At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

 Explain the importance of Agile

 Describe the five Agile values
 Describe the three Agile principles
 Describe the six core Agile practices
 Describe the three Agile patterns
Most importantly, you’ll be able to:

 Apply Agile values, principles, and practices in your family, school, or other work

Being Agile and doing Agile

Being Agile is first about developing a mindset in using it. Mindset simply means a way of thinking or having a certain attitude about
something. An agile mindset is described by five values and is defined by three principles. The act of migrating from being
agile to doing agile is about integrating these values and principles into how the work is done—through the practices. You’ll learn more
about the values, principles, and practices in this course.

A history of Agile
Agile started because a better way was needed to build software. In the
latter part of the 20th century, software development and changes were
expensive to complete. Throughout every stage of the development
process, approval signatures were required to confirm the work and
revisions. As things advanced and changed, this approach became too
slow. So, people started to experiment on how they worked to improve
collaboration and speed. That’s how Agile was born.
In 2001, 17 software engineers in a meeting in Utah discussed new ways of
working that were flexible and iterative. Out of that meeting, the Agile
Manifesto took shape. The manifesto, which is a proclamation or belief,
describes the vision of the Agile approach.

Since then, Agile has gone through a huge transformation during the first
part of the 21st century, using concepts from lean methodology, design
thinking, and neuroscience.
Next, you’ll take a closer look at Agile to understand how it can improve the
way you, teams, and businesses work.
To continue, click I’ve checked it out! and then select Next.

Complete the following statement from the Agile Manifesto: Customer collaboration
over __________.
Agile values
So, when we talk IBM Agile values, what do we mean? 
First, let’s review the basic definition of the term value. Dictionaries define
value as having relative worth, merit, utility, or importance. So, if you value
something, you believe it to have worth or importance. For example, if you
value friendship and believe friendships have worth, you will appreciate and
make an effort to cultivate those relationships. Values are more than just
believing. Values are about believing it and living it every day.
Your values are also the values you walk past
Wait! What does that mean? Let’s say, for example, litter is on the street
and you choose to walk by it and not pick it up. That’s a value, too. You
have chosen that litter does not have enough worth for you to do anything
about it.
So, the values you live by and the values you walk past are your values.
This is very important to understand in Agile team dynamics. Agile values
guide how teams relate to one another. Everyone is expected to live
by these Agile values and not walk past them.
IBM Agile values
IBM Agile values consist of trust, empathy, respect, openness, and courage.
Click each value to learn more about it

Trust >> Empathy >> Respect >> Openness >> Courage

Reflect on your values!

Now, that you have a good understanding of each of these values, take a
moment and think about how you currently live these values when working
with your family, classmates, or work groups. Use the assessment slider to
rate yourself on each value. Be honest with yourself. Your self-evaluation
will show where you need to grow. (Don’t worry; this information won’t be
shared and is for your use only.)
Instructions: Reflect on the following value statements. Use the slider to
rate yourself on a scale of 0 (almost never) to 5 (almost always) for each of
the following statements.
Note: The slider ranges from 0 to 5 (left to right). The current selection
appears numerically to the right of the slider.
How often have you admitted to making a mistake to family, classmates, or other team members
or asked them for help to get something done?

How often do you put yourself in a team member’s shoes and try to see things from that person’s
perspective even though you don’t agree with that person?

How often do you treat each person on the team with dignity as you work together?

How often do you willingly listen to and consider a team member’s ideas without interruption,
judgment, or dismissiveness?

How often do you speak up to your family, classmates, or other team members to tell them when
something the team is doing is not working?

 
Knowing where you need to grow is good, but doing something about it is
better. Let’s see how you might put this into practice.
Based on your self-evaluation, select two values that you would like to
focus on and grow. Then, using the suggestions from the following list,
practice the activities over the next 30 days with your family, school project
teams, or other groups.
 Value Put it in practice!

Trust  Show vulnerability to your team by admitting to any mistakes you made.
 Show vulnerability to your team by asking team members for help.

Empathy  Take the time to consider the perspectives of team members during heated discussions whe
they offer suggestions and ideas different from your own or the group.
 Ask thoughtful, non-judgmental questions to understand their perspectives.

Respect  Treat all members of your team with dignity by ensuring all have a chance to express their
viewpoints, suggestions, and ideas on how to get the work done.

Openness  Listen to others’ viewpoints, suggestions, and ideas without judgment or dismissiveness. As
thoughtful questions to understand their viewpoints.
 Be transparent to the team by sharing your ideas and suggestions.

Courage  Share any idea even though it might be different than what others think.
 Speak up when you see something isn’t working and suggest another idea or ideas to get ba
the right track.

The more you practice, the easier and more natural it will become to live
these values as you work with your family, school, and other group teams.
Key points

 Your values are the values you live by and the values you walk past.
 The five IBM Agile values are trust, empathy, respect, openness, and
courage.
 Being vulnerable actually builds trust.
 Empathy promotes commitment and cooperation.
 Respect allows the flow of diverse and different thinking, ideas, and
solutions.
 Openness promotes being receptive to new and differing ideas and
being outwardly transparent with the team.
 Courage promotes speaking up to share new ideas or to pause work
when something isn’t working.
Agile values are the foundation of the Agile methodology. The next layer is
the Agile principles, which you’ll learn about in the next topic.
To continue, click I’ve checked it out! and then select Next.
Agile principles
What are principles?
The principles are another component of the Agile
methodology and, together with the values, describe the
mindset of being Agile.

Agile principles guide how we do our work

The following graphic summarizes the three simple principles of Agile.
 Agile principles
Principle 1: Clarity of outcome

Begin with clarity about the outcome, and let it guide every
step along the way.

Ways to act on this principle

 Begin by defining the problem that your team is trying to solve. Too
often people start coming up with solutions before they fully
understand the problem.
 Next, determine the user outcome. Once you have defined the
problem, it’s much easier to achieve clarity about the user outcome
that you envision.
 Then, always keep this high-level outcome in sight in everything you
do. This will ensure you are delivering real user value, value that
improves the overall user experience.

For example

Let’s say your volunteer group is getting a lot of complaints about the
services provided from those who use your services, such as schedule
issues, miscommunications, and lack of experience. As a group, including
a few members of the managing board and volunteers, you decide the
problem is a lack of training for the extended group of volunteers and that
this is the issue to fix. To keep focus on resolving this issue, your group
agrees to this simple, clear outcome: to create an exceptional user
experience for those who use our services. This outcome then becomes
your north star, your focal point, and guides you in everything you do, every
decision you make, every day. Deciding where you want to end up gives
you clarity about what you need to do today.

What do you think?

What are some other examples of outcomes your volunteer group could
have created?
Enter your response in the provided text box. (Your response is saved here
while you complete the course and is for your personal reflection only.)
Save Text

Evaluate your thinking

Does your answer contain the following?

Evaluate your thinking

Does your answer contain the following?

Click here to check!

Outcomes depend on the focus of the team. What did you come up with?
Are they similar to any of these?

 To be the number one service provider of our type of volunteer

services, or
 To reduce the number of complaints to less than 1% of services
rendered
There is no wrong answer here as long as it is a clear outcome that
everyone understands and it can act as your north star.

This is the same for Agile teams in business. Agile teams focus on the user
and user outcomes, not the number of features shipped for a software
delivery. This is a different way of thinking about planning and doing work.
It takes a different mindset.

Try it! 
Build your Agile mindset by experimenting using the Agile principle: clarity
of outcome. Use the following suggestions or create your own to practice
using the principle by yourself, or with your family, classmates, colleagues,
or other teams. The more you experiment, the more you’ll build that Agile
mindset!
 Principle Put it in practice!

Clarity of Look at a current task you are trying to complete or a problem

outcome you are trying to solve for yourself or with a team. Do you
have an outcome in mind?

 If no, take time to create one.

 If yes, is there clarity of outcome? Take another look at
your end goal. Is it clear enough to be your north star?
Can it guide you every step of the way? Take time to
revise your goal to be the way you want it to be.

Key points

 Agile principles guide how we do our work.

 Begin with clarity about the outcome, and let it guide every step along
the way.
To continue, click I’ve checked it out! and then select Next.

Agile principles
Principle 2: Iteration and learning

Listen, iterate, learn, and continually improve rather than

wait until it’s perfect.
 Part of working in an Agile way is understanding that a better solution
exists—and it might take several iterations to achieve. So, what do we
mean by iterations? The concept of iterations means taking another try at it,
but you’ll learn more about that in the Agile practices topic.

Ways to act on this principle

 Start by doing and trying small pieces of work.
 Listen and learn from feedback received.
 Iterate by making adjustments based on feedback received. You
might have to make some big adjustments to get yourself back on
track. (By the way, another phrase for “getting back on track” is
“course correct.”) That’s ok. Course correct as necessary so that you
can continually improve on your user experience.

For example

Looking again at the volunteer example, let’s say your group (board
members and some volunteers) determines three areas of training are
needed to reach the intended outcome: scheduling, communication, and
experience. As a group, you decide to first work on improving scheduling.
Members of the board then ask your group to start work and they step
away. The rest of your group makes some revisions to the existing
approach and tries it. You receive feedback from the extended volunteer
group and users of the volunteer services that, although it is better, there
are still some issues. Learning from the feedback, your group makes
additional adjustments and asks the extended volunteer group and users to
try it again. This time the feedback from both groups is positive: it is easier
for the volunteers to receive their schedules and it is easier for the users to
request days and times for services. But you don’t stop there. Your group
decides to periodically ask for feedback so that you can continue to
improve this aspect of the user experience.

What do you think?

What are some ways that your volunteer group could get feedback so that
you could continually improve on your solution?
Enter your response in the provided text box. (Your response is saved here
while you complete the course and is for your personal reflection only.)

Save Text

Click here to check!

Your group could follow up with phone calls, emails, automated text
messages, or meetings. Based on how you follow up, you can have
discussions of what worked well and what didn’t and request other ideas, or
send a survey of a few questions including asking the test group what
worked well, what didn’t, and any other suggestions they might have. There
are many ways to get feedback. The point is to get it so that you can
continue to improve!
Listen, iterate, learn, and continually improve. Working in an Agile way
means being flexible to make adjustments, to iterate, and evolve. As you
move toward your goals, new information might require you to re-examine
them. While it's important to have the outcome in mind, it's equally
important to adapt quickly.
Try it!
Build your Agile mindset by experimenting using the Agile principle:
iteration and learning. Use the following suggestions or create your own to
practice using the principles by yourself, or with your family, classmates,
colleagues, or other teams. The more you experiment, the more you’ll build
that Agile mindset!
Principle Put it in practice!

Iterate and As you work on this task to complete or problem to solve, are you trying to make the
learn solution perfect before implementing it? How can you improve upon it if you do not
receive feedback and learn?

 Try a draft of the solution or try out pieces of the solution, whatever makes sense
with your project of work.
 Get feedback from others so that you can adjust your solution in increments and
continually improve.

 
Key point

Listen, iterate, learn, and continually improve rather than wait until it’s
perfect.
To continue, click I’ve checked it out! and then select Next.

Agile principles
Principle 3: Self-directed teams

Build small teams with the right skills to encourage self-

direction and innovation
The third principle is about creating self-directed teams. Small, self-directed
teams guide themselves to do the work. They can more quickly deliver on
agreed user outcomes and be more innovative because they are given the
freedom to be creative and to innovate.

Ways to act on this principle

 Build a small team to do the work.
 Select individuals for the team that have the right set of skills to do
the work.
 Empower teams to make decisions and be accountable to find their
own paths. Leaders only need to prioritize and provide clarity and
then stay out of the way.
 Check out the notable characteristics of an Agile team in this graphic:

For example

Let’s go back to our volunteer group example. A few members of the

managing board participated in defining the problem and creating the user
outcome. After that was completed, they left, to allow the rest of your
volunteer group to direct yourselves as to the who, what, and how of
getting the work done. And look what happened? After two iterations, your
group was able to quickly fix the issue to improve the desired user
outcome.

What do you think?

How could you, as an individual, inspire your members to be successful?
Enter your response in the provided text box. (Your response is saved here
while you complete the course and is for your personal reflection only.)

Save Text

Evaluate your thinking

Does your answer contain the following?
 Click here to check!

Wow! That seems easy! All the team members are getting along and
working efficiently. Well ... not so fast. Even the best of teams can be a little
dysfunctional at times. Let’s take a look at how that might happen.
WATCH THIS VIDEO: THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM
Listen to Phil Abernathy, an Agile coach expert, explain the concepts
behind Patrick Lencioni’s,  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Although the
example is related to business, it applies to any kind of team: family group,
school or work project team, or other types of teams.

 Video transcript

As you work with an existing team or join a new one, watch for the
dysfunctions covered in this video, and remember, great team work starts
with trust.
An Agile team is one that is allowed to innovate and find its own path. This
applies to any team that wants to become Agile.
Try it!
Build your Agile mindset by experimenting using the Agile principle: self-
directed teams. Use the following suggestions or create your own to
practice using the principles by yourself, or with your family, classmates,
colleagues, or other teams. The more you experiment, the more you’ll build
that Agile mindset!
Principle Put it in practice!

Self-directed As you work with your team:

teams
 Focus on being collaborative and encourage others to do so, too.
 Encourage all members to be a part of the decision-making process and to be
accountable for their assignments.

 
Want to know more?
Are you interested in knowing more about this trust-vulnerability
connection? Check out the video of Patrick Lencioni’s, The Five
Dysfunctions of a Team OC on Your Learning. Patrick Lencioni’s view is
that to trust, you must admit your mistakes and make yourself vulnerable.
Key point
Build small, self-directed teams with the right skills to encourage self-
direction and innovation.
To continue, click I’ve checked it out! and then select Next.

Agile principles
Summary

Way to go!  

You just learned about the three Agile principles. Let’s summarize some
key points:

 Agile principles guide how we do our work.

 The three Agile principles are: clarity of outcome, iteration and
learning, and self-directed teams.
 Begin with clarity about the outcome, and let it guide every step along
the way.
 Listen, iterate, learn, and continually improve rather than wait until it’s
perfect.
 Build small, self-directed teams with the right skills to encourage self-
direction and innovation.
Remember, Agile values and principles are methods to create the mindset
of being Agile, which acts as a springboard to the Agile practices: the ways
of actually doing the work. The next topic introduces you to the key Agile
practices that you can begin to use, individually or with your teams.
To continue, click I’ve checked it out! and then select Next.
Agile practices
What are practices?

The practices bring Agile values and principles to life!

Webster’s online dictionary defines the word practice or practices as a
repeated or customary action or the usual way of doing something. Another
way to look at a practice is as a habit, method, proceeding, process, rule,
system, or tradition.
With Agile, practices are simple rituals and tools that help groups of people
collaborate effectively. Practices really do make the values and principles
come to life. As you make a habit of using Agile practices, you change your
behavior. If you (and other team members) change your behavior, then you
change the culture to embrace Agile. Practices become behaviors, and
behaviors become a culture.
There are many practices, hundreds even. There are core practices that
are favorites that teams use, and then other practices that teams use
based on the nature of the work and desired outcomes. Regardless, any
family, school group, or work team can use Agile practices, and their use is
widespread in business. In this topic, you’ll review some of the core
favorites that teams use.
To continue, click I’ve checked it out! and then select Next.

Agile practices
Social contract

A social contract is the basis for a safe and supportive

environment.
What is a social contract, and why should you use it?
A social contract is a simple agreement that defines how a group will work
together “at its best.” It clarifies how everyone in a group should behave
and interact. As an individual, you can go off and do your own thing. But in
a team, you need to follow the guidelines the team has set up. And if
someone doesn’t follow the guidelines, the team addresses it. One way to
think of a social contract is as “a box of trust” because a social contract
provides clear expectations and trust emerges from clear expectations.
How do you do it?
It’s very simple to create a social contract. All you need is a wall and sticky-
notes. There are online tools that you can use to do this, too!
Click the right arrow ( ) to read the content in each page of the carousel.

Page 1: Each person in the group has the power to talk about desired and
inappropriate behaviors. Each person of the team:

 Writes suggestions on sticky-notes, one suggestion per sticky

note
 Places the sticky-notes anywhere on the wall
See it in practice!
This following is an example of a social contract that an Agile team created.
This team is dispersed (meaning they aren’t located together). So, they
created their social contract virtually using a tool called Mural.
View larger
 Groups should make social contracts when they first start working together
and revisit them as often as they need to. Most groups post their contract
where everyone can see it, whether on a wall or a file all can access, to be
reminded of the agreement. 

Try it!

A social contract is easy to create with anyone you are working with.

How to create your own contract

1. Schedule a meeting with a facilitator who will make sure all

perspectives are heard.
2. At the meeting, the facilitator should ask questions to get people
thinking: What do we value? What’s important? What would make
this team powerful? What can we count on from one another? Think
about both positive and negative experiences you have had when
working with groups or teams.
3. During a silent brainstorming session of about 15-20 minutes, team
members individually write ideas on sticky notes (one idea per sticky
note) and stick them on the wall for all to see.
4. Once the brainstorming session is complete, the team groups the
sticky notes with similar ideas.
5. Next, the team labels each group of sticky notes, and these labels
become the elements of the social contract.
6. Create the social contract by writing clear statements from the
grouped elements. Start the contract with the phrase, “I expect ...”.
Key points

 A social contract sets clear expectations.

 Clear expectations build trust among team members.
 Trust increases productivity, innovation, and efficiencies among team
members.
To continue, click I’ve checked it out! and then select Next.