“A common cause of disaster in software development is that the end product is precisely what the customer originally ordered,” an article in the September 20th 2001 print edition of The Economist said. “In a world moving at Internet speed, a customer’s objectives are constantly being revised, so programmers have to be able to hit a moving target. Is there any formula for coping with this sort of unpredictability?
“With this in mind, 17 leading software gurus holed up in a Utah ski resort in February 2001 to produce a Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Portentous as it may sound, the manifesto represented the distillation of several successful team-oriented techniques, and hoped to inspire innovation groups outside the confines of software development.”
Eliminate ambiguity
In a blog post on July 25th 2009, Rick Garibay stated: “Eight years later, after having applied the principles and values prescribed [in the Agile Manifesto], these values have been tremendously successful at providing the software industry with similar benefits that Lean Manufacturing furnished for Toyota.
“Unfortunately, we’ve also learned that too many individuals and shops have given Agile software development a bad name by using it as a fig leaf to hide behind delivering crappy software and calling it agile, further setting back software engineering as a mature discipline.
“As a result, our very own Bill of Rights has been born. The Manifesto for Software Craftmanship is founded on the original Manifesto but raises the bar to eliminate any ambiguity around the expectations of professional software engineers to not only produce working software, but ensuring it is well designed. Not merely reactively responding to change, but strategically partnering with the business to proactively add value while building a community of professionals that can teach and learn from one another.”
Rick Garibay asks, “Do you believe in these values? Do you agree that as an industry we are still failing to add value and deliver high quality software? If so, I implore you to think about the values as a whole, and if you are so inclined, sign and commit to the Manifesto for Software Craftmanship.”
Is another manifesto necessary?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
There’s not a lot of mental traction offered up by platitudes like “steadily added value” or “productive partnerships”. Nonetheless I signed The Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship because I agree with the intent.
I agree with Bob that the new manifesto reads like a marketing screed, but I don’t immediately see how to make the language more specific while keeping it concise. Signed it anyway because I agree with the intent.
All of the things listed seem to stem FROM the items in the existing agile manifesto, not the other way around
to me ‘working software’ means not only that it functions, but that it ‘works’ for the customer. That means that if what the customer needed was just a rapid prototype to get feedback, that it’s not overengineered. or if it’s production quality code that works for the long haul that it’s maintainable and enhanceable. If that’s the case, then I’d say it’s likly been built with a level of craftsmanship
If you succesfully respond to change are you not adding value (or preventing the loss of value) and if not, how exactly are you measuring success?
If you value individuals and interactions, are you not naturally part of a larger community and interacting with your peers?
If you are succesful at collaborating with your customer have you not created a productive partnership?
I appreciate the intent also, but I think they’ve mixed up cause and effect.
Glad you raised the question, Charl.
Of the 12 “Principles behind the Agile Manifesto”, at least 3 are directly focussed on crafting quality software:
“Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
“Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
“The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.”
We need to focus our energy on crafting better software better rather than crafting new manifestos.