What does it mean to "work agile", and why is it called a mindset rather than a method?

Agile means proceeding in short cycles and continuously adjusting (iterating) — it's less a fixed procedure than an attitude of adapting as you learn.

The agile way of working was developed around 2001 by software developer Jon Kern and colleagues. Its core is splitting work into shorter units and continuously adjusting (iterating) along the way, instead of planning everything upfront and executing in one long pass.

Calling it a mindset (Geisteshaltung) rather than a method is deliberate: it isn't a rigid checklist you follow but a stance — expect to be partly wrong, get feedback fast, and change course. That's why it suits problem-solving under uncertainty: you don't need the perfect plan on day one, you need a way to keep correcting toward the right solution as reality teaches you what it actually is.

Tip: The contrast is "big plan, one shot" (waterfall) vs "small steps, constant correction" (agile). Iteration is the heart of it.