Agile Manifesto 25th Anniversary Meets AI Coding

• Vibe coding represents AI-assisted software development where developers generate code using chatbot assistance, testing whether Agile's human-centered principles can coexist with AI acceleration[3] • The original Agile Manifesto's four values: (1) Individuals and interactions over processes and tools, (2) Working software over comprehensive documentation, (3) Customer collaboration over contract negotiation, (4) Responding to change over following a plan[2] • Industry implementations added artifacts including backlogs, burndown charts, velocity metrics, and story points—elements the manifesto warned against by prioritizing processes and tools[2] • Thoughtworks hosted a forward-looking workshop in February 2026 in Deer Valley, Utah examining how AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) affect software development practices[5]

The intersection of AI coding tools and Agile principles presents a critical inflection point for software development. As vibe coding and LLM-assisted development accelerate code generation, organizations face the risk of repeating the industry's 25-year pattern of commercializing and process-formalizing originally human-centered principles. Jon Kern's warning suggests that without deliberate focus on Agile's foundational values—particularly 'individuals and interactions'—AI tools could become another layer of process-heavy infrastructure that obscures rather than enables quality software development. The evolution toward Enterprise Agility indicates that organizations are expanding Agile thinking beyond teams to systemic levels, but this expansion must be carefully managed to preserve the manifesto's core intent of enabling human collaboration and adaptability rather than replacing it with automated processes.