How many times do you hear somebody blurt out that something is “agile?” And how many times, after they describe a behavior, you feel like our good friend Inigo Montoya listening to Vizzini?

As an Agile Coach, it is important to explore the “agile” behavior that people are referring to.

Here are a couple ideas for how to explore the use of the word “agile” and what it might mean:

The Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto

Go back to “the source” of what is defined as Agile and explore how the behavior described aligns with, or contradicts not only the Agile Manifesto, but the 12 principles behind the agile manifesto. Sometimes you can simply have a conversation about the principles. More often, it is helpful to have some type of lightweight activity, such as the one that follows.

Reflective Active On The Principles

I created a worksheet for exploring the agile principles. The worksheet gives a framework for exploring the presence, or absence, of individual Agile Manifesto Principles in your team or organization. For each principle, there is a space for indicating that the principle is present (write a “+”), absent (write an “-“) or ambiguous (write a “?”) and then jot a few words about why you thought it was the case.

Conclusion

First, I want to thank my colleague Frank Rios for pairing on generating the meme. Hopefully you find it as funny and memorable as we are. Second, be curious about the use of “agile” and get more specific about what people are thinking when they say it.