The Agile Manifesto
The 2001 manifesto: its four values and what stays useful on the right, its principles on delivery and pace, and what changes compared with predictive projects (adjustable scope, fixed time and cost).
- 23 cards
- 5 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
- Sort and link
- Scenarios
- Understand
A few cards from the deck
Agile Manifesto: what is it?
Show the answer
A 2001 text written by seventeen software practitioners, setting out four values and twelve principles for working differently from fixed plans.
It describes no method: Scrum, Kanban or Extreme Programming all claim it, each with its own practices.
According to the Agile Manifesto, what is the primary measure of progress?
- Working software
- The number of approved design documents
- Keeping to the schedule drawn up at the launch
- The number of hours the team reports
Show the answer
Working software
Documents, schedules and hours describe activity, not outcome. The manifesto measures what the user can actually use.
The manifesto prefers “…” to comprehensive documentation, without denying the value of the latter.
Show the answer
The manifesto prefers “working software” to comprehensive documentation, without denying the value of the latter.
Each value reads “this over that”: what is on the right keeps some importance, but what is on the left comes first.
Agile software development: what is it?
Show the answer
A way of building software in close collaboration with the customer: frequent deliveries, welcoming change and a plan adjusted from their feedback.
The plan is not dropped: it is redone often, with what has just been learned.
An “agile” team holds all its ceremonies but shows the customer nothing for six months. What is the cause, and what should be done?
- Ceremonies are missing: add a weekly follow-up meeting with the customer and a monthly report
- The manifesto does not apply to this project: go back to a detailed six-month plan approved by the client
- The customer is too busy: document progress each week in a full report and send it to them
- Rituals without value: deliver a usable version each cycle and collect the customer's feedback
Show the answer
Rituals without value: deliver a usable version each cycle and collect the customer's feedback
Following the meeting calendar does not make a team agile. Without frequent delivery and customer feedback there is no learning loop and no course correction: this is agile in name only.