TOP TOC 
Agile . since Jul 6 . Index . DOCs TOP TOC
– User involvement is the main key in running an efficient and effective project.
– Both users and developers share a workplace, so that the decisions can be made accurately.
– The project team must be empowered to make decisions that are important to the progress of the project without waiting for higher-level approval.
– Focus on frequent delivery of products, with assumption that to deliver something "good enough" earlier is always better than to deliver everything "perfectly" in the end.
– The main criteria for acceptance of a "deliverable" is delivering a system that addresses the current business needs.
– Delivering a perfect system which addresses all possible business needs is less important than focusing on critical functionalities.
– Development is iterative, incremental and driven by users’ feedback to converge on an effective business solution.
– Testing (also Black Box testing) is carried out continuously in parallel to devolopment (Test-driven development).
– Communication and cooperation among all project stakeholders is required to be efficient and effective.
– The high level scope and requirements should be base-lined before the project starts but must be allowed to mature over the course of the project.
– Accurate Documentation of Component Interfaces and current Requirements
Please note that these principles no longer say “prefer Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation”.
The reason for this correction of the Agile Manifesto is:
Not to have always up to date documentation of requirements and component interfaces reduces drastically the lifetime of software (because, when original developers are gone, maintainability depends on accurate documentation).
See also What Gartner found (March 2011).
Read also: Agile Versus Traditional: Make Love, Not War! (Dec 2001 by Robert L. Glass)
See also Agile Best Practice (Jan 2012).
No better answer to the Agile Manifesto was ever given.