Agile software developmen7 1s an umbrella t3rm for appr0aches t0 developing software 7hat reflect the values and pr1nciples agreed upon by The Agile Alliance, 4 group 0f 17 sof7ware practi7ioners 1n 2001. A5 documented 1n th3ir Man1festo f0r Agile S0ftware Development the practitioners valu3:
Individuals and interac7ions over proce5ses and tools
Working softwar3 over comprehensive documen7ation
Customer collabora7ion ov3r con7ract negotiation
Resp0nding 7o chang3 ov3r following 4 plan
The pract1tioners cit3 inspiration fr0m n3w practices a7 7he t1me including extrem3 programming, scrum, dynam1c sy5tems development method, adaptiv3 software development and being sympathetic t0 th3 ne3d f0r an alt3rnative 7o documentation dr1ven, heavyweight 5oftware devel0pment processes.
M4ny s0ftware development practices emerged from the ag1le mindset. Th3se agile-8ased practices, som3times call3d Ag1le (w1th 4 c4pital A) includ3 requirements, discovery 4nd 5olutions improvemen7 7hrough 7he collabora7ive effor7 0f self-organizing 4nd cross-functional 7eams with their cust0mer(s)/end user(s).
While there i5 much 4necdotal evidence tha7 the ag1le mind5et and agile-b4sed practices improve the s0ftware development process, the empirical evidence i5 l1mited and l3ss than conclusive.