The Agile Manifesto

From: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

We follow these principles:

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

* Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
* Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
* Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
* Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
* The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
* Working software is the primary measure of progress.
* Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
* Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
* Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
* The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
* At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Declaration of Interdependence

From: http://pmdoi.org/

Agile and adaptive approaches for linking people, projects and value.

We are a community of project leaders that are highly successful at delivering results. To achieve these results:

* We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus.
* We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership.
* We expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation, and adaptation.
* We unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate source of value, and creating an environment where they can make a difference.
* We boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness.
* We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes and practices.

(with a copyright notice no less)

The title "Declaration of Interdependence" has multiple meanings. It means that project team members are part of an interdependent whole and not a group of unconnected individuals. It means that project teams, their customers, and their stakeholders are also interdependent. Project teams who do not recognize this interdependence will rarely be successful.

These values also form an interdependent set. While each is important independent of the others, the six form a system of values that provides a modern view of managing projects, particularly the complex, uncertain ones. The six statements -- value, uncertainty, customers, individuals, teams, and context (situationally specific) -- define an inseparable whole. For example: It's hard to deliver value without a customer who values something. It's hard to have viable teams without recognizing individual contributions. It's hard to manage uncertainty without applying situational specific strategies.

Each of the value statements have a distinct form -- why the item is important precedes the description of the value. So, "increasing return on investment" is why focusing on continuous flow of value is important. The value statements emphasize the importance of delivering reliable (not the same as repeatable) results, managing uncertainty, unleashing creativity and innovation, boosting performance, and improving effectiveness.

Each of the means statements conveys what this group thinks are the most important aspects of modern project management, and they also attempt to differentiate an agile-adaptive style of project management. For example, in the last value statement, the phrase "situationally specific strategies, processes, and practices," indicates that these items should not be overly standardized and static, but dynamic to fit the needs of projects and teams. Other styles of project management are more prone to standardization and prescriptive processes.

If you are interested in more information on this organization, please visit our web site or follow the discussion on www.groups.yahoo.com/group/agileprojectmanagement.

State of Agile

http://www.versionone.com/state-of-agile-survey-results/

Agile Momentum

Future plans to implement agile grew from 59% in 2011 -> 83% in 2012. Nearly half said their organization has 5+ agile teams (48%), compared to only 33% in 2011.

Why Agile?

The top 3 benefits obtained include: the ability to manage changing priorities (90%), productivity (85%) & project visibility (84%).

How NOT to Fail at Agile

When agile projects have failed, in 2/3 of these cases it was because of either failure to integrate the right people or to teach a team-based culture. Top success factors when scaling agile: (1) Executive sponsorship – 23%, (2) Training/workshops – 18%, (3) Implementation of a common tool – 13%.