Agility is responsiveness to change: An essential definition
This provides a clarifying definition for researchers and practitioners in software development, but it is incremental as it builds on existing agile principles.
The paper tackles the ambiguity in defining 'agile' by proposing that agility fundamentally means responsiveness to change, and argues this definition simplifies agile transformations.
There is some ambiguity of what agile means in both research and practice. Authors have suggested a diversity of different definitions, through which it is difficult to interpret what agile really is. The concept, however, exists in its implementation through agile practices. In this vision paper, we argue that adopting an agile approach boils down to being more responsive to change. To support this claim, we relate agile principles, practices, the agile manifesto, and our own experiences to this core definition. We envision that agile transformations would be, and are, much easier using this definition and contextualizing its implications.