How Does the Agile Manifesto Address Planning?

The Agile Manifesto isn’t a framework of how to execute a project. Rather, it’s an overview of the values and principles that are the heart of an agile mindset and environment. Therefore, the manifesto doesn’t address how to create a project plan or what that plan should entail. What the Agile Manifesto does address is the importance of planning. The fourth value outlined in the manifesto is: “Responding to change over following a plan.”

While Agile values the importance of having and maintaining a plan, it places greater value on a project team’s ability to respond to change. In other words, an Agile project should have a project plan, but the plan should be viewed as a living, breathing document that can be amended and changed as the project requires.