Agile’s history:
They claim that Agile was invented at the same time as scientific methods of Project Management. These methods became more popular with the PMP (Project Management Professional). Agile and Agilemethodologies have their roots in the 1950s. Agile is not a single standard. It has many different methodologies that have worked for different people at different times.
Agile is synonymous with adaptive working – where flexibility is key. You adapt to the requirements and go through iterations until the specific requirement is met. Source – The origins of incremental and iterative development can be traced back to 1957, when the scientific methods of project management were introduced. Adaptive Software Development was born in the 1970s. It is based upon Rapid Application Development (RAD). It is based on the principle of continuous adaptation of the process to the work in hand. (Source)
Why did Agile become a reality?
Things became more complicated in the 1990s than they were in earlier decades. Software boom was a big deal and many projects were made for software. Many projects in the automotive and space industries were longer than expected and took longer to complete. Many projects had to be cancelled or terminated due to changes in approach. It was essential to be able to respond quickly or have flexibility.
Jon Kern, an aerospace engineer, became increasingly frustrated by the long lead times and the decisions made early in projects that couldn’t be changed later. He says that he was looking for a faster and more responsive way to build software. He was one of 17software thought leaders who started meeting informally and talking about waysto develop software more simply, without the process and documentation overheadofwaterfalland other popular software engineering techniques of thetime.
Duringthe 1990s, a number oflightweightsoftware developmentmethods evolved in reaction to the prevailingheavyweightmethodsthat critics described as overly regulated, planned, andmicro-managed.These included:rapid application development(RAD), from 1991;theunified process(UP) anddynamic systems developmentmethod(DSDM), both from 1994;Scrum, from 1995;Crystal Clear andextreme programming(XP), both from 1996;andfeature-driven development, from 1997. These methods were first published before the Agile Manifesto was published. However, they are now collectively called agile software development methods. Similar changes were also underway in aerospace and manufacturing.
Agile was first popularized in 2001 by a group of people (17 Agilepractitioners). The Agile Manifesto outlines the fundamental values and 12 principles that are required to deliver an Agile project. Agile has recognized many methodologies. Scrum is the most well-known methodology, but there are many other options. You can find out more about the different methodologies here.
In 2005, a group headed by Cockburn andHighsmith wrote an addendum ofproject managementprinciples,thePM Declaration of Interdependence, to guide software projectmanagement according to agile software development methods.
In 2009, a group working with Martinwrote an extension ofsoftware developmentprinciples,theSoftware Craftsmanship Manifesto, to guide agile software developmentaccording toprofessionalconduct and mastery.
The Agile Alliance launched theGuide to Agile Practices (renamed theAgile Glossaryin2016), an open-source compendium that includes working definitions of agile terms, elements, and elements. It also contains interpretations and experience guidelines from the global community of agile practitioners.