Agile Is a Mindset, Not a Process
Agile is not about standups and sprints — it's about responding to change, delivering value incrementally, and learning from feedback. Scrum and Kanban are frameworks that implement agile principles, but the principles matter more than the ceremonies.
The Agile Manifesto
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
Scrum in 60 Seconds
- Roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team
- Events: Sprint Planning, Daily Standup, Sprint Review, Retrospective
- Artefacts: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Increment
- Cadence: Fixed-length sprints (usually 2 weeks)
AI product tip: AI features often have uncertain timelines because model performance is hard to predict. Use spikes (time-boxed research tasks) to reduce uncertainty before committing to sprint goals.
Key Takeaway
Agile is about learning fast and delivering value incrementally. Choose the framework that fits your team's context.