Review and Retrospective
Section 43: Scrum of Scrums
Section 44: Validating a Sprint
Section 45: Retrospective Sprint
Section 46: Releasing the Product
Section 47: Project Retrospective
Section 48: The Communication Plan
Section 49: Formal Business Sign-off
Section 50: Scaling Scrum
Section 51: Stakeholders
Section 52: Programs and Portfolios