'''Adaptive Softwaresoftware Developmentdevelopment''' ('''ASD''') is a [[software development process]] that grew out of [[rapid application development]] work by [[Jim Highsmith]] and Sam Bayer. It embodies the principle that continuous adaptation of the process to the work at hand is the normal state of affairs.
Adaptive Softwaresoftware Developmentdevelopment replaces the traditional [[waterfall model|waterfall]] cycle with a repeating series of ''speculate'', ''collaborate'', and ''learn'' cycles. This dynamic cycle provides for continuous learning and adaptation to the emergent state of the project. The characteristics of an ASD life cycle are that it is mission focused, feature based, [[Iterative and incremental development|iterative]], [[Timeboxing|timeboxed]], risk driven, and change tolerant.
The word ''speculate'' refers to the [[paradox]] of planning – it is more likely to assume that all stakeholders are comparably wrong for certain aspects of the project’s mission, while trying to define it. ''Collaboration'' refers to the efforts for balancing the work based on predictable parts of the environment (planning and guiding them) and adapting to the uncertain surrounding mix of changes caused by various factors, –such as technology, requirements, stakeholders, software vendors, etcvendors�. The ''learning'' cycles, challenging all stakeholders, are based on the short iterations with design, build and testing. During these iterations the knowledge is gathered by making small mistakes based on false assumptions and correcting those mistakes, thus leading to greater experience and eventually mastery in the problem ___domain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adaptivesd.com/articles/messy.htm|title=Messy, Exciting, and Anxiety-Ridden: Adaptive Software Development}}</ref>
