Skip to content

Chapter 3 - Agility and the Agile Process

📌 3.1 What Is Agility?

  • Agility = ability to adapt to change quickly and effectively.
  • Software projects face uncertainty (requirements, market, technology).
  • Agile development focuses on rapid delivery of working software, customer collaboration, and embracing change.

📌 3.2 What Is an Agile Process?

1- Agile processes are incremental, iterative, and evolutionary.

2- Core values (from Agile Manifesto):

  • Individuals & interactions > processes & tools
  • Working software > comprehensive documentation
  • Customer collaboration > contract negotiation
  • Responding to change > following a plan

3- Agile methods emphasize time-boxed iterations, frequent delivery, and stakeholder feedback.

📌 3.3 Agility and the Cost of Change

1- Traditional models: cost of change increases exponentially over time.

2- Agile: reduces the slope of cost of change by:

  • Frequent iterations.
  • Early testing.
  • Continuous integration and delivery.
  • Emphasis on communication.

📌 3.4 What Is an Agile Team?

1- Agile teams are self-organizing and cross-functional.

2- Team roles: Developers, testers, designers, product owner, scrum master.

3- Traits: collaborative, empowered, small (5–9 members).

4- Goal: deliver working software at the end of each iteration (usually 1–4 weeks).

📌 3.5 Agility and the Project Manager

1- Project manager in Agile = servant leader (not commander).

2- Responsibilities:

  • Facilitate communication.
  • Remove obstacles.
  • Ensure team has resources.
  • Help prioritize backlog with product owner.

📌 3.6 The Agile Manifesto Principles

12 key principles include:

  • Satisfy the customer through early & continuous delivery.
  • Welcome changing requirements.
  • Deliver working software frequently.
  • Business & developers work together daily.
  • Build projects around motivated individuals.
  • Face-to-face conversation is best.
  • Working software = primary measure of progress.
  • Maintain sustainable pace.
  • Continuous attention to technical excellence.
  • Simplicity is essential.
  • Best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
  • Reflect regularly and adjust.

📌 3.7 Summary

  • Agility = ability to deliver value continuously while adapting to change.
  • Agile processes stress collaboration, iteration, and working software.
  • Teams and managers shift from command-control to collaboration-support.
  • Agile reduces risks and cost of late changes.

✅ This chapter establishes Agile as a response to rigid prescriptive models (like waterfall).
It highlights principles, mindset, and team roles that make agility work in practice.