In our previous post, we have discussed about Agile Development Methodology and its increasing adoption by the software firms, which promotes high levels visibility, predictability, and quality by adapting and iterative development approach.

Continuing our discussion further, we would now discuss about the values entrenched in the Agile methodology. The Manifesto for Agile Software Development highlights 4 value statements, which we’ll explain for better understanding of the methodology.

The Agile Values:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Individuals work together to build software systems, in which processes provide them guidance and tools help them improve their efficiency. But, it is the people, with right technical and behavioral skills make all the difference, because without right people all the processes and tools can’t produce results on their own.

Working software over comprehensive documentation. Agile development emphasizes documentation to build products and software, as documents support communication and collaboration, enhance knowledge transfer, preserve historical information, assist ongoing product enhancement, and fulfill regulatory and legal requirements.

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. Agile development is driven by customers, product managers and development team, where each has specific roles, responsibilities and responsibilities. Keeping the letter and spirit of the contract, the project team delivers value to customers.

Responding to change over following a plan. During the development lifecycle of the project, priorities are changed for a plethora of reasons such as changed understanding of the project stakeholders, changing business environment, changing and evolving new technologies and platforms, etc. In such a changing environment, there should be room for change in the project plan. And, project plan should have the flexibility and adaptability to the change.