It’s February 2001. Seventeen frustrated software developers have gathered in a ski lodge in Snowbird, Utah. They come from different backgrounds and companies, but they all have something in common: they’re tired of bloated processes, endless documentation, and projects that are delivered late—or not at all.
They want something better. More responsive. More human. More… well, agile.
What came out of that weekend was the now-famous Manifesto for Agile Software Development. It’s a short document—just four values and twelve principles—but it changed project management forever.
Here are the four 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
Let’s be clear: the authors weren’t saying that tools, documentation, contracts, or plans are bad. They were saying that when push comes to shove, people and outcomes matter more than paperwork and procedure.
This shift was radical at the time. It moved the focus away from delivering a perfectly planned project and toward delivering something useful, valuable, and adaptable, even if it wasn’t perfect the first time.
And while Agile started in the world of software, its principles apply to many different industries. Today, you’ll find Agile methods being used in marketing teams, event planning, product development, healthcare, education—you name it.
Alongside the four values, the Agile Manifesto also introduced twelve guiding principles. Some are clearly written with software developers in mind, but even if you’re not a coder, you’ll probably find a few that hit close to home.
Here they are, with some brief commentary to help translate them into everyday terms:
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Think: show value early and often—don’t make people wait.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
Yes, change is hard—but it’s often necessary. Embrace it, don’t fear it.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Small wins, delivered regularly, are better than one big win that may never come.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
This doesn’t mean endless meetings—it means staying in sync.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
Micromanagement kills creativity. Trust your team.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
These days, that might mean Zoom or Teams—but the principle stands: real-time conversation beats long email threads.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
In other words: results, not reports.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Burnout isn’t a badge of honor—it’s a sign something’s broken.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Build it right the first time, and you won’t need to fix it later.
10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.
Do less, better. Avoid unnecessary features or complexity.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
Give smart people the freedom to figure things out.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Learning is baked into the process, not something you save for the end.
If you’re thinking, “Hey, some of these just sound like good project management,” you’re right. Agile didn’t invent teamwork, learning, or user feedback. It just made them central, instead of optional.
Time capsule
If you’ve never seen the original Agile Manifesto website, it’s worth a look. The layout is pure early-2000s hand-coded HTML, and it hasn’t changed since the day it launched—an Agile artifact in its own right!
That’s what the <blink>entire internet</blink> used to look like, kids.
