Agile is a project management approach, born in software, that consists of delivering in short cycles, gathering regular feedback and adjusting the plan continuously rather than locking everything in at the start. It stands in contrast to the "waterfall" model, where specification, development and testing happen in large successive phases.
The founding text is the Agile Manifesto, signed in 2001 by 17 software development practitioners. It sets out four values, including priority given to individuals and interactions, working software and responding to change.
In practice, Agile comes in frameworks: Scrum (one to four week sprints, defined roles), Kanban (continuous flow, limits on work in progress), Extreme Programming (engineering practices such as TDD), or scaled frameworks like SAFe. The word is now used far beyond tech, sometimes in a very diluted way.
Why it matters when hiring
Almost every team calls itself agile, which makes the word a weak signal on a resume. In an interview, ask how the team prioritized, how often it shipped to production and what changed after a retrospective. The classic trap: confusing agility with ceremonies. A candidate who recites Scrum rituals without mentioning delivery or user feedback has mostly seen the surface.