image courtesy Rob Hale
Many of you have heard the Agile movement was formalized by the creation and promotion of the Agile Manifesto, back in 2001. However, the inevitable result of any successful movement is “embrace and extend”. A number of variants of the manifesto have popped up over the years to make a particular point. In spirit of this upcoming lucky 13th anniversary of the manifesto, here are five of the most popular, plus a dry humorous BONUS manifesto at the end.
1. Agile Marketing Manifesto
This is one of what might soon become a set of industry-specific agile manifestos. The promotions and advertising space is gathering a lot of momentum with applying agile mindset:
- Validated learning over opinions and conventions
- Customer focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy
- Adaptive and iterative campaigns over Big-Bang campaigns
- The process of customer discovery over static prediction
- Flexible vs. rigid planning
- Responding to change over following a plan
- Many small experiments over a few large bets
Granted, some of the tenets are copied word-for-word. But each of these has a dedicated page to deeper thoughts on applying it to the world of marketing.
Link: http://agilemarketingmanifesto.org/
2. ScrumMaster Manifesto
A group of people at the 2011 Scrum Gathering London chartered this document to clarify the responsibilities and duties of the most unconventional role on Agile projects, the ScrumMaster. It starts off with a declaration:
“WE BELIEVE THE SCRUMMASTER IS A FULL-TIME POSITION FOR ONE PERSON ON ONE SCRUM TEAM”
It also features:
- 12 ScrumMaster Pocket Principles.
- A ScrumMaster defined in 15 words or less…
- Top 10 things a ScrumMaster usually forgets to focus on (but is not SOLELY responsible for) …
This is a great very handy discussion tool for coaches and trainers.
Link: http://www.scrummastermanifesto.org/
3. Offshore Agile Manifesto
Udayan Banerjee gives us this variant for distributed outsourced projects. In particular, he’s going for a balanced perspective. Namely
- YES, we value Individuals and Interactions, “but setup right processes and tools for ubiquitous long distance interaction”
- YES, we value Working Software, “but create enough documentation to help posterity”
- YES, we value Customer Collaboration, “but have a win-win contract in place”
- YES, we value Responding to Change, “but ensure that implications are clearly understood by all.”
His post goes into these points a little more deeply, so it’s worth the 3 minute read.
Link: http://setandbma.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/agile-offshoring-2/
4. More Agile Manifesto
This one caught my attention a couple years ago with its wry poke at old school versus new school perspective:
- Teamwork & responsibility over Individuals and Interaction – You need great individuals and the better they interact the better it is.
- Business Value over Working software – Software in itself has no value. It’s what you do with it.
- Partnership elaboration over Customer collaboration – Collaborating with your customer is important, but working on a partnership is better.
- Prepare for change over Respond to Change – It’s even stronger to create a setting where change is normal.
“That is while there is value to being agile, we value being more agile more.”
The author, Geert Bossuyt, has since taken the page down, but AgileScout did a great journalistic job of preserving the moment for us here:
Link via AgileScout: http://agilescout.com/agile-manifesto-2-1-moreagile-manifesto/
5. Agile Business Manifesto
Okay, I know it’s actually called the Declaration of Interdependence. But the DOI is arguably the among the most influential post-manifesto document. Where the original manifesto emphasized the concepts associated with successful software, the “DOI” articulates agile concepts from a business perspective:
- We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus.
- We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared ownership.
- We expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation, and adaptation.
- We unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate source of value, and creating an environment where they can make a difference.
- We boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility for team effectiveness.
- We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies, processes and practices.
It’s a critical tool in any agile practitioner’s vocabulary.
Link: http://pmdoi.org/
BONUS: The Half Arsed Agile Manifesto
If you’ve ever been annoyed or frustrated by people compromising on the values and principles related to success, Kerry Buckley offers this sarcastic take on the real world:
- Individuals and interactions…and we have mandatory processes and tools to control how those individuals (we prefer the term ‘resources’) interact
- Working software…as long as that software is comprehensively documented
- Customer collaboration…within the boundaries of strict contracts, of course, and subject to rigorous change control
- Responding to change…provided a detailed plan is in place to respond to the change, and it is followed precisely
I’ve left a little out, so you can enjoy more at the source.
Link: http://www.halfarsedagilemanifesto.org/
SUPER DOUBLE BONUS: The Post-Modern Sales Manifesto
Over on Google+, Alan Dayley shared with me Chris Conrey’s Post-Modern Sales Manifesto…
- Relationships and interactions over transactions
- Establishing value over lowering price and rate
- Customer collaboration over haggling and negotiation
- Long term partnerships over rigidly defined roles
I’ve left a little out, so you can enjoy more at the source.
Link: http://www.postmodernsales.com/
Now it’s Your Turn…Which is your favorite? Did I miss any? Leave a comment here