What Is The Agile Manifesto? Values, Key Principles, How To Create It

Agile Manifesto is an important guide that changed how teams develop software and solve complex problems. Created in 2001, it introduced a flexible and collaborative approach to work, replacing traditional, rigid methods. Agile focuses on customer needs, team communication, and fast delivery of valuable products. It supports continuous improvement and helps teams quickly adapt to changing requirements.

Agile Manifesto is more than a process; it is a mindset that promotes innovation, teamwork, and effective project management. Many industries use Agile principles to improve how they plan, build, and deliver projects in fast-moving environments.

Learn more about the Agile Manifesto, who created it, the four core values, 12 key principles, how to create your own, how to use agile, why it is important, and more below.

Table of Contents

What is the Agile Manifesto?

Agile Manifesto is a short statement that explains the key values and principles of agile software development. Created in 2001, it focuses on flexibility, team collaboration, and delivering value to customers instead of following strict plans and heavy documentation.

The manifesto includes four core values and twelve guiding principles that support iterative development, adaptive planning, and continuous improvement. It forms the foundation for popular agile methods like Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming.

Who Created the Agile Manifesto?

The Agile Manifesto was created by 17 experienced software developers who met in 2001 at Snowbird, Utah. These experts came from different agile methods like Scrum, Extreme Programming, and Crystal. They formed the Agile Alliance to promote a shared vision for flexible and lightweight software development.

Important creators include Kent Beck, Martin Fowler, Robert C. Martin, Alistair Cockburn, and Jeff Sutherland. Their goal was to create a simple, clear way to improve how software teams work together.

Four Core Values of the Agile Manifesto

Agile Manifesto introduces four important values that guide agile software development and teamwork:

1. Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools

Agile values the people working on the project and how they communicate. While tools and processes help, strong teamwork and clear communication are more important for project success. Agile teams are built on trust, collaboration, and quick decision-making.

2. Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation

The main goal in Agile is to deliver software that works. Instead of spending too much time on long documents, Agile teams focus on building and releasing useful features early and often. Documentation is kept simple and used only when necessary.

3. Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

Agile encourages regular communication with the customer. Rather than sticking strictly to contracts, Agile teams work closely with clients throughout the project. This ensures the final product matches real user needs, even as those needs evolve.

4. Responding to Change over Following a Plan

Agile teams welcome change at any stage of development. Instead of following one fixed plan, Agile teams adjust their plans based on new feedback, user needs, or market changes. This keeps the product relevant and valuable.

12 Key Principles of the Agile Manifesto

Agile Manifesto also defines 12 guiding principles that help teams apply the four core values in real projects:

Customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery: Agile teams aim to keep customers happy by delivering working features regularly, not just at the end of the project.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development: Agile embraces change, allowing teams to stay competitive and build products that match evolving needs.
Deliver working software frequently: Agile encourages delivering working products every few weeks. Short development cycles help teams test, improve, and adapt quickly.
Business people and developers must work together daily: Daily collaboration ensures that the team understands the business goals and builds what users actually need.
Build projects around motivated individuals: Agile teams are trusted to take responsibility. A supportive work environment and clear goals help them stay focused and productive.
Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication: Direct communication, even through video calls, is preferred over long emails or reports. It helps solve problems faster and improves understanding.
Working software is the main measure of progress: In Agile, progress is not tracked by documents or plans but by the delivery of functional, tested software.
Promote sustainable development: Agile promotes a healthy pace of work. Teams should be able to keep going without burnout, ensuring long-term productivity.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design: Writing clean, high-quality code and thoughtful design helps make future changes easier and faster.
Simplicity is essential: Agile teams aim to do only what is needed and avoid unnecessary work. This keeps the process efficient and focused.
The best designs come from self-organizing teams: Agile teams are trusted to make their own decisions. This freedom often leads to more creative and practical solutions.
Reflect regularly and adjust accordingly: Agile teams hold regular meetings (like retrospectives) to discuss what’s working and what’s not, so they can improve over time

These principles help teams stay customer-focused, flexible, and efficient while continuously improving their work.

How to Create an Agile Manifesto for Your Team

Creating a custom Agile Manifesto helps your team align on shared values and adopt Agile in a way that fits your specific work environment. It gives your team a clear direction and improves collaboration and ownership. Steps to create an Agile Manifesto for your team:

Step 1: Start with team reflection

Discuss what’s working and what challenges the team is facing. Use team meetings or retrospectives to gather honest feedback.

Step 2: Review the original Agile Manifesto

Study the four core values and 12 key principles. Understand which values match your team’s needs and which ones need to be adapted.

Step 3: Define your team’s values in simple words

Translate the original Agile values into terms that fit your domain. For example, in education, “working software” could become “delivering student-ready content.”

Step 3: Co-create guiding principles

Work together to write 8 to 12 clear principles that define how your team communicates, plans, and delivers work. Keep them practical and easy to follow.

Step 4: Document and share your manifesto

Write your team’s Agile Manifesto and share it on project dashboards, wikis, or onboarding documents. Update it regularly as your team evolves.

How to Use the Agile Manifesto in Projects

Agile Manifesto is not a strict set of rules, but a mindset that can guide your entire project workflow. Using it in real projects helps teams stay flexible, customer-focused, and efficient. The following are the ways to apply the Agile Manifesto in projects:

Start at project kickoff: Introduce the Agile values to your team and stakeholders. Align everyone on collaboration, adaptability, and fast delivery.
Use in sprint planning: Plan short work cycles (sprints) that deliver usable outcomes. Follow principles like “welcome change” and “deliver frequently.”
Focus on team communication: Encourage open discussions in daily standups. Prioritize “individuals and interactions” instead of just relying on tools or reports.
Involve the customer regularly: Ask for feedback during demos, testing, or review sessions. Use the principle of “customer collaboration” to improve the product during development.
Reflect and improve: Hold regular retrospectives to discuss what went well and what needs to change. Follow the principle of continuous improvement.
Maintain technical excellence: Write clean code, use good design practices, and focus on quality. This supports agility and helps your team move faster in the long term.

Why is the Agile Manifesto Important?

Agile Manifesto is important because it changed the way teams work in software development and project management, especially in fast-changing industries. Before Agile, most teams used traditional models like Waterfall, which followed a fixed plan and often failed to adjust to new customer needs or feedback during the project.

Agile brought a fresh approach based on flexibility, collaboration, and customer satisfaction. Below are the key reasons why the Agile Manifesto is important:

Focus on Customer Needs: Agile values delivering useful software early and often, keeping the customer involved throughout the project.
Flexible to Change: It supports changes even in late stages of development, helping teams respond to real-time feedback and market shifts.
Team Collaboration: Agile encourages open communication and teamwork, improving speed and problem-solving across departments.
Continuous Improvement: With a focus on simplicity, quality, and regular reflection, teams become more efficient and innovative over time.

Today, Agile thinking is used not only in tech, but also in product management, marketing, education, and more. It helps teams work in a smarter, faster, and more human-centered way.

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Agile Manifesto FAQs

What are the 4 values of the Agile Manifesto?

The four Agile values emphasize people, collaboration, and adaptability. They are: individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a fixed plan.

What are the 12 principles of Agile?

The 12 Agile principles guide teams to deliver value early, welcome changes, collaborate daily, build trust, focus on working software, maintain technical quality, simplify work, self-organize, and continuously improve through regular reflection.

How to remember the 12 Agile principles?

To remember the principles, group them by themes like delivery, teamwork, and improvement. Using mnemonics or linking each principle to real project examples can also help reinforce your memory.

What are the 5 pillars of Agile?

The five pillars of Agile are iterative development, teamwork, customer feedback, transparency, and continuous improvement. These core ideas support flexibility and quality throughout the project lifecycle.