Agile Methodology and Development

Agile software development began in the late 1990’s as several new programming methodologies came onto the scene. One common thread that tied them together was that they all encouraged close collaboration with programmers and business people, constant communication with the client, frequent releases of working software, and the ability to program in small self-organizing teams. In 2001 a workshop was held by a group of the thought leaders and practitioners of these methodologies in order to discuss the commonality in their work. They decided to use the word “agile” to name their emerging programming methodologies. They also developed the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, whose most important parts were the statement of shared development values and principles.

Below is the manifesto that was created at that workshop


Manifesto for Agile Software Development

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.