The Modern Agile Manifesto

A Reformative Addendum

We believe software development should be a humane, sustainable, and fulfilling profession. Therefore, we value:

Individuals and Interactions

• Networked organisations over hierarchical ones

• Decentralised decision-making over centralised control

• Demographically and cognitively and diverse, inclusive teams over homogeneous echo chambers

• Open communication and experimentation over forced consistency

• Voluntary and free collaboration over assigned interactions

• Persuasion and natural authority over compulsion and formal positions

• Collaborative decision making over unilateral mandates

Working Software

• Building valuable, sustainable, and user-centric software over delivering features or adding value solely for profit

• User-centric development over management-driven metrics

• Direct customer interaction over product organisations

• Ad-hoc demos of working software over fixed sprints or milestones

• Short feedback loops over long review processes

Compensation and Ownership

• Equitable compensation models (profit sharing, stock options, co-operatives) over solely salary or hourly pay

• Shared ownership models (co-operatives, employee ownership trusts) over traditional corporate structures

• Transparent and equitable compensation practices over opaque salary bands

• Performance-based rewards linked to overall team/company performance over individual performance metrics

• Fair compensation for intellectual property creation over exclusive company ownership

• Opportunities for equity or profit sharing aligned with individual contribution and overall company performance over fixed salaries

• Influence over project selection and work allocation over top-down assignments

Sustainable Practices

• Sustainable pace and rest over constant crunch

• Developer well-being over optimisation at all costs

• Psychological safety over unchecked competition

• Continuous learning and improvement over stagnation

• Ounces of prevention over pounds of cure

Principles and Processes

• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities over rigidly assigned tasks

• Transparency of corporate information over permission-based visibility

• Adaptability over predictability

• Problem-solving over individual accountability

• Writing code over meetings about code

• Continuously iterating monthly over yearly roadmaps

• Data-informed decisions over gut feelings or rigid adherence to methodology

• Appropriate tooling over extensive planning software

• Accepting tradeoffs and understanding cause-and-effect over accepting that “it rolls downhill”

• Ethical considerations and social responsibility over solely profit-driven goals

• Cross-functional collaboration over silos

Governance and Influence

• Developer representation in leadership and strategic decision-making over exclusion from executive influence

• Empowered technical leadership over management-driven technical direction

• Collaborative product roadmap definition involving developers over top-down product management

• Developer input into business strategy and prioritisation over purely business-driven decisions

• Consensus-based decision-making on technical and product direction over top-down mandates

• Open access to relevant business information for all developers over need-to-know restrictions

While we value the items on the left, we recognise that the items on the right may sometimes be necessary, but their use should be minimised.

This manifesto is a living document and will evolve as we discover better ways to create healthy, ethical, and fulfilling software development practices.

Credit

• Adam Ard

• Ray Frankenstein

• The Agile Manifesto Authors

(and the wider Software Development community who contributes to its evolution)