Unpacking the Agile Manifesto: Exploring Its Values & Principles - Paper Sample

Agile processes refer to how a group of software developers can collaboratively manage a business venture by breaking it down into different stages and involving stakeholders with continuous improvement and alteration at every step of the project (Beck et al., 2001). An Agile Manifesto is a document that identifies 12 principles and four fundamental values that its authors believe should be a guide for software developers doing their work (Beck et al., 2001). The paper, therefore, seeks to discover how agile processes can implement public value through organizations. Besides that, it aims to provide an in-depth analysis of what an Agile Manifesto is and what it does.

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The Agile Manifesto developers referred to themselves as the Agile Alliance, and they were seeking alternative processes of software development that they thought were too focused on documentation requirements and were too complicated for them (Nerur et al., 2012). The Agile Manifesto was developed by a group of 17 software developers at The Lodge at the Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah in February 2001 (Nerur et al., 2015). The Manifesto is aimed at uncovering better ways of developing software by doing and, at the same time, helping others do it (Wadhwa & Sharma, 2015). Through their extensive work, the developers introduced values that would guide other developers. The core values of the Agile Manifesto are; customer collaboration over contract negotiation, working software over comprehensive documentation, responding to change over following a specific plan, and finally, individuals and interactions over processes and tools (Wadhwa & Sharma, 2015). The document is derived from a group of principles that can be generally applied broadly and quickly learned. Since its development, it has been used by coders and various marketing departments for restaurants.

The Agile process of software development begins with clients giving a general description of the uses of the product they want to be developed and what problem, in particular, they want to grow through the project. To the development team, this brings out and clarifies the customer's expectations to them. Therefore, Agile processes create and implement public value through organizations by continuously collaborating with the various team members and stakeholders to bring out the best results (Wadhwa & Sharma, 2015). Once the project has begun, adequate planning and evaluation are done by the project teams which might, in the long run, change the outcome of the project to fit the specifications of the client better (Wadhwa & Sharma, 2015).

The 12 principles as articulated in the Agile Manifesto include customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of valuable work (Schuh et al., 2018). Through this principle, developers will ensure that at every stage of software development, the client will give their input on what they would love to be implemented and focused on more. In turn, this will create greater customer satisfaction (Schuh et al., 2018). Customer satisfaction is the highest priority for the Agile Manifesto software development. Breaking down work into smaller tasks that can be completed quickly is another principle that enhances efficiency and ensures that at every stage, the job is done with precision (Martins & Zacarias, 2017). For the public's common good, organizations should engage more with individuals and involve them in the agile process as the final product of their business enterprise is meant for them and their satisfaction. Therefore, by creating strategies that promote sustainable efforts between the stakeholders, the team, and the general public, the process's outcome would be favorable to all three parties (Martins & Zacarias, 2017).

However, despite the authors of the Agile Manifesto's significant efforts to provide alternative sources to software development, there have been controversies and criticism against the whole process. Agile has been widely accepted throughout the technology industry by software development teams and information technology departments. It has been credited with making projects on software more desirable and successful at meeting business and customer needs and developing and producing software quickly (Martins & Zacarias, 2017). Despite massive success, critics accuse Agile as being overhyped by the industry. They argue that organizations have different cultures and that Agile processes would not be a perfect fit for all organizations. They also claim that it is time consuming and therefore, it will hinder the organizations from reaching their full potential since they would need to discuss at every stage of development. Critics also say that some Agile process development teams do not have the agile mentality they claim to have. They may have just abandoned their knowledge of traditional development techniques without actually employing and embracing the values and principles of Agile processes (Martins & Zacarias, 2017). The Agile approach of project management is an excellent way of developing client-based software as it focuses on every need of the customer. Successful collaboration between the clients and the Agile software developers will ensure efficiency and clarity at every stage of creation. The 12 guiding principles and values of the Agile Manifesto ensure that the Agile process is a great way of managing projects for organizations despite the criticism it gets.

References

Beck, K., Beedle, M., Van B., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., & Kern, J. (2001). Manifesto for Agile software development. https://agilemanifesto.org/

Dingsøyr, T., Nerur, S., Balijepally, V., & Moe, N. B. (2012). A decade of Agile methodologies: Towards explaining Agile software development. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0164121212000532

Martins, P. V., & Zacarias, M. (2017). An Agile business process improvement methodology. Procedia Computer Science, 121, 129-136.

https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/69648314-c65d-3e1a-8a9f-0f5ac8d7a484/Schuh, G., Dölle, C., Kantelberg, J., & Menges, A. (2018). Identification of Agile Mechanisms of Action As Basis for Agile Product Development. Procedia CIRP, 70, 19-24. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212827118300179

Wadhwa, M., & Sharma, N. (2015). Review of agile software development methodologies. Advances in Computer Science and Information Technology, 2(4), 370-374. https://www.krishisanskriti.org/