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On February 11-13, 2001, at The Lodge at Snowbird ski resort, overlooking the Wasatch mountains of Utah, seventeen independent thinkers, self-described as “The Agile Alliance,” met to talk, ski, relax, and try to find common ground.
Representatives included those with backgrounds in #ExtremeProgramming, #Scrum, DSDM, Adaptive Software Development, Crystal, Feature-Driven Development, Pragmatic Programming, and others sympathetic to the need for an alternative to documentation heavy software development processes.
What emerged was the Agile ‘Software Development’ Manifesto, a set of values (seen in this image) and the “12 principles of Agile Software”.
I have written several articles discussing each of the principles in detail, examining their validity in today’s world. The intent of this article is to discuss the value of “Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools.” It is our second in a series of 5 values articles which include a common fallacy and some detail and practices I encourage you to take if your running a bit short. Consider reading all the articles here.
The Values of AgileManifesto.org
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.
Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
The interconnectedness needed to sustain and succeed in a business environment today is non-debatable. Regardless of the industry, the products or solutions, or the organization from which you earn your paycheck, we must all connect with those around us. Our customers are #1 and should be the center of our communication plan. Our peers – those on our team and within our organization – are those that we interact with most often. Our leadership, servant or otherwise, need to understand how our work is progressing, how they can help, and in what form they can continuously measure and support us to maximize productivity and success.
Agile builds in several roles and ceremonies to help support the interactions between us. We have the daily stand up of which the entire agile team to include developers, testers, product owners, and scrum masters, among others, come together to share their progress toward iteration goals, discuss impediments, and look to overcome any challenges they are facing. There are planning and refinement events to bring these same people together to review and plan the work based on customer input and the expertise within the team. There is also the demo to which we invite our leaders and customers and encourage fast feedback on the work we have completed. And most importantly we have the retrospective which provides our team an opportunity to discuss hits and misses within the team, review outcomes, and create an environment of shared responsibility and trust. There are others as well you might use, depending on the framework being followed, that continue the culture of interactions and collaboration within the organization, and further highlight this value and its importance.
Furthermore, beyond participating in these interactions, we must value the people involved in them. Everyone brings their own expertise and experiences with them, and we must value their differences, opinions, and personalities. This is how we build trust within our teams, break down cultures of fear within our organizations, and encourage a collaborative approach to high quality delivery.
Individuals and the interactions between them will create bonds and a sense of collective ownership that no process or tool could ever do. A focus on these relationships is what will lead to higher performance, better quality, and a desire to continuously improve as individuals and as a team. So, focus on building up your people, providing them opportunities to interact with and learn from their peers, and you will find the processes improve over time while the channels used to communicate and manage the work become somewhat less important.
