State of Agile Address - People's Voice

A few weeks ago, I presented my Grumpy Old Man's State of Agile Address.

And I asked for you views. Here's what YOU think of the current state of Agile.

You did not disappoint.

Intro

March was state of #MyIndustry month on LinkedIn.

I couldn't resist weighing in with my own "State of Agile Address".

The Ages of Agile

I talked about the "ages" of Agile:

The age of "Opinionated Agile", when people were staunchly Srum, or staunchly Kanaban.

The age of "Free Love Agile". Where anything goes.

Then I got grumpy.

I suggested than things had gone to far.

I referred to it as the age of "Superficial Agile".

And then I stopped.

And turned it over to you.

Was I right to be grumpy?

Not at all according to you, Josef:

"Agile is alive, well and evolving"

Gerhard, you agreed.

"Alive and kicking @$$"

Josef, you went on to say that

"DevOps is probably the next level of sophistication"

Chakravarthy, you agreed. You added that

"Continuous Delivery will be the next big step in Agile Delivery"

(DevOps isn't an area we've covered here on DTP. But it's high time we did. Watch this space.)

Chakravarthy, you also went on to say that

"The full potent;oaf Agile will only be realised when flexibility in the model is accepted and encouraged."

Brian, you reminded us that

"Agile can be a great tool when applied correctly."

I loved your comment about using the right tool for the job.

"Like any tool.... Agile has its limits."

Darren, you expressed concerns about Agile being "lost in translation"

Meaning that the C-suite "get it"... but then they

"... chuck it over the wall."

I loved what you said about Project Managers deciding that

"Agile is okay ... as long as a tonne to heavyweight processes are thrown at it!

Nigel thank you for reminding us that Agile isn't a universal panacea.

You said that there are a lot of teams

"... for whom it wouldn't add much benefit."

You talk about a spectrum of teams

"using (or mis-using) the tools"

right through to

"effective Agile organisations."

The latter requiring

"buy-in and support from above"

Without it, there will be issues when

"Agile-ness collides with the rest."

Your last sentence is so powerful that I'm going to read it out in full.

"For Agile to mature and continue to grow it must continue it's escape outside of software development to become the way that an organisation manages it work."

Thank you!

Thanks again to everyone who took the trouble to comment.

This Grumpy Old Man is feeling better about the future.

Let's keep the conversation going.

What do you think of the comments expressed here?

Anything to add?

Take a moment to leave a comment below.

I'm going to give the last word to, you Lucille.

Is a Agile and kicking?

"Absolutely alive and evolving into something amazing."

What a lovely thought.

Talk to you next time.