As part of a recent Agile training, we were asked to summarize the basic tenets of Agile in 3-4 words. Our group,  with Mahesh, Yuti, Apeksha, Shahdab, Dhwani, Jay, came up with the following:

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

Deliver value to satisfy

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.

Accept changes willingly

3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

Prioritize, Breakdown, Deliver frequently

4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

Close collaboration, daily

5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

Trust & cultivate talent

6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

Face-to-face works best

7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Delivery is Boolean

8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Maintain delivery velocity

9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

Focus, Design, Excel

10. Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.

Do less, do better

11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

Pick over assign

12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more  effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Reflect, Tune, Improvise

Many thanks to the team for contributing their valuable thoughts on this.

I also found this wonderful graphic which sums it up really well.