Member-only story
Agile manifesto is long gone! We need a product manifesto!
Building working software is no longer a problem; delivering value is the challenge.
In February 2001, the Agile Manifesto was born because building working software was a nightmare for many companies. Something had to change, and the manifesto addressed that very well. Although the Agile Manifesto is still relevant to building working software, our current challenge is another. Today, many companies can build working software, but they fail to deliver value. My philosophy is:
Building features cannot ensure value.
Being Agile is not enough to deliver value.
Until teams can focus on producing value, useless software is the outcome.
I believe it’s time to create a Product Manifesto! We cannot keep building features that nobody needs. We need to stop wasting our time. An urgent change of focus is what we need.
A meaningful Product Manifesto could guide product teams on delivering value no matter which framework they work with. At the end of this post, I will share my Product Manifesto draft. Hopefully, you can benefit from it.
Note: The content of this article is based on my experience and observations over the last ten years. That’s why I invite you to share your perspective as well.
The Agile Manifesto is outdated
The challenges we face nowadays are completely different than the ones faced when the Agile Manifesto was written. Mainly, the manifesto focuses on the output while not mentioning the outcome. Therefore, blindly following it will not ensure you deliver value to the users and businesses.
I think the Agile Manifesto has done its job well, but now we need something more to combat our challenges. Allow me to elaborate.
The Agile Manifesto has the following four values:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract…
