a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty class·i·fic·at·ion

Agile Values and Principles: Cultivating Adaptability for Sustainable Value Delivery

Core principles guiding teams toward collaboration, adaptability, continuous improvement, and sustainable value delivery in complex environments.

Understand and apply Agile Values and Principles based on first principles. Build a foundation for true agility and continuous value delivery

Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/agile-values-and-principles/
Subscribe

Overview

Agile Values and Principles form the cornerstone of effective Agile practices, guiding teams in their pursuit of delivering value consistently and sustainably. These values prioritise individuals and interactions over processes and tools, emphasising collaboration, customer feedback, and adaptability. By adhering to these principles, organisations foster an environment where teams can respond to change swiftly, ensuring that the products developed are not only relevant but also aligned with customer needs.

This framework encourages a culture of continuous improvement, where teams regularly reflect on their processes and outcomes, leading to enhanced efficiency and innovation. The systemic nature of Agile Values and Principles enables organisations to build resilience, allowing them to navigate complexities and uncertainties inherent in modern product development. By embedding these values into the organisational fabric, teams are empowered to self-organise, make informed decisions, and maintain a focus on delivering high-quality outcomes.

Ultimately, the adoption of Agile Values and Principles is not merely a tactical shift but a strategic enabler that transforms how teams operate, fostering a mindset geared towards long-term success and value creation. This foundational approach ensures that agility is not just a methodology but a way of thinking that permeates every aspect of the organisation, driving meaningful change and sustainable growth.

Views:
Subscribe
Product Development

Outlines core Agile values and principles for software development, emphasising collaboration, adaptability, working software, customer focus, and …

Guides Guides
Read more about Manifesto for Agile Software Development
Product Development

Understand the Agile philosophy and its impact on organisations. Go beyond frameworks to explore Agile as a guiding ethos for value delivery.

Tags Tags (166)
Read more about Agile Philosophy
Product Development

Mandating Agile or Scrum fails without cultural change; true agility requires trust, transparency, and a supportive environment, not just tools or …

Signals Signals
Read more about You can not implement Agile or Scrum successfully by decree
Product Development

Agnostic Agile is a movement that promotes ethical, context-driven agility by prioritising principles over rigid frameworks. Championed by thought …

Tags Tags (8)
Read more about Agnostic Agile
Leadership

Explores why true organisational agility depends on empowering teams with agency, not just adopting frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, or DevOps, to …

Signals Signals
Read more about You want speed, adaptability, resilience
Product Development

Lead successful Agile Transformations. Shift mindsets, evolve processes, and enable true organisational agility.

Tags Tags (178)
Read more about Agile Transformation
Scrum

Explains why true Scrum requires real team agency, not just self-management in name, and how lacking agency leads to ineffective, ritualistic Agile …

Blog Blog
Read more about The Role of Agency in Scrum: Why Self-Management Without Agency is a Lie
Product Development

Explains why empowering teams to adapt their processes boosts agility, reduces waste, and fosters innovation, using real-world examples and practical …

Videos Videos
Read more about Empowering Teams to Tailor Their Processes: A Path to True Agility
Product Development

Learn how to spot fake Agile practices using six key questions from the US Department of Defense, and discover steps to assess and improve true Agile …

Videos Videos
Read more about Detecting Agile BS: Lessons from the US Department of Defense
Product Development

Explores how greed in Agile leads to overwork and reduced value, offering strategies for value-driven delivery, balanced sprints, team trust, and …

Videos Videos
Read more about 7 Deadly Sins of Agile: Greed
Product Management

Ensuring every team member understands and connects their daily work to the product vision and strategic goals is key to true Agile alignment, …

Videos Videos
Read more about Does Your Team Truly Understand Your Product Vision and Goals?
Product Development

Agile emphasises values and principles to guide teams through complex, uncertain work, enabling adaptation and improvement where fixed steps cannot …

Videos Videos
Read more about Why does Agile focus on values and principles rather than a prescribed set of steps?
Technical Leadership

Learn how Agile coaches can empower teams by staying framework-agnostic, focusing on core principles, and enabling teams to choose and adapt practices …

Videos Videos
Read more about How to Be an Effective Agile Coach: Agnosticism in Practice
Product Development

Explores how relying on story points and velocity can harm Agile teams, advocating for objective metrics like cycle time and throughput to boost …

Videos Videos
Read more about Ditching Agile Banditry: Why Story Points and Velocity Metrics Are Undermining Your Team's Success
Leadership

Explores the challenges and benefits of self-organising teams, highlighting key factors like team accountability, identity, size, and consistency for …

Blog Blog
Read more about Searching for self-organisation
Product Development

Explores how Agile’s true value lies in delivering outcomes and adapting to change, not just following rituals or procedures, and highlights the need …

Videos Videos
Read more about Redefining Agile’s Core: Beyond Rituals and Procedures
Product Development

Explores why focusing on value delivery and psychological safety leads to better Agile team outcomes than fixating on estimates, output metrics, or …

Videos Videos
Read more about Ditch the Agile Bandit Mentality: How to Prioritise Value Over Estimates for Team Success
Leadership

Explores how rigid, judgmental Agile practices stifle creativity and innovation, and advocates for principle-driven, adaptable approaches to foster …

Videos Videos
Read more about 7 harbingers of the Agile apocalypse - Judgement
Product Development

Learn how to turn scope creep into an advantage by adopting Agile methods, focusing on value delivery, and adapting to changing requirements in …

Videos Videos
Read more about Transforming Scope Creep into Success: Embrace Agility and Deliver Value in a Changing Market
Product Development

Explains how empowering Agile teams to act on user feedback enables rapid requirement changes, improves product relevance, and overcomes barriers like …

Videos Videos
Read more about Empowering Agile Teams: The Critical Role of User Feedback in Requirement Changes
Product Development

Explores how questioning, continuous improvement, and team empowerment drive Agile success, helping organisations adapt quickly, spot inefficiencies, …

Videos Videos
Read more about Unlocking Agile’s Core: Questioning to Create Value
Product Development

Explores how humility strengthens Agile teams by fostering trust, collaboration, openness to feedback, and better decision-making through reduced bias …

Videos Videos
Read more about The Power of Humility in Agile: A Core Virtue for Success
Product Development

Explains why Agile is not about speed but about prioritising valuable work, adapting to feedback, and avoiding wasted effort to deliver products that …

Videos Videos
Read more about The Fallacy of Equating Agility with Speed: What Agile Really Means
Product Development

Explores the dangers of dogmatism in Agile, highlighting the need for flexibility, pragmatism, and people-focused adaptation over rigid rule-following …

Videos Videos
Read more about Introduction to Agility’s Ghosts: Shedding Dogma and Embracing Pragmatism
Product Development

Explores how empathy, trust, and respect strengthen agile teams, improve collaboration, reduce bias, and foster continuous improvement in …

Videos Videos
Read more about Empathy in Agile: Building Trust and Stronger Relationships for Success
Product Development

Explores how rigid adherence to tools and processes hinders true agility, and offers strategies for fostering adaptability, experimentation, and …

Videos Videos
Read more about Overcoming the Plague of Rigidity: Embracing True Agility in Your Team
Product Development

Explores how applying 'less is more' in Agile boosts productivity and quality by focusing on high-value tasks, reducing waste, and streamlining team …

Videos Videos
Read more about Quotes: Less is More. True or False?
Product Development

Agile success depends on core principles like adaptability and collaboration, not just tools or frameworks. Focusing on principles leads to better …

Videos Videos
Read more about Why Agile Success Lies in Principles, Not Tools: A Shift in Focus
Scrum

Many agile transformations restrict team autonomy, leading to control and compliance instead of true ownership, adaptability, and meaningful …

Signals Signals
Read more about Here the dirty secret behind many agile transformations
Leadership

Drive change with Agile Leadership. Foster adaptability, empower teams, and create a culture of continuous improvement.

Tags Tags (91)
Read more about Agile Leadership
Product Development

Adapting based on evidence, not assumptions, through inspection and transparency.

Tags Tags (64)
Read more about Empirical Process Control
Product Development

Drive long-term success with Agile Strategy. Align vision, execution, and adaptability to deliver continuous value.

Tags Tags (114)
Read more about Agile Strategy
Product Development

Explores why teams ignore clear signals from Agile and Scrum, highlighting how culture and fear hinder continuous improvement and effective …

Blog Blog
Read more about You can't stop the signal! But you can ignore it!
Product Development

Teams struggle not from lacking frameworks, but from ignoring feedback. Success depends on acting on signals, fostering safety, and empowering real …

Signals Signals
Read more about Most teams don’t fail because they lack frameworks
Product Development

Many companies mistake adopting Agile frameworks for true agility, but real success comes from customising ways of working to respond quickly to …

Signals Signals
Read more about Companies often say "we-are going Agile!" as if declaring it makes it so
Technical Leadership

Agentic Agility is the ability for humans and AI to take intentional, adaptive action within socio-technical environments, enabling continuous …

Tags Tags (19)
Read more about Agentic Agility
Product Development

Scaling agility beyond teams to drive organisational responsiveness and adaptability.

Tags Tags (39)
Read more about Enterprise Agility
Hybrid Agile

Mixing Agile with traditional methods often leads to slow, inefficient processes that lack true adaptability, making it harder for organisations to …

Signals Signals
Read more about Hybrid Agile often combines the worst of both traditional and Agile methods
Scrum

Software development thrives on continuous discovery and adaptation; upfront planning can’t predict everything. Embrace uncertainty, deliver …

Signals Signals
Read more about The Myth of Knowing Everything Upfront in Software Development
Product Development

Failing to deliver a usable product each agile iteration leads to lost trust, technical debt, poor adaptability, misaligned expectations, low morale, …

Blog Blog
Read more about Storms of Neglect The Perils of Not Delivering Usable Products in Agile Iterations
Product Development

Explores why special sprints like Sprint Zero or hardening sprints undermine Agile by delaying work, increasing risk, and reducing continuous delivery …

Videos Videos
Read more about Special Sprints: Agile Banditry or Risk Management?
Product Development

Explores why diligence—consistent attention to quality and standards—is vital in Agile teams, how it’s often overlooked, and practical steps to foster …

Videos Videos
Read more about The Overlooked Virtue of Agility: Diligence
Leadership

Explores the difference between adopting agile practices superficially and truly embracing agile values, highlighting the need for deep organisational …

Blog Blog
Read more about There is no "do agile" there is only "be agile"
Leadership

Change in organisations is a continuous, evolutionary process driven by experimentation and adaptation, not a one-time transformation or fixed end …

Blog Blog
Read more about Evolution not Transformation: This is the Inevitability of change
Product Development

Explains the risks of using say-do metrics in Agile, highlighting how they encourage vanity metrics, harm psychological safety, and shift focus from …

Videos Videos
Read more about Say-Do Metrics: Avoiding Agile Banditry in Your Organization
Technical Leadership

Summarises the top considerations for Scrum Masters adopting a coaching stance: building trust, understanding team context, and leading through …

Videos Videos
Read more about What are the top 3 things a Scrum Master needs to bear in mind when adopting the coaching stance?
Product Management

Learn how Agile principles help businesses improve predictability by addressing challenges, optimising systems, aligning goals, and adapting to change …

Videos Videos
Read more about How to Achieve Predictability in Business through Agile Principles
Product Development

Explains why agile teams need a clear understanding of product vision and strategic goals to boost alignment, ownership, decision-making, and …

Videos Videos
Read more about Empowering Agile Teams: Why Understanding Product Vision is Key to Success
Product Development

Explores how Agile has shifted from top-down management to decentralised decision-making, highlighting ongoing challenges and the move towards true …

Videos Videos
Read more about How do you think Agile is evolving since its inception in 2001?
Product Development

Many organisations use excuses to avoid Agile, but even large, regulated bodies can adopt iterative delivery to reduce risk and deliver value …

Signals Signals
Read more about Too many organisations hide behind excuses:"
Product Development

Explores how immersive, hands-on learning helps teams internalise Agile principles, shift mindsets, and drive lasting Agile transformation through …

Videos Videos
Read more about Unlocking the Power of Immersive Learning in Agile
Product Development

Explores how applying the "just enough and no more" principle in agile practices boosts efficiency, reduces waste, and helps teams focus on delivering …

Videos Videos
Read more about Mastering Agile: The Power of "Just Enough and No More" for Optimal Efficiency
Product Development

Explores how breaking features into small experiments boosts software delivery, enabling teams to deliver more features, reduce risk, and improve …

Videos Videos
Read more about Unlocking Success: How Small Experiments Transformed Feature Delivery from 25 to 150 in Software Development
Product Development

Explores how Agile transformed product management by enabling shorter release cycles, faster feedback, continuous delivery, and a stronger focus on …

Videos Videos
Read more about The Evolution of Product Management in the Agile Era
Product Development

Compares agile product development and waterfall project management, highlighting differences in decision-making, delivery, customer collaboration, …

Videos Videos
Read more about How is agile product development different to waterfall project management?
Product Development

Explores how immersive learning in Agile and Scrum helps overcome cognitive bias, promotes hands-on practice, and supports continuous improvement for …

Videos Videos
Read more about Unlocking the Power of Immersive Learning in Agile: Overcoming Cognitive Bias
Product Development

Explains the pitfalls of micromanagement in Agile, showing Product Owners how to avoid "Agile Banditry" by focusing on vision, value, and empowering …

Videos Videos
Read more about How to Overcome Agile Banditry: A Product Owner’s Journey
Product Development

Explains why relying on Agile burndown charts leads to over-planning and false progress, and advocates for minimal, adaptive planning and continuous …

Videos Videos
Read more about The Pitfalls of Agile Burndowns: Stop Being Agile Bandits
Product Development

Explains why relying on special Sprints undermines Agile, and advocates for continuous improvement, accountability, and delivering usable products …

Videos Videos
Read more about Ditching the Myth of Special Sprints: Embrace True Agile Practices for Usable Products
Product Development

Explores why burndown charts can limit Agile teams, highlighting the drawbacks of fixed planning and advocating for adaptability, empirical work, and …

Videos Videos
Read more about The Ghosts of Agile Past: Why Burndown Charts Might Be Holding You Back

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Jack Links Logo

Jack Links

Illumina Logo

Illumina

Big Data for Humans Logo

Big Data for Humans

Alignment Healthcare Logo

Alignment Healthcare

Kongsberg Maritime Logo

Kongsberg Maritime

Philips Logo

Philips

Slicedbread Logo

Slicedbread

Graham & Brown Logo

Graham & Brown

Schlumberger Logo

Schlumberger

SuperControl Logo

SuperControl

CR2

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company) Logo

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)

Higher Education Statistics Agency Logo

Higher Education Statistics Agency

Freadom Logo

Freadom

Qualco Logo

Qualco

NIT A/S

Boeing Logo

Boeing

Genus Breeding Ltd Logo

Genus Breeding Ltd

Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo

New Hampshire Supreme Court

Washington Department of Transport Logo

Washington Department of Transport

Royal Air Force Logo

Royal Air Force

Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo

Washington Department of Enterprise Services

Ghana Police Service Logo

Ghana Police Service

Microsoft Logo

Microsoft

Lean SA Logo

Lean SA

CR2

Schlumberger Logo

Schlumberger

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG) Logo

Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)

Kongsberg Maritime Logo

Kongsberg Maritime