Are the Agile Manifesto Values Still Valid?

The Manifesto for Agile Software Development was written in February 2001, when seventeen software developers came together. It’s a short text: four values and twelve principles. More than twenty years later, teams use agile methods not only for software but for marketing, operations and HR, and AI is changing how work gets done all over again. So, are the manifesto’s values still valid?

The manifesto’s four values

The manifesto comes down to four preferences:

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

The most overlooked sentence of the text comes right after: while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. In other words, the manifesto doesn’t reject processes, documents, contracts or plans; it says what comes first when you have to choose.

What does each value mean today?

Individuals and interactions

Tools have never been more powerful. Still, no tool on its own solves a misunderstanding between two teams. A large share of the delays we see in the field come not from technology but from communication and hand-offs. This value is at least as valid today as it was in 2001.

Working software (and working output)

For teams outside software, this value should be read as “working output”: a concrete result the customer can use and give feedback on. Talking about progress through the output itself, rather than through reports, is still the most reliable measure of progress.

Customer collaboration

Contracts are necessary, but a good product doesn’t come from contract clauses; it comes from a frequent, honest feedback loop with the customer. In organisations working with several suppliers, this value extends to supplier relationships too.

Responding to change

Planning matters; the manifesto questions not planning but blind adherence to the plan. Working in short cycles and getting frequent feedback turns change from a threat into an opportunity.

The principles that stand out

The manifesto’s principles describe how the values show up in daily work. Those that stand out most for us today:

• Satisfying the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable output.
• Delivering working output frequently, preferring shorter timescales.
• A sustainable pace: teams able to keep the same pace indefinitely.
• Simplicity: the art of maximising the amount of work not done.
• At regular intervals, the team reflecting on how to become more effective and adjusting its behaviour accordingly.

The last principle is the foundation of continuous improvement and retrospectives.

The manifesto in the age of AI

AI tools are speeding up much of the work, from writing code to analysis. That doesn’t make the manifesto’s values outdated; it makes them more important:

• As speed rises, direction matters more. Doing the wrong work faster creates no value. Customer collaboration and frequent feedback are how you find out whether AI-generated output solves the right problem.
• Tools shouldn’t make decisions for people. The value of “individuals and interactions” requires clarity about who decides and who is accountable when AI is used. That’s a new dimension of agile governance.
• Simplicity becomes even more valuable. The easier it is to produce something, the harder it gets to decide what not to produce.

Conclusion: the values hold, the practice changes

The manifesto’s four values still hold today. What changes is the context they’re applied in: teams beyond software, scaling organisations and ways of working reshaped by AI. What matters is using the manifesto not as a rule book but as a compass for decisions.

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To manage AI use in your teams in line with agile principles, have a look at our AI and agile governance services. Related: What is Scrum?