Agile Foundations

From 11 to 13 February 2001, 17 software development gurus from different fields and method frameworks gathered at a retreat in Snowbird, Utah. All attendees were sympathetic to and driven by the need for an alternative to documentation-driven, heavyweight software development processes and the problems that these posed, such as late and over-budget delivery of less-than-satisfactory products.

From this meeting came the agreed ‘Manifesto for Agile Software Development’, which is still the basis for the development and delivery of Agile frameworks and provides the single definition of ‘Agile’ that all these frameworks align to.

So, what is Agile and what are its foundations?

Agile is a collection of evolving delivery and management frameworks for dynamic and innovative delivery environments – like IT deliveries.

Individually and collectively the frameworks are focused on ensuring that the highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable product.

To be flexible has become vital for a business in today’s global markets and, therefore, the ability for IT systems and solutions to be equally flexible is essential. The purpose of Agile is to allow organizations to react to the increasingly dynamic opportunities and challenges of today’s business world, in which IT has become one of the key enablers.

This course goes beyond addressing the use of agile in the computer software development industry, because agile has expanded into non-software development environments. Manufacturing, education, healthcare and other industries are becoming agile to varying degrees and this use beyond software is within the scope of this course.