Comment Agile Manifesto (Score 2) 491
In reading the comments, it's clear that many people don't know the roots of agile software development. In short, agile (note the lower case) development is basically a set of of principles laid out by a group of very talented developers in the late nineties in their agile manifesto:
Note that the manifesto makes no mention of Extreme Programming, Scrum, or any of the other capital-A Agile methods. Instead, it focuses on observations about what made their software projects successful. Itpecifically doesn't prescribe any specific methodology, but rather encourages communication, iteration, and excellence in design and engineering. The last two points come from this section of the manifesto:
"Continuous attention to technical excellence
and good design enhances agility."
The manifesto very much allows for, and even encourages, design. It also assumes that the practitioners are already experienced developers who know how do design software and know how much design is needed before coding. Unfortunately, the most Agile methods traded experience for certified training and the 'technical excellence' portion was lost.
I've worked with many talented teams and have seen agile work time and again. Of course, all of those projects did have design, documentation, and tests. But, all those artifacts were developed using the same principles in the manifesto.
-Chris