Agile Software Development: Restore Balance to the Manifesto

After 25 years of experience, 3 acquisitions, and over 300 products, we have decided to share some of the knowledge we have gained from working in this industry.

Agile Software Development

The software development industry is accelerating at a rapid pace, therefore we thought it would be beneficial to provide not just one blog post about agile software development, but a whole series regarding a practical approach to the agile method and how our company has benefited from implementing these agile practices. From Zibtek to your company, we hope you can take away something valuable from this new blog post series that will help you have success in your endeavors. If you have any questions concerning any information in these posts, please feel free to reach out to us.

When was the Agile Manifesto developed?

In 2001, a group of 17 men gathered together in Snowbird Utah to ski, talk, and discuss the future of software development. From this meeting, the Agile Manifesto emerged, thus implementing this style of development across the world. The message is short, simple, and emphasizes the importance of valuing human connection in the industry. The manifesto encompasses these four main points:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

The Problems in Agile Style of Software Development

As the agile style of software development has become popular in the past 20 years, the method has evolved into an extreme. It seems that companies are replacing the word “over” with “instead of” in the manifesto. For example, some businesses are approaching the agile method as valuing individuals and interactions instead of processes and tools or responding to change instead of following a plan. While individual interaction and responding to change is vital, these ideas can’t replace what creates structure in the company.

Like in all elements of life, actions need to be performed in moderation. The Agile method of software development has been taken to an extreme that has created a negative context associated with the word. In the manifesto, underneath the “History” tab it states, “The Agile movement is not anti-methodology, in fact, many of us want to restore credibility to the word methodology. We want to restore a balance.” The keyword in this statement is “balance”. The purpose of this agile style of software development was never meant to be a replacement of focus, but a re-emphasis of methods.

Agile Manifesto for Software Development

The “Rename”

At Zibtek, we have strived to restore balance to the use of the agile method. To emphasize this change, we often describe our process as “practical agile”. We strongly and genuinely implement the human connection that is highlighted in the manifesto, but on the other hand, we value efficiency and productivity, therefore we haven’t eliminated processes, tools, and documentation. Through “practical agile” we have introduced a balance that promotes the results that ultimately the agile method was designed to produce back in 2001.

Agile Software Development Methods

Through this series of blog posts, we will describe how Zibtek implements a “practical agile” method of software development in our process as well as the results that have derived from this shift. If you have any questions regarding our software development services or how we utilize a "practical agile" method within our company feel free to reach out to us.