Agile Manifesto: Personal Edition

Hello!

In today's post I thought it best to go back to the original manifesto that agile came from.

Manifesto for Agile Software Development

We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
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.

 

 http://agilemanifesto.org/ 

There it is in all its dandy glory, but where did it come from and what does it represent?

The Agile Manifesto was written in February of 2001, at a summit of seventeen independent-minded practitioners of several programming methodologies. The participants didn't agree about much, but they found consensus around four main values.

Supplementing the Manifesto, the Twelve Principles further explicate what it is to be Agile.
http://www.agilealliance.org/the-alliance/the-agile-manifesto/

So, the agile manifesto is like the US constitution and the Twelve Principles is similar to the Bill of Rights. Let's examine the manifesto and then see how these principles can be applied to personal development. The manifesto focuses on valued areas and promotes some concepts over others.


Individuals and interactions over processes and tools


This states that the human element is more important than the machine they are a part of. Yes we are awesome little snowflakes, completely original, but we work so much better and have much greater impact combined together as a snowball; and there are many ways to make a snowball.
 
Working software over comprehensive documentation


If it works and we know conclusively how it works with extensive documentation of how it does the thing we want it to, awesome. That's great, but what's the most valuable part of that? The actual thing that works, this is what should be prioritised. We should constantly be asking ourselves, does it work?
 
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Contracts are incredibly important and help define terms, but when you strip the contract down what is actually required? As an individual/team/company, you have been asked by somebody else to create something. Collaborating and building to a fluid specification is important as it keeps everyone in the loop and allows all parties to be open and honest with each other. The client is happy because you build what they want, and you're happy as your customer isn't going to completely flip out at the end of the project because you haven't delivered what they (didn't) ask for.

Responding to change over following a plan


Sometimes teams continue down the road outlined down at the start of a project even if they're no longer aware if it's possible or not. Can we just take a second to put this into context in the real world. You're driving down the motorway, the sat-nav says to go left over the bridge, you see a new sign stating the bridge is being repaired and to cross it would be certain death. Do you listen to the sat-nav you decided to listen to at the start of your journey or the new sign directly infront of you? It's surprising how often a company will drive off a cliff...

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
So, we can see value in plans, contracts, processes and documentation, but when we start a project, we need to drill down and look at the core of what is being said. So how can we repurpose our own personal development agile manifesto?




Wellbeing and conversations over goals and tasks
Results over comprehensive planning
Teamwork and maintaining the essence of the vision over initial epics

Responding to surroundings and embracing opportunities over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

I'm happy with the above changes and find them relevant whilst keeping in the spirit of the original manifesto.

Thanks for reading!
AT