13 Jul 2026
Agile can be incredibly hard to understand; I hope this short guide proves useful.
Basic Vocabulary
- Backlog
- To-do List.
- Epic
- ???
- Grooming a backlog
- Editing a todo-list.
- Retro, Retrospective
- A long standup, marking the end of a sprint.
- Scrum Master
- Ceremonial role. Utility unknown.
- Sprint
- Arbitrary unit of work taking an arbitrary unit of time. Significance unknown.
- Standup
- Religious ritual involving technical people justifying their jobs to non-technical people, who don't understand what they do.
- Story Points
- An estimation game for children.
- User Story
- A specification game for children.
Agile Manifesto
One of the most challenging texts in the Agile Language; often referenced but famously hard to interpret. I have chosen a few select passages, but bear in mind there is no consensus among Agile scholars as to their meaning.
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- We don't haven a user guide, wanna hop on a call ???
- Responding to change over following a plan
- We'll wing it.
- Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
- We're paid hourly.
- Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
- Send a lot of emails, but don't say much in any of them.
- Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
- It is what it is.