Agile Values & Principles

Agile Values

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Agile is more about transparent interactions than technology.
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation. Create something usable quickly to enable faster customer feedback.
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. Ensure customer buy-in between Business & IT, with marketable visibility.
4. Responding to change over following a plan. Leave room for emergent solutions and better respond to change.

What is Agile?

Agile Principles

These principles come from the original Manifesto for Agile Software Development, which was created to drive improvement in software development practices. For more information on the origins of Agile, read the full manifesto here.

Tips for Supporting Adoption of Agile Values and Principles

• Stop the Jargon! Be informed & know the proper terminology to better support Agile adoption and reduce confusion.
• Shift the Mindset Be open, flexible, responsive, & transparent in developing a more Agile mindset, but know that transition takes time and patience.
• Change Management Be flexible as new processes are implemented, but call pain points and issues so that they can be addressed.
• Communication Be a reliable source for & encourage open communication.
• Accountability Be reliable & responsible to the Team and with assigned work.
• Transparency Be honest & transparent with the Team and assigned work.

And finally, as we learn from each experience, we celebrate and share the success through “storytelling.” In GSA IT, our current successes include the OMB endorsement of Agile, the introduction of standards, and each Agile Investment project-level implementation. Moreover, the collaboration we continue to build between Business and IT leads to faster, more efficient product delivery and is a win towards Agile adoption!

Benefits of an Agile Culture

Many other areas outside of Technology have found success in developing an Agile culture, including Manufacturing, Marketing, Legal, Customer Support, and more recently, Learning Design and Human Resources. The benefits of an Agile culture provide more customer-focused efforts, increase communication, enable change, improve quality of delivery, provide a more responsive environment, and increase both transparency and visibility.

The result, or the answer to “What’s in it for me?!” rather - is additional cost-savings and more informed spend; greater visibility with executive leadership; empowered, self-organized teams; work that is broken down into smaller, achievable increments; and shared responsibility between Business and IT.

In GSA IT, we are currently pursuing Agile adoption through the formation of Scrum pilot teams that support the Agile Investment process. “Agile Investment” is a phased approach to piloting potential solution investments that create a stronger partnership between the Business and IT; thereby increasing collaboration, providing faster solution delivery, increasing transparency, reducing risk, improving overall GSA IT investment spend, and increasing business value.