Agile is losing its popularity among tech people and the C-level. While tech folks keep bashing agile on Reddit, the C-level searches for better ways to do business because the promise of double the work in half the time rarely materializes.
Many people despise agile and claim it’s dead for good, while others still defend it. But now, with the Agile Alliance joining the Project Management Institute (PMI), the future is anything but certain.
As people gradually lost interest in agile conferences (the primary revenue stream for the Agile Alliance), it had no choice but to find other distribution channels. PMI is undoubtedly a stronger one. Yet, is it the right move?
Mike Cohn, co-founder of the Agile Alliance, admits that the move upset him:
At the of the day, PMs should care about creating value for customers and businesses, not about doing agile right or applying PMI practices.
To that end, this article covers the following topics:
- Why do agile frameworks mislead teams?
- Why do agile transformations fail?
- Why don’t tech people want to hear about agile?
- What does management want?
- What do tech people need?
- My predictions for 2025
- Key takeaways
Why do agile frameworks mislead teams?
The first principle of the Agile Manifesto states, “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” This principle is strong, solid, and clear because it emphasizes what matters: continuous customer value.
Now comes the trick: someone critical is missing when we look at scrum, the most used agile framework. Try identifying them in the following image:
Did you find the customer in this picture?
Many teams start product development by following this framework while missing the most critical part: the customer. If you read the Scrum Guide, you only find the word “customers” once in 13 pages.
Now, is scrum bad? I don’t think so. But is it easy to misinterpret scrum? Yes, very much so. Many teams start focusing on doing scrum better, forgetting that the framework is incomplete by design.
Here are some things Scrum doesn’t answer:
- How to identify problems worth solving
- How to de-risk product ideas
- How to run product experiments
- How to craft a strategy that works
You need all the above to create value, which scrum intentionally doesn’t answer steadily. Although the framework makes it clear, teams ignore that. In short, even if you master scrum, you cannot succeed with it alone.
On the one hand, scrum presents a lightweight framework. On the other hand, SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) is prescriptive and heavy — breaking the first agile value, “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools:”
When focusing on the agile framework, teams often forget why they’re using it. They strive to improve scrum or implement SAFe, while missing the point of driving value for customers and the business faster.
Why do agile transformations fail?
Over the last two decades, companies have invested heavily in Agile transformation. Yet, many organizations have made marginal improvements to the bottom line. Why does that happen?
Many organizations have a similar way of working, for example:
- Management prioritizes what teams should deliver for the upcoming year
- Business areas are accountable for the prioritized objectives
- Product teams serve the business to reach goals
They often focus on the third point when they want to become agile. The change happens exclusively on how product teams work, not how the organization ticks. That’s the clash because agile requires considerable changes, such as:
- 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 embracing the unknown, not having all the answers upfront
- Adapting plans — Agile requires you 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
Agile frameworks have minimal impact without changing how management prioritizes and empowers teams. Worse, it creates resistance and conflicts between tech and business.
Why do tech people not want to hear about agile?
Over the last few years, I have observed a high resistance from tech people towards agile frameworks. Expectations and reality went in opposite directions, frustrating people. A few examples include scenarios where:
- A product owner descends to a backlog owner — Instead of being a value maximizer accountable from end to end, product owners are often limited to managing the backlog and following business requests
- A scrum master struggles to move the needle — Too many scrum masters are limited to helping scrum teams improve their work but have little influence in the organization. Often, they move toward a team secretary or therapist, disappointing everyone
- Developers struggle to focus — Given the number of events (planning, daily, review, retrospective, and recurrent refinement), developers continuously switch contexts and lose their drive. Many despise scrum and see no value in the events
The reasons for the above vary, from poor implementations to a lack of support, but that doesn’t matter. The sad reality is that it has created fatigue among many professionals.
What does management want?
All C-level people I know want the same thing: a successful business, which means significant return on investment.
All C-level people I know don’t really care if teams work with scrum, Kanban, SAFe or anything else. They care about how much impact teams create. Yet, different leaders have different approaches with teams.
What do tech people need?
Tech people want to create solutions that matter. They aspire to make the world better with their craft. They dream of users benefiting from their solutions.
Tech people long for accountability, clear direction, support, and meaningful challenges. They are brave to step into the unknown and create what nobody knew to be possible.
It’s about the results they create, not about the framework they follow. Agile frameworks as well as any other framework may help tech people create impact faster. Yet the goal is never to master any frameworks, but to boost value creation.
My predictions for 2025
How companies work and teams collaborate will shift compared to previous years. When I talked to professional scrum trainers, some confided that scrum training isn’t enough to pay their bills anymore because demand has plunged.
I see the following trends emerging:
- Moving from on agile frameworks to focus on the Product Operating Model (coined by Marty Cagan) — I perceive this as natural because the product is closer to the business language than agile is
- Fewer positions for agile coaches and scrum masters — Companies are already hiring fewer people to coach agile teams, and this number will decrease in 2025
- Product operations growth — Many companies struggle to establish sound product management practices. Product operations are gaining space to solve this challenge by standardizing them. Although I have mixed views, I recognize that big companies are adhering quickly
- Hybrid frameworks — Teams will move from deploying agile frameworks to a mix and match of what helps them overcome their challenges. This is an approach I’ve seen working pretty well because it focuses on the situation over the framework
Key takeaways
Agile frameworks exist to support value creation. Yet, no one framework alone can guarantee teams drive value. It’s dangerous when the framework becomes the goal instead of a means to it.
Over the last years, tech people became resistant to Agile frameworks because their expectations of empowerment didn’t materialize. They’re now starting to believe they’re better without frameworks.
That said, the future may move towards the Product Operating Model. Hybrid frameworks are also becoming more popular because teams can mix and match bits and pieces to solve their puzzles. Good luck, and let us know what works best for you and your team.
Featured image source: IconScout
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