What Are the Agile Principles?

The Agile methodology has 12 guiding statements and is a project management framework that helps software developers and other project managers maintain momentum, encourage adaptation, and improve collaboration at a steady, constant pace. If you’ve ever experienced a project lacking focus and communication between all team members and clients, consider learning why Agile can benefit teams.

Agile projects are built around a statement of purpose called the Agile Manifesto, written by 17 software developers in 2001. From the Manifesto came the principles, or 12 statements about using Agile to encourage an adaptive, collaborative approach to producing high-quality software. 

Read more: What Is Agile? And When to Use It

What is Agile methodology?

The Agile methodology is a framework for managing projects and developing software that helps you organize and streamline workflows and deliver results in small, consistent increments. One of the goals of Agile is to encourage collaboration over organizational silos and create a flexible, easy-to-repeat work process. 

Within Agile methodology, frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban help teams organize project work, how they communicate, and who plays what roles during the projects and how. Essentially, it encourages a team to work efficiently and steadily. 

Agile principles shape the Agile methodology—let’s take a closer look at what they are and why they matter.

Read more: Agile Project Management: What Is It and When to Use It

The Agile Manifesto: Building blocks of the Agile principles

The Agile Manifesto includes the 12 guiding principles of Agile. It’s a statement of purpose created by the software developers who created Agile. It states that Agile values:

“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools” “Working software over comprehensive documentation” “Customer collaboration over contract negotiation” “Responding to change over following a plan” [1] 

What are the 12 Agile principles? 

The 12 principles of Agile help teams use Agile philosophy in their daily project work. They build on the Agile Manifesto to guide efficient, effective, and collaborative product development. The principles are as follows [2]: 

1. “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” Agile prioritizes completing project goals at a steady and constant pace. Continuously providing the customer with high-quality deliverables is the first measure of success in an Agile project. 

2. “Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.” Agile is an iterative process, which means that you work in a cyclical manner toward the end goal, gathering feedback as you go. Doing so makes it easier for teams to embrace and respond to requests for changes in the end product. 

3. “Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.” Agile methodology separates big projects into smaller production cycles to reduce planning time and deliver steady, finished work. 

4. “Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.” Software development team members should have frequent, open communication with stakeholders such as marketing departments, managers, and others. Agile reduces silos and increases the interactions between production departments to keep everyone working on the same goals. 

5. “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.” This principle encourages team members' autonomy and reduces micro-management to help teams complete projects faster. Management can set the project up for success by hiring the right people. Then, they should trust and support their team. 

6. “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.” It’s worth noting that the creators wrote these principles in 2001 when more teams regularly met in person. Although face-to-face communication isn’t always possible with global teams, video conferencing embodies the spirit of direct and synchronous collaboration, which this principle defines. The authors of the Agile principles seemed to believe face-to-face communication benefitted teams because it was effective, fast, and direct.

7. “Working software is the primary measure of progress.” After the software is released, the team can update it, add or improve documentation, and roll out new features. Agile principles remind us that working software is the point of software development. 

8. “Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.” Agile strives to keep team members and stakeholders engaged and motivated by breaking projects up into smaller pieces with small, frequent successes. By keeping workloads sustainable, Agile helps motivate developers and keep work manageable. 

9. “Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.” Agile principles advise us that taking the time to do things correctly the first time is easier and faster in the long run. Thinking about good design first helps developers start with a solid foundation. Attention to detail delivers bug-free code and makes it easier to continue the project. 

10. “Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.” Agile principles uphold simplicity as a virtue. A clear focus on the project goals and strategic decisions to avoid complications will help Agile projects succeed. 

11. “The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.” Similar to principle five, this principle gives teams independence. According to Agile principles, flexible management styles that allow employees to direct themselves will lead to better overall product quality. 

12. “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.” Building smaller production cycles, or sprints, into your project plan gives the team built-in moments to stop and reflect on how they can improve their process. Remember, Agile promotes flexibility—agility—to adapt to new information on not only your product but also your process. 

What are the Agile principles used for?

The Agile principles help teams plan how they will approach projects to implement faster, better-quality results. By breaking projects into iterable pieces, Agile allows development teams to work in small cycles and deliver steady incremental progress. 

Who uses Agile principles?

Although Agile was explicitly designed for software production, it is still relevant for other industries. Agile appears in the following fields and more:

• Advertising and marketing

• Banking and finance

• Construction management

• Health care

• Product development

A few companies in the US that use Agile include Apple, IBM, Panera Bread, and more.

How using Agile can make projects better

Agile helps projects by giving you and your team a process you can repeat, metrics you can measure, and a framework for what success looks like. Agile helps you continue improving throughout the project while remaining flexible and ready to respond to feedback. With a clear process in place, Agile makes projects easier to predict and makes it easier to manage risk. Lastly, Agile helps you deliver a higher quality deliverable with more satisfied customers. 

How can Agile improve processes? 

Agile improves processes by helping keep team members engaged with the work, reducing errors, automating planning processes, and delivering a higher-quality product to the customer. By separating project tasks into sprints, Agile teams can more easily iterate work, saving time while deciding how to approach the project. Smaller project tasks make it easier to spot errors, saving time debugging down the road. Lastly, constantly experiencing small successes during sprints helps keep employees engaged. 

Challenges of Agile

While Agile works well for many teams, it may not fit every project or organization. Agile requires buy-in from all stakeholders to the project. If company culture opposes Agile principles, it may be beneficial to talk to stakeholders about Agile’s benefits so everyone understands why it’s important to use and where they fit in the process. 

Agile requires consistent usage. All team members must be on board to maintain consistent, clear communication between team members and stakeholders. 

Explore more about Agile on Coursera.

Agile principles guide Agile methodology, which can help your projects achieve a high rate of success. Anyone can research Agile methodology and principles and implement them in their next project. Consider taking a course or earning a Professional Certificate to develop your skills or demonstrate them to potential employers.

If you’re interested in learning Agile for a career in software development, consider the Agile Development Specialization offered by the University of Virginia on Coursera. If you’d like to implement Agile in other projects, the Agile Project Management course as part of the Google Project Management Professional Certificate might be the right course for you. On Coursera, you can also find specialized courses in Agile, such as Agile with Atlassian Jira.