I’ve seen this line from the Principles behind the Manifesto for Agile Software Development come under fire recently:

Working software is the primary measure of progress.

So is it?

Well, in my view… yes, and no.

Yes, it is the primary measure of progress, given the context of the Manifesto, which is defined in the opening line: “We are uncovering better ways of developing software…”

If our goal is to uncover better ways of developing software then, well, yeah… working software is pretty high on the list of things against which I’d measure success.

The criticism, along with a lot of conversation about this Manifesto, however seems to forget this, and assume that the Manifesto is some sort of golden standard for all things business-related. Or maybe even all things life-related.