Is Agile Dead?
Cliff Burg’s post on LinkedIn, R.I.P Agile, went viral online. In his post, he stated that finance company Freddie Mac has let go of 75 of its Scrum Masters. Additionally, a major hospital chain has recently removed its “Agile” roles as well.
As a certified ScrumMaster, I’ve heard many comments, concerns, and even complaints about Agile. Some companies embrace Agile, using Scrum or any other Agile frameworks to boost their productivity. Some have adopted a hybrid approach, combining traditional and Agile ways to meet their specific needs. There are very few companies that have yet to try any form of Agile methodology yet. According to the data online, Agile hashelped enterprises, organizations, and project teams improve their productivity and delivery quality. However, Agile still remains contentious in the tech industry. Debates on Scrum are very active and subtle. The notion that “Agile is dead’’ sparks intense discussions in Agile communities. While more and more companies adopt Agile methodologies, more and more companies are downsizing their Agile resources as well. Even with a more impressive project success rate, lots of employees still find Agile ceremonies tedious and the process a waste of time.
So, I’ll give my perspective on the issue by first, explaining agile and how it works and, second, weighing in on whether I think Agile is truly dead.
What is Agile and How Does It Work?
According to Wikipedia (at least in the context of software development), agile practices (sometimes written “Agile”) include requirements, discovery and solutions improvement through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams with their customer(s)/end user(s)
Different Agile software methods or frameworks focus on different aspects — Some focus on the practices, like XP; some on managing the flow of the work, like Scrum, etc. Agile is something like a tree’s stem, with different frameworks being the tree’s branches. To me, Agile is not a methodology per se, but rather a mindset for approaching how a project gets done.
Agile software methods came out in response to the rigid traditional waterfall project approach, which is why I see Agile itself as a mindset. We need that agility to get things done.
Agile failed in some companies and an Agile backlash is underway. More and more companies are getting rid of Agile roles. Is it Agile really that bad? Is it useless and helpless? No-no. Agile failed because the Agile mindset is not adopted. People don’t fully understand why we need agility in our projects and when we need that. In order to force things to happen in a certain way, they adopt Agile practices and tools for the sake of trend. As a result, Agile practices are not well tailored but mandated. By that point, Agile is no longer about agility. It’s just scrum teams doing zombie Scrum.
Among all Agile frameworks, Scrum is the most popular one. Some Scrum project teams fall into a pitfall of the notion that success will come later as long as we stick to the process. They have a ScrumMaster move around the rainbow-like cards and hold never-missed Zombie Scrum events. Most of the time, they are reluctant to show up to those events but still do as others do like a zombie without a soul. At the end of each sprint, they can perfectly present their burndown chart and the team’s velocity. Great, another task is done.
Following the process mindlessly does anything but help improve the team’s productivity. Besides working hard on the tech part, they complain that they have to cooperate harmoniously to complete a choreographed dance of redundancy. They understand that Agile can improve productivity. However, they take it with a grain of salt. They don’t truly believe in it. It seems like they entered a new software development era, bearing a mindset “When you are in Roman, do as Romans do.” In this way, Agile is not driven by the notion of shifting the way of work. It’s more like following the trend.
Is Agile Really Dead?
Implementing Agile practices through a unilateral top-down or bottom-up approach alone won’t work in most cases. Without the support and acknowledgement of the leadership team, a transformation in mindset or work mode is unlikely to occur. Agile is all about shifting work approaches and behaviors. Without project team members’ consensus, Agile is Agile only on paper. Do we really need to strictly follow the process of any Agile frameworks? I don’t think so. Tailoring the process to meet unique needs matters. Do we need agility in software development? Definitely yes! We need agility to encourage continuous improvement.
Is Agile really dead? Or long live Agile?
I don’t think Agile is dead. Because to me, Agile is a mindset — we do things with agility. Our projects will likely succeed when Agile is driven by people doing the work, if not, out projects won’t benefit from being Agile.
