Agile software development is an approach guided by the values and principles of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. It prioritizes people and interactions, working software, customer collaboration, and adapting to change—without treating processes, documentation, contracts, or plans as worthless. Agile is a set of guiding ideas, not a single required project method and not another name for Scrum.
What does Agile mean in software development?
Agile describes how a software team approaches development: deliver useful software, work closely with customers and business colleagues, learn from feedback, and adjust as needs change. Its shared foundation is the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and the principles accompanying it.
The Manifesto does not prescribe a single lifecycle, meeting schedule, team structure, or toolset. A team can use different practices and frameworks while following Agile values. To judge whether an approach is Agile in substance, look at how it handles delivery, collaboration, feedback, quality, and change—not just whether it uses the label.
What are the four Agile values?
The Manifesto’s authors state these four preferences:
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| Value | Meaning in practice |
|---|---|
| Individuals and interactions over processes and tools | Give priority to communication and cooperation between people, while still using useful processes and tools. |
| Working software over comprehensive documentation | Make functioning software the central evidence of progress; create documentation when it helps people build, use, or maintain the product. |
| Customer collaboration over contract negotiation | Work with customers throughout development, rather than relying only on an initial agreement to settle every question. |
| Responding to change over following a plan | Revise plans when new information or needs emerge instead of following an outdated plan for its own sake. |
The authors explicitly qualify the comparison: “That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.” The values set priorities; they do not call for abandoning planning, contracts, documentation, or tools.
What are the Agile principles?
The Principles behind the Agile Manifesto expand those values into twelve guiding ideas:
- Satisfy customers through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
- Welcome changing requirements, including late in development.
- Deliver working software frequently.
- Have business people and developers work together throughout the project.
- Build projects around motivated people, give them support, and trust them to do the work.
- Prefer direct conversation as a way to communicate effectively.
- Use working software as the primary measure of progress. The Manifesto authors write, “Working software is the primary measure of progress.”
- Maintain a sustainable pace that can continue over time.
- Pay ongoing attention to technical excellence and good design.
- Keep things simple by maximizing the work not done.
- Let teams organize their work and find effective ways to meet their goals.
- Reflect regularly on how to become more effective, then adjust accordingly.
These are principles, not a fixed project recipe. In practice, they point toward short learning cycles, usable increments, regular customer or stakeholder feedback, and ongoing attention to both software quality and the team’s ability to sustain its work.
Is Scrum the same as Agile?
No. Agile is the broader set of values and principles; Scrum is a specific framework associated with Agile development. Scrum.org says Scrum is defined in the Scrum Guide, whose originators are Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. Scrum.org describes the guide as independently maintained and available in more than 30 languages.
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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →The official Scrum Guide page identifies the English edition released in November 2020 as its current version. Because the guide can be revised, check the official page for the current edition when using it as a reference. A Scrum-specific book example is Ken Schwaber’s Agile Project Management with Scrum; it is about Scrum, not a definition of all Agile approaches.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How can you recognize an Agile approach?
Rather than relying on a method’s name, consider whether its day-to-day practices reflect the Manifesto’s priorities. Useful questions include:
- Delivery: Does the team produce working software regularly, rather than treating progress mainly as completed paperwork or activity?
- Feedback: Can customers or stakeholders review useful results and influence what happens next?
- Change: Can the team adapt when requirements or circumstances change?
- Collaboration: Do business participants and developers work together during development?
- Quality and pace: Does the approach support sound engineering and a sustainable workload?
- Team ownership: Do the people doing the work have room to organize and improve it?
A framework can add specific roles, responsibilities, planning and delivery cadence, review mechanisms, or engineering practices. Those details belong to the framework; the Manifesto supplies the broader values and principles against which the approach can be understood.
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