The Fat Man Manifesto

Recently I was at a conference where people were decrying the fact that many folks didn’t even know what the values and principles of the Agile Manifesto were. Unfortunately this led to yet another round of Agile Navel Gazing (ANG) as we flogged ourselves with the 12 principles. I’ve started to feel like we in the Agile community have started to treat the Manifesto as some sort of stone tablets that must be worshipped rather than questioned. In fact, I’m starting to feel like maybe it’s time for a new manifesto. So I thought I would give it a spin myself and see what I could come up with. Hence the birth of the “Fat Man Manifesto”

We value:

• People eating together over eating at their desks alone
• People celebrating their work over adherence to process
• People sharing over isolation

The Fat Man Principles

1. Food in every meeting
2. Barbecue often
3. Lots of snacks
4. Drink beer
5. Party competitively
6. Eat lunch with your team
7. Carpool
8. Music Always

The Fat Man Framework

So there you have it. A new manifesto for people who appreciate good food and good company. Would this manifesto work any better for teams than the Agile Manifesto? Who knows? I’d be willing to try it out.

The fact is that there is nothing really inherently special about writing a manifesto. I’ll tell you a secret: it’s really easy. Anybody can do it. In fact, I think everybody should give it a try! Writing a manifesto is fun, and it gets you thinking about what you really value about the people and the work that you do together. I think there should be a proliferation of manifestos. The Fat Man Manifesto is mine, and I even got some signatories!

So what about your manifesto? What kind of manifesto would you write?