Agile methodology was developed 20 years ago as part of an effort to modernize software development and create a process that was collaborative, iterative, and scalable in fast-paced and flexible environments.
Agile development has been used by companies through methods like Scrum and Kanban to modernize apps, improve the customer experience, and implement and accelerate digital transformations.
Part of agile methodology is empowering employees and self-organizing teams to make decisions and act and react quickly. Another critical part of agile methodology is deploying the right tools that allows people to organize, plan, and execute in an agile fashion.
According to the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, the four main principles of agile software development are:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
Tools like Jira and DevOps packages allow agile teams to prioritize work, gather requirements, create user stories, and collaborate with customers and business stakeholders.
Agile methodology is now making its way into the rest of the enterprise. Project managers and product developers are adapting agile methods, as well other areas outside software development.
