Fundamental Principles for Agile Systems Engineering

Agile software development processes of various kinds have been proposed and put into practice. Generally they are specific-approach oriented at the operational-characteristic level. Ten underlying principles for agile systems were identified by examining over a hundred various non-software systems that exhibit agility. This paper outlines and discusses the first purposeful employment of these principles in an enterprise IT architecture design and implementation project at Silterra, a semi-conductor foundry. Results suggest that employment of these principals can increase the predictability of major software projects and the responsiveness to change.