The Agile Manifesto for the Modern Student

stu·dent/ˈst(y)o͞odnt/

noun

a person formally engaged in learning, especially one enrolled in a school or college;
any person who studies, investigates, or examines thoughtfully.

If any one of the two definitions above applies to you, then you are student. You will never stop learning, whether you are still in school or not.

At Planbox, we firmly believe that the Agile Manifesto is a philosophy that can be applied not only in the business world, but in other aspects of life as well. Whether you are a student or not, how can the Agile Manifesto be interpreted when you’re learning something new? Here’s our interpretation.

The Agile Manifesto for the Modern Student

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Team work is one of the keys of agile project management. It is through human interactions that great things are accomplished. Similarly, it has been proven by studies that learning in group is very effective. Books and computers are important, but material is better retained through shared experience. Discuss, debate, and discover together, by feeding off of each other’s energy and ideas!

Functional deliverable over comprehensive documentation
Practice versus theory. Learning theory is no doubt incredibly important; but theory without practice will not get you very far. Be it agile project management or learning something new, be sure to find the right balance between learning theory and applying it to real life situations.

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
In Agile, you must communicate with the customers to understand their needs. When you’re learning something new, who is the customer? You do the work, but you also benefit from it. Being your own customer, you must ponder about your study motivations. Studying can no doubt become frustrating sometimes. Whether you are the student at school obsessing about your grades due to pressure from parents, or the professional needing a new certification that a boss demands, you can be sure that ultimately, all the knowledge you’ve spent time gathering will belong to you.

Responding to change over following a plan
This last point in the Agile Manifesto is pretty self-explanatory. Change is a reality of life. The more receptive we are to change, the more agile we will be. We must stay open-minded towards what we learn and how we learn, as they may no longer be relevant one day. Better things are being discovered and invented every day. There will always be more for us.

Planbox believes that young adults at school can seriously benefit from learning about agile management early on in life. We offer our support by giving our agile project management tool to students for free.

To all students: if you are using Planbox for a cool project, we would like to interview you! Please send us an e-mail at info@planbox.com.

Students are an important part of the community of Planbox users. We proudly support academic projects from all around the world!

North America	Europe
Brown University Concordia University École Polytechnique de Montréal Harvard Univeristy Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) McGill University Plymouth State University Stanford University Université de Montréal University of British Columbia University of California, Berkeley University of Michigan University of Oregon University of Southern California University of Toronto Western Washington University Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania	Berlin Technical University Cambridge University École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) IT University of Copenhagen Leibniz University
	Asia
	Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and much more!