What does the 10th Agile Principle (Simplicity) look like in Action?

What does it mean to be agile? It starts with aligning with Agile values and principles. In this article, I expand on the tenth principle to better understand what it means. More importantly, I attempt to identify evidence to determine if there is alignment with the principle and if a culture change may occur. Let’s take a deeper dive into this principle. 

Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential. Striving to eliminate unnecessary work is the goal. This should include identifying the minimum number of features needed for a customer release (MVP) to be successful. It should include reducing non-value-added work that team members are asked to do. It may involve reducing unnecessary steps of a process to deploy a release. 

To simplify, you need to proactively remove the seven wastes in software development as defined by Mary and Tom Poppendiek in their book Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit. This includes eliminating partially done work, extra features, the need to relearn, hand-offs, task switching, delays, and bugs. 

Agile thinking focuses on short iterations and small increments. This way you can fail fast, learn, eliminate waste, and then succeed more quickly. You may also right-size your documentation with a focus on documenting decisions and why you made them. What actions exhibit simplicity? 

• There is continuous focus on staying lean and removing waste via retrospectives. 
• During demonstrations, customers are asked not only what they need but what they don’t need. 
• The Product Owner applies continuous prioritization via the backlog with a focus on minimum viable product (MVP). 
• Documentation is right-sized and includes key decisions and their rationales. 

Do you believe in simplicity, removing waste, and continuously prioritizing requirements based on customer value? It is up to you to determine what supporting evidence looks like. It is worth experimenting with this as it will help you better understand and embrace the Agile principles. The ultimate question is, do you believe in the benefits of “Simplicity”? 

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Learn more about what other Agile Principles look like in action:

• 1st Agile Principle (Satisfying Customer with Valuable Software) 
• 2nd Agile Principle (Welcome Change to Requirements) 
• 3rd Agile Principle (Frequent Delivery) 
• 4th Agile Principle (Business and Development Work Together)
• 5th Agile Principle (Motivated Individuals who are Trusted) 
• 6th Agile Principle (Face-to-Face Conversation) 
• 7th Agile Principle (Working Software as Measure of Progress) 
• 8th Agile Principle (Sustainable Pace) 
• 9th Agile Principle (Technical Excellence)