The Agile Marketer

Chapter 4The Rise of Agile

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.¹

—Charles Darwin

In 2001, 17 developers got together to formulate the Agile Manifesto. This manifesto establishes an alternative to what they characterized as “heavyweight, documentation-driven” software development. The developers collectively represented a range of adaptive development approaches, including Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Adaptive Software Development, Crystal, Feature-Driven Development, and Pragmatic Programming. The Agile Manifesto is based on four values:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation.
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
4. 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.²

Underlying These Values Are 12 Principles

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference for the shorter timescale.
4. Businesspeople and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around ...