Agile
An iterative approach to software development that delivers working software in short cycles, embraces changing requirements, and prioritises collaboration over documentation.
What is Agile?
Agile is a set of values and principles for software development, first articulated in the 2001 Agile Manifesto. It emerged as a reaction to heavyweight, sequential ("Waterfall") development processes that delivered software too slowly and with too little user feedback.
The four Agile values
1. **Individuals and interactions** over processes and tools
2. **Working software** over comprehensive documentation
3. **Customer collaboration** over contract negotiation
4. **Responding to change** over following a plan
Agile frameworks
| Framework | Key idea | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Scrum | Time-boxed sprints with defined roles (PM, dev, scrum master) | Most product teams |
| Kanban | Continuous flow with WIP limits | Support, ops, maintenance |
| SAFe | Scaled Agile for large enterprises | 50+ person engineering orgs |
| Shape Up | 6-week cycles, no sprints | Small, senior teams (Basecamp model) |
Agile vs. Waterfall
| Waterfall | Agile |
|---|---|
| Requirements frozen upfront | Requirements evolve |
| Deliver at end of project | Deliver every 1–2 weeks |
| Change is failure | Change is expected |
| Separate phases (design → dev → QA) | Phases overlap within sprints |
Free templates for Agile
Frequently asked questions
Is Agile only for software development?
No — Agile principles have been applied to hardware, marketing, HR, and operations. But the tooling (sprints, backlogs, standups) was designed for software. Adapt the principles rather than the rituals when applying Agile outside engineering.
What's the PM's role in an Agile team?
The PM (or Product Owner in Scrum) prioritises the backlog, defines acceptance criteria, participates in sprint planning, and provides feedback on shipped features. They're the voice of the customer in the development process — not a project manager tracking tasks.
Apply Agile to your real product data
PMRead ingests customer feedback, interviews, and Slack threads — and generates PRDs grounded in real evidence.
Related terms
Scrum
An Agile framework that organises work into fixed-length sprints (1–4 weeks) with defined roles, ceremonies, and artifacts to deliver working software iteratively.
Product Backlog
A prioritised list of all work — features, bugs, improvements, and technical debt — that a product team intends to build, ordered by value and urgency.
Sprint
A fixed-length iteration (usually 1–2 weeks) in Scrum during which a team completes a set amount of work from the backlog and delivers a potentially shippable increment.