Agile
Agile is a project management and software development methodology emphasizing iterative development, collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement.
What is Agile?
Agile emerged as a response to rigid, document-heavy development methodologies. The Agile Manifesto (2001) codified principles that have since spread beyond software to marketing, HR, and business strategy.
Agile Manifesto Values: 1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools 2. Working software over comprehensive documentation 3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation 4. Responding to change over following a plan
Popular Agile Frameworks: - Scrum: Sprints, daily standups, sprint reviews - Kanban: Visual workflow, continuous flow - XP (Extreme Programming): Pair programming, TDD - SAFe: Scaled Agile for large organizations
Key Agile Practices: - Sprint planning and retrospectives - Daily standup meetings - User stories and story points - Continuous integration/deployment - Cross-functional teams
Agile for Startups: Startups are naturally agile. Embrace short iterations, constant customer feedback, and willingness to pivot. Avoid over-engineering processes early on.
Common Mistakes: Doing standups without action, sprints without retrospectives, or calling yourself agile without embracing the underlying principles.
Examples
Spotify Model
Adapted Agile for scale with Squads, Tribes, Chapters, and Guilds for autonomous team organization
Amazon Two-Pizza Teams
Small, agile teams (size you can feed with two pizzas) that own products end-to-end
Atlassian
Built Jira and Confluence while practicing Agile internally, sharing their methods openly
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