So Long and Thanks for all the Manifestos : Redux

I recently wrote this article for Visual Studio Magazine’s Agile/Scrum column and it just went to press. In this article, So Long and Thanks for all the Manifestos, I make a case for a new standard for agile software delivery. Simply put, we are now standing on the shoulders of giants like the Agile Manifesto signatories and 12 years of shared learning in the various agile communities. And things are bit clearer today than they were a decade years ago.

The original value statements and supporting values of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development are valid, valuable, and rare. There are plenty of teams out there delivering software without any formal acknowledgement or even awareness of the Agile Manifesto. Far be it from me to assert these teams aren’t agile just because the don’t follow a particular dogma or implement a specific technique.

In the last few years those teams I consider truly agile demonstrate similar patterns of behavior. To be honest, the values expressed in the Agile Manifesto may or not be present in these teams. Rather than thinking deeply about the value statements, many teams focus on behaviors I’ll call the 3 Pillars of Pragmatic Agility.

3 Pillars of Pragmatic Agility

1. Ship often.
2. Keep quality high.
3. Use feedback to improve.

There is obviously a lot to discern and discuss about these three very high-level behaviors. I will leave the details for future writing, pontificating, and arguing.