The Agile Manifesto in English - 10

Principles

Agile principles are concretization of agile values.  Agile manifesto lists 12 principles. These principles are iterated in the form of assertive statements.

5.     Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

Unlike manufacturing and assembly line type of work, software development and maintenance is once off activity. Every problem is unique and requires its own unique solution. This type of work requires motivated individuals. 

In Maslow’s hierarchy of need, software professionals already have bottom two needs (physiological and safety) satisfied. They are looking for top three (love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization).

To keep software workers motivated, you can’t rely on Taylorism.  Software development and maintenance is intellectual work not the menial one. 

In “Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us “Daniel Pink says that people are motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose. In my experience, I find Pink is saying true and these factors are by product of any self-organizing team.

In a hierarchical setup, it is difficult to fulfill higher needs of individuals especially if crowd is big. To tackle this challenge, you need motivated individual and provide the environment of trust and autonomy.

In scrum, kanban, and devOps frameworks, this principle is reflected in following practices:

• Self-organization
• Autonomy
• Retrospective