As a way of working, agile is an iterative approach to work that helps teams deliver value faster and with fewer headaches. Instead of betting everything on a big launch, agile teams deliver work in small, consumable increments. There are several widely used agile methodologies, including Scrum, SAFe®, and Extreme Programming.
The Iterative Way of Working
Agile is also a mindset that influences how we choose to think and act. As agilists, we choose to:
- Accelerate our value realization by embracing worthwhile changes.
- Delight customers by taking a customer-centric view to our work.
- Improve group capability by proactively collaborating instead of working in functional silos.
- Improve predictably by refining our understanding of what is needed through regularly showing our work and acting on feedback.
- Optimize flow by working on small things instead of big things. Big things are accomplished incrementally as a series of small things.
- Keep workloads within capacity by finishing the things we work on instead of starting lots of things. This is called limiting work-in-process (WIP).
- Improve continuously by frequently learning from our experience and evolving our practices based on what we learned.
Agility predictably, sustainably, and rapidly delivers high-quality value in a changing, complex environment.
February 2022