• Agile & Scrum Basics

What is Agile working and what are the methods?

Of course, the world is always changing. So to respond to the changing world, we must be flexible. Or let’s use the word “nimble. And that is equally one of the definitions of Agile. Furthermore, Agile literally stands for ‘agile’ and ‘flexible’. But what is Agile working?

By now you probably feel what Agile working is all about. It enables you, and your team and organization, to respond to changes super fast. In addition to quickly, this also happens efficiently, resulting in satisfied customers, energized team members and an organization that can be labeled “agile.

This article discusses the following topics:

• What is Agile working?
• Agile working, what does it mean?
• What are the Agile methods?
  

Butwhat exactlyis Agile working ?

In the introduction we have already read that Agile stands for, for example, ‘nimble’ and ‘agile’. Couple this with the Dutch verb ‘to work’ and you already come close to a nice definition, namely: agile working. Suppose you apply Agile working in your organization; envision an agile organization in which you work together flexibly.

Agile is not a protocol with rules set in stone. It is a way of thinking in which flexibility always plays a central role. An Agile team does not work through complete checklists, but continues to orient itself to stakeholders throughout a project or process.

So Agile stands for more of a thought process and is deployable through different frameworks and forms of work. The best known are: Scrum, Kanban and SAFe. Each framework has its own guidelines and rules. But what all these frameworks do have in common is that they assume a flexible, clear way of project or product development.

What does Agile working mean?

The Agile way of working is clearly detailed in The Agile Manifesto once written by Jeff Sutherland and others. In it, 4 concrete values are described for an Agile team:

• Value 1: People and interaction over processes and tools;
• Value 2: Work product over comprehensive documentation;
• Value 3: Collaboration with client over contractual negotiations;
• Value 4: Responding to change over docile adherence to a plan.
  

What are the Agile methods?

To make Agile principles applicable, there are a whole slew of Agile methods available today. The 4 best-known methods, or Agile practices, today are: