Agile is Dead! The Endless Debate!
An honest view on the "death" of Agile.
“Agile is dead” is a phrase that echoes everywhere I go. But let’s take a step back and ask ourselves: Is it really the idea of Agile that’s failed us, or have we simply been misunderstanding and misapplying it?
It’s easy to blame Agile. It’s hard to consider ourselves as potential problems.
Here’s my take.
Agile: More Than Just a Buzzword
Agile has often been misunderstood as a magic wand to maximize delivery. Add more features, please, so our stakeholders are happy. But here’s the reality:
Agile isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. Just because you’re using Agile frameworks doesn’t mean you’re truly being agile.
It’s not about the tools. Mastering Jira or any other tool doesn’t automatically make you agile.
Certifications don’t guarantee agility. Having certified Scrum Masters or Product Owners is great, but it doesn’t inherently mean your team is agile.
Agile doesn’t work miracles. It’s not a solution to poor leadership or a lack of vision.
Now, it will hurt. The above will distract you from being Agile. Using Jira without an agile mindset will lead to complex workflows. Deploying frameworks without knowing their essence will create more or less the same but in a different way. Certifying people in a two-day training cannot prepare anyone to thrive with Agile.
The Real Essence of Agile
So, what does being agile truly mean? It’s about:
Learning over processes. Agile prioritizes continuous learning and adapting over sticking rigidly to processes.
Empowerment, not control. It’s about empowering teams to make decisions, not micromanaging them.
Setting a direction, not a strict path. It means having a clear vision but being open to finding the best path as you go.
Embracing discomfort. Being agile means being comfortable with uncertainty and change.
Taking risks gradually. It’s about gradually pushing boundaries, not having all the answers upfront.
Adapting plans. Agile requires us to ditch plans when they become outdated or irrelevant.
Focus on current issues. It’s about solving immediate problems while being aware of potential future challenges but not derailed by them.
The Humility in Agile
A crucial aspect of Agile that’s often overlooked is humility. Being humble enough to admit that we might be part of the problem is key. Can we take a step back for a health check on our approach to Agile?
Reflect on our ignorance. Maybe our interpretation and implementation of Agile is what killed it.
Learn and adapt. Embracing humility might just allow us to learn and improve.
Let me be honest, as I started as a Product Owner, I screwed up. I thought success was a full backlog with clear user stories. I thought that more output meant better results. Oh, I was wrong, massively. But I adapted because I didn’t want to be the source of the problem. It was painful but necessary. Are you ready for such pain?
A Personal Mantra
My dad once told me, “Be humble, and the world will teach you nice lessons. Be arrogant, and you will miss chances to evolve.”
This has become my life mantra and resonates deeply with the Agile philosophy.
Agile cannot survive when command & control reigns.
Agile has a chance to succeed, and curiosity, courage, and growth dominate the mindset.
It’s About the Mindset, Not the Process
Many think Agile is the art of doing twice the work in half the time. Then, they search for efficient ways of doing more in less time. Sadly, that misses the mark.
Agile is a mindset that prioritizes learning. It’s about being brave enough to step into the unknown. It’s about trying things out without all the answers so we uncover what we don’t know.
Those longing for checkmarks will find their safe haven with frameworks while forgetting the mindset. It’s no mystery that SAFe, the undercover waterfall agent, became popular. It provides processes for everything—so many processes that prioritizing learning becomes hard when everything has a process.
If you want to be Agile, you need to focus on the mindset. That will enable you to be adaptive and figure out what works and what doesn’t. Yet, that’s rarely supported, meaning it will be a marathon to transform from wherever you are to true agility. The result is worth it; the journey is painful.
Shortcuts may fake agile, but they cannot fake results. You’ve got to choose between a long transformational journey and a disguised waterfall approach.
What’s your choice?
Over to You
Is Agile really dead, or have we just lost our way and our humility in applying it?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Has Agile worked for you, or do you think it’s time to move on to something new? Let’s start a conversation and learn from each other.
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Have a lovely day,
David
I would seriously invite everyone to explore the Itamar Gilad Gist framework. It serves as a powerful conduit for supercharging Agile by integrating business goals, ideation, experimentation, and strategic long-term planning. While Agile excels at short-term execution and planning, it often neglects strategy and longer term product and problem space discovery . With GIST, we can harness the best of both worlds—eliminating waterfall planning while infusing Agile with strategic depth.
Insightful read, David! I don’t agile is dead, but I do believe that it was overhyped and many companies didn’t even bothered to look at the agile manifesto and just wanted to use it because others were using it. Agile methodologies and especially Scrum are no silver bullets, they have trade offs that need to be considered based on the context. I really appreciate Basecamp, they’re focused on learning and empowering people, instead of processes.