How Do We Get Back to the Values and Principles of Agile?

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend Agile 2014 in Orlando this year. Fortunately, the agile community loves to share. While reading the many blogs and tweets from the conference, I spotted a trend:   Scrum co-creator, Ken Schwaber, wants the word “agile” back.

[featured-image single_newwindow=”false” alt=”Ged Carroll | Pow | Flickr” title=”Ged Carroll | Pow | Flickr”]Ged Carroll | Pow | Flickr[/featured-image]

 “What is Agile?”

After returning home from Agile 2014, Mr. Schwaber offered an answer on his blog.

Any software activity that conforms or attempts to conform to the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto for Software Development.

For those of you that are new to agile and scrum, The Agile Manifesto for Software Development has 4 value statements that drive the activities and behaviors of agile teams.

  1. Individuals and interactions OVER process and tools.
  2. Working software OVER comprehensive documentation.
  3. Customer collaboration OVER contract negotiation.
  4. 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.

The second question that Mr. Schwaber addressed in his post is:  “If you could add another value to the Agile Manifesto, could you state it?”

His answer is excellent.

We value practices, tools, consulting, coaching, and software organizational work that continuously improve their adherence to the Agile Manifesto OVER Tools, products, methodologies, processes, practices that only use the word Agile to market themselves to make money and whose correlation to the Agile Manifesto is coincidental.

The latest scaling trends in the agile community feel like nothing more than money grabs. In fact, according to posts on Twitter, Mr. Schwaber said just as much during his talk:

So where do we go from here?

There are upcoming events that have embraced the sentiments that Mr. Schwaber shared. These groups are working hard to get agile coaches and agile teams to put the spot light back where it belongs – on the values!

On September 26th – 28th the Agile Coach Camp is taking place in Indianapolis, Indiana. This “un-conference” seeks to push the limits in guiding software development teams, managers, leaders and beyond, while staying true to the values and principles at the core of the Agile movement.

The ideal attendee is a passionate agile practitioner who is active in the field and excited about sharing what they’ve learned.

Agile Coach Camp is a peer to peer learning experience in an OpenSpace setting with Deborah Hartmann-Preuss  facilitating this year.

If you also feel that the agile community has drifted away from the core values, this Agile Coach Camp is an excellent opportunity to connect with agile coaches who share your concerns. The conference tickets start at $89.00 USD.

You can find more information about the conference here:  Agile Coach Camp | Indianapolis, IN | September 26th – 28th