Agile Story

The Agile Movement was launched in 2001 when seventeen software developers came together to find common language and purpose for a radical new idea.

They called this movement Agile Software Development and published a manifesto to proclaim the values and principles of this movement.

These developers were challenging the traditional way software was developed, a process that was described as the Waterfall Model .

The Waterfall Model was based on the production process of the industrial economy. This process was called a ‘value chain’ where production was carefully designed with precisely defined sequential steps. Workers were trained by their managers to consistently follow these steps. This ‘command and control’ management model was designed to maximize efficiency.

But software developers faced a challenge: this Waterfall Model was not flexible enough to handle the complexity of software development, where needs and tools sets were dynamic and continually evolving. As a result, there was a palpable frustration that demanded bold action.

There were multiple experiments of alternative models. Two of the most significant were Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum.

Together these developers began to shape a new Agile Mindset that radically transformed how value is created and provided an alternative to the Cartesian Mindset of the Industrial Age.