We Object To The Rampant Distortion Of Agile And Scrum.

We are calling B.S. on what is usually sold as Agile and Scrum. We love the four values and twelve principles of the Agile Manifesto, the original reason our movement was called Agile. Some of us were also inspired by a realistic and useful vision of Scrum. But Agile and Scrum are usually twisted to mean something incompatible with this prior intent, especially in organizations that are bigger than one team.

Traditional organizations will not gain agility with the change theater that is often sold as “Agile.” Change theater is actively counterproductive, inoculating organizations against the structural and policy changes they would need.

Agile organizations learn, reprioritize, and adapt to changing customer needs, rather than focusing on quantity of output.

Even when many teams are involved, adaptability can be fine-grained, on a timescale of a week to a month rather than limited to coarse multi-month program increments and quarterly goals.

In knowledge work, “dependencies” are not caused by immutable laws of physics. The perceived need to plan around them through multiple Sprints is a symptom of obsolete organizational structure, policy, and skills. This should be directly addressed rather than institutionalized with the waterfall dependency management that masquerades as Agile scaling.

Team self management implies a simplified, disintermediated organizational structure. Role-free teams coordinate directly with other teams and learn directly from customer interaction. Please stop rebadging traditional specifiers and coordinators with Agile-sounding names.

Saying yes to agility means saying no to things that are mischaracterized as Agile. Here are some things we can do instead:

  • eliminate processes not owned by teams
  • eliminate unnecessary intermediate layers and handoffs (e.g. people mislabeled “Product Owners” who actually own only one team instead of the whole Product)
  • eliminate unnecessary process-imposed role segregation (e.g. various kinds of crypto-project-managers)
  • eliminate software tools that affect the way teams manage their Product Backlogs and Sprint Backlogs
  • eliminate the obsession with quantitative measures
  • learn to detect other traditional practices relabeled and disguised as “Agile”

In 2001, when helping craft the Agile Manifesto, Alistair Cockburn made an observation that still resonates:

I am interested in fending off the fat methodology army, the vast quantity of RUP, Anderson, SEI, etc. salespeople putting ideas into CIOs’ minds that they should have lots of paperwork to be “safe.” Countering the “I want a turnkey methodology, one that works straight out of the box” mentality. Those are the two battles I could use help in.

We support approaches such as LeSS that are based on fundamental Agile principles because they can better serve customers and employees. We reject ‘scaling’ approaches that increase organizational complexity and disempower teams.

Signatories

  • Michael James (MJ), Seattle, WA, 3 Aug 2019
  • Manoj Vadakkan, Denver, CO, 3 Aug 2019
  • Add your name!
  • Gene Gendel, New York, NY, Aug 4, 2019
  • Rowan Bunning, Sydney, Australia, Aug 4, 2019
  • Robert Weidner, Twin Cities, MN, Aug 4, 2019
  • Naveen Kumar Singh, Aug 4, 2019
  • Emerson Mills, Bend, OR, Aug 4, 2019
  • Adib Motiwala, Irving, TX, Aug 4, 2019
  • Bryan Agosto, Aug 4, 2019
  • Viktor Grgić, Aug 4, 2019
  • Michael Küsters, Aug 4, 2019
  • Aaron Kopel, Indianapolis, IN, Aug 4, 2019
  • Atulya Krishna, India, Aug 4, 2019
  • Doug Spencer, Bend, OR, Aug 4, 2019
  • Richard Ross, Prague, Czech Republic, Aug 5, 2019
  • Tilman Moser, Bad Kreuznach, Germany, Aug 5, 2019
  • Mark A Stanley, Aug 5, 2019
  • Illia Pavlichenko, Aug 5, 2019
  • Marc Lustig, Munich, Germany, Aug 5, 2019
  • Greg Hutchings, Paris, France, Aug 5, 2019
  • Saby Singh, Aug 5, 2019
  • Jacek Bochenek, Wrocław, Poland, Aug 5, 2019
  • Jürgen De Smet, Aug 5, 2019
  • Dinesh Sharma, Aug 5, 2019
  • Markus Gärtner, Lage, Germany, Aug 5, 2019
  • Ran Nyman, Helsinki, Finland, Aug 5, 2019
  • Mark Uijen de Kleijn, Aug 5, 2019
  • Robert Briese, Berlin, Germany, Aug 5, 2019
  • Krzysztof Niewiński, Warsaw, Poland, Aug 5, 2019
  • Duke Femz, Aug 5, 2019
  • Steven Deneir, Aug 5, 2019
  • John Coleman, London, UK, Aug 5, 2019
  • Lien Van den Broeck, Belgium, Aug 5, 2019
  • Juan Banda, Cochabamba, Bolivia, Aug 5, 2019
  • Steven Mak, Hong Kong, Aug 5, 2019
  • Adam Polczyk, London, UK, Aug 5, 2019
  • Csaba Tanczos, Aug 5, 2019
  • Francesco Sferlazza, Aug 5, 2019
  • Georg Fasching, Porto, Portugal, Aug 5, 2019
  • Jeremy Naus, Antwerp, Belgium, Aug 5, 2019
  • Julio Oliveira, São Paulo, Brazil, Aug 5, 2019
  • Rusty Haley, Aug 5, 2019
  • Hubert Młodzianowski, Warsaw, Poland, Aug 5, 2019
  • Darren Terrell, Saint Augustine, FL, Aug 5, 2019
  • Srikanth Ramanujam, Toronto, Ontario Canada, Aug 5, 2019
  • Konstantin Ribel, Munich, Germany, Aug 5, 2019
  • Wim Wijsman, Leusden, Netherlands, Aug 5, 2019
  • Erin Perry, Aug 5, 2019
  • Narayann Swaami, Aug 5, 2019
  • Richard Hundhausen, Boise, ID, Aug 5, 2019
  • Ben Maynard, United Kingdom, Aug 5, 2019
  • Brad Swanson, Golden, CO, Aug 5, 2019
  • Aki Enomoto, Tokyo, Japan, Aug 6, 2019
  • Andreas Schliep, Aug 6, 2019
  • Alidad Hamidi, Sydney, Australia, Aug 6, 2019
  • Javier Bonnemaison, Aug 6, 2019
  • Jan Erik van der Laan, Aug 6, 2019
  • Christoph Schmied, Graz, Austria, Aug 6, 2019
  • Veikko Nokkala, Helsinki, Finland, Aug 6, 2019
  • Brent Uzelac, Minneapolis, MN, Aug 6, 2019
  • Vladimir Gorshunov, Minsk, Belarus, Aug 6, 2019
  • James Stover, Fort Mill, SC, Aug 6, 2019
  • Tommi Johnstone, Portland, OR, Aug 6, 2019
  • Santiago Roza, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 6, 2019
  • Gregory Coolen, Istanbul, Turkey, Aug 6, 2019
  • Jon Jorgensen, Aug 6, 2019
  • Phil Lewis, Manchester, UK, Aug 7, 2019
  • Anton Skornyakov, Berlin, Germany, Aug 7, 2019
  • Jozua Velle, Oostkamp, Belgium, Aug 7, 2019
  • Robert M. Mead, Aug 7, 2019
  • Naveen Kumar Bhaskaran, Aug 7, 2019
  • Michael Garvais, Seattle, WA, Aug 7, 2019
  • Nitin Khanna, Aug 7, 2019
  • Bruno Margueritat, Aug 7, 2019
  • Guillaume Lhermitte, Aug 7, 2019
  • Soledad Rivero, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 7, 2019
  • Prashant Shinde, Pune, India, Aug 7, 2019
  • Denis Salnikov, Berlin, Germany, Aug 8, 2019
  • Leigh Clark, Berlin, Germany, Aug 8, 2019
  • Inna Klyachman, Aug 8, 2019
  • Jarno Vähäniitty, Helsinki, Finland, Aug 8, 2019
  • Marcel Baumann, Aug 8, 2019
  • Marco Juliano, Wendlingen, Germany, Aug 8, 2019
  • Timon Fiddike, Berlin, Germany, Aug 8, 2019
  • Matias Sebastian Lopez, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 8, 2019
  • Marco Pochmann, Bad Dürkheim, Germany, Aug 8, 2019
  • Daniel Hommel, Aug 8, 2019
  • Ivan Zimine, Singapore, Aug 8, 2019
  • Angela Johnson, Minneapolis, MN, Aug 8, 2019
  • Jonathan Lazo, Lima, Peru, Aug 8, 2019
  • Maksims Jemeljanovs, Riga, Latvia, Aug 8, 2019
  • Geir Amsjo, Oslo, Norway, Aug 8, 2019
  • Bruno Veronesi, Aug 9, 2018
  • Samrat Jha, Aug 9, 2019
  • Rustam Borzov, Aug 9, 2019
  • Jaroslav Klech, Czech Republic, Aug 9, 2019
  • Roman Kohoutek, Czech Republic, Aug 9, 2019
  • Serge Marten, San Francisco, CA, Aug 9, 2019
  • Ramanathan Yegyanarayanan, Aug 9, 2019
  • Elisabeth Richter, Graz, Austria, Aug 9, 2019
  • Rick Waters, Aug 9, 2019
  • Ben Kopel, Aug 9, 2019
  • Martine Devos, Aug 9, 2019
  • Zuzi Sochova, Prague, Czech Republic, Aug 10, 2019
  • Gary Hansen, Cottage Grove, MN, Aug 10, 2019
  • Gerrit Beine, Plauen, Germany, Aug 10, 2019
  • Salah Elleithy, Baltimore, MD, Aug 10, 2019
  • Dennis Mansell, Amsterdam, Aug 11, 2019
  • David Stackleather, Austin, TX, Aug 11, 2019
  • Sameh Zeid, Dearborn, MI, Aug 11, 2019
  • Vinayak Kumbhakern, Aug 12, 2019
  • Juliana Rodrigueiro, São Paulo, Brazil, Aug 12, 2019
  • Arne Åhlander, Lund, Sweden, Aug 12, 2019
  • Ramanathan Yegyanarayanan, Chennai, India, Aug 12, 2019
  • Yves Vervloesem, Brussels Belgium, Aug 12, 2019
  • Aernout van den Burg, The Hague, Netherlands, Aug 12, 2019
  • Sylvie R, Aug 12, 2019
  • Sergey Gospodchikov, Ulyanovsk, Russia, Aug 12, 2019
  • Mirza Asfaar Baig, Pakistan, Aug 13, 2019
  • Evelyn Tian, Aug 13, 2019
  • Steve Spearman, Denver, CO, Aug 13, 2019
  • Denis Mullaraj, Tirana, Albania, Aug 13, 2019
  • Jerry Rajamoney, Bangalore, India, Aug 13, 2019
  • Nadia Bush, Jersey Channel Islands, Aug 14, 2019
  • Ellen Gottesdiener, Aug 14, 2019
  • Sebastian Paus, Hannover, Germany, Aug 14, 2019
  • James Carpenter, USA, Aug 14, 2019
  • Mads Troels Hansen, Copenhagen, Aug 15, 2019
  • Philip Smith, Aug 15, 2019
  • Chris Hurney, Mission Viejo, CA, Aug 15, 2019
  • Sven de Koning, Den Haag, The Netherlands, Aug 15, 2019
  • Wolfgang Steffens, Aug 16, 2019
  • Krzysztof Liszewski, Warsaw, Poland, Aug 16, 2019
  • Alan Cyment, Aug 16, 2019
  • Michael Martin, Dayton OH, Aug 16, 2019
  • Dan Whiting, Cincinnati, OH, Aug 16, 2019
  • Gervais Johnson, San Francisco, CA, Aug 16, 2019
  • Danny Low, Brisbane, Australia, Aug 16, 2019
  • Kathrin Volkmer, Oslo, Norway, Aug 16, 2019
  • Fabrice Aimetti, Bordeaux, France, Aug 17, 2019
  • Philip Smith, Aug 17, 2019
  • Oleksii Khodakivskyi, Aug 17, 2019
  • Julien Karoubi, Paris, France, Aug 17, 2019
  • Alek Kozlov, Tallinn, Estonia, Aug 18, 2019
  • Sahin Guvenilir, London, UK, Aug 19, 2019
  • Ahmed Avais, Aug 19, 2019
  • Phil Japikse, Cincinnati, OH, Aug 19, 2019
  • Wolfgang Richter, Graz, Austria, Aug 20, 2019
  • Ozren Crnogorac, Zagreb, Croatia, Aug 20, 2019
  • Jacky Shen, Aug 21, 2019
  • Kamlesh Ravlani, Pune, India, Aug 21, 2019
  • Dhaval Panchal, Houston, TX, Aug 21, 2019
  • Bas Vodde, Aug 22, 2019
  • Kiran Thakkar, Aug 22, 2019
  • Jason Martinez, Aug 23, 2019
  • Abid Quereshi , London, UK, Aug 24, 2019
  • Danil Chernyshev, Toronto, Canada, Aug 25, 2019
  • Gerd Bleher, Böblingen, Germany, Aug 26, 2019
  • Alice O’Kane, New York, NY, Aug 28, 2019
  • Jeremy Fries, London, UK, Aug 28, 2019
  • Leandro Zis, Florianópolis, Brazil, Aug 29, 2019
  • Malte Sussdorff, Hamburg, Germany, Sep 1, 2019
  • Andy Joghi, Sep 4, 2019
  • Duane Kenney, Sep 5, 2019
  • Michael F. Forni, London, UK, Sep 8, 2019
  • Evgeniy Labunskiy, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sep 12, 2019
  • Jerry Lopez, Sep 12, 2019
  • Ralf Berninger, Germany, Sep 12, 2019
  • Kai-Uwe Rupp, Germany, Sep 12, 2019
  • Holger Tangermann, Magdeburg, Germany, Sep 12, 2019
  • Josef Scherer, Sep 12, 2019
  • Allan Rennebo Jepsen, Sep 12, 2019
  • Patrick Wunderlich, Nuremberg, Germany, Sep 12, 2019
  • Andrii Gontar, Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sep 13, 2019
  • Radoslav Ciglansky, Bratislava, Slovakia, Sep 13, 2019
  • Leonardo Tapia J., Madrid, Spain, Sep 13, 2019
  • Andrea Benton, Sydney, Australia, Sep 15, 2019
  • Shane Wheller, Sep 15, 2019
  • Mahesh Krshnan, Wellington, NZ, Sep 15, 2019
  • Bill Asch, Sep 15, 2019
  • Blazej Drobniuch, Krakow, Poland, Sep 15, 2019
  • Sofia Pelzl, Sep 15, 2019
  • Andrea Anderson, Canberra Australia, Sep 15, 2019
  • Sunish Chabba, Melbourne, Australia, Sep 16, 2019
  • Patryk Czmochowski, Sep 16, 2019
  • Willem Aalderink, Woerden, The Netherlands, Sep 16, 2019
  • Jim Christie, Sep 16, 2019
  • Willo van der Merwe, Cape Town, South Africa, Sep 16, 2019
  • Stephan Bester, Cape Town, South Africa, Sep 16, 2019
  • Ewan McPhail, Sep 16, 2019
  • Osman Çağatay Doğan, İstanbul, Turkey, Sep 16, 2019
  • Nick Nijenhuis, Sep 16, 2019
  • Sikunj Savaliya, Toronto, Canada, Sep 16, 2019
  • Gerard Berends, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Sep 16, 2019
  • Laurent Pernetta, Sep 16, 2019
  • Leise Astrid Passer Jensen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Sep 16, 2019
  • Dong-Chu Ahn, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Sep 17, 2019
  • Tim Peteler, Frankfurt, Germany, Sep 18, 2019
  • Markus Tecza, Munich, Germany, Sep 18, 2019
  • Tom Latka, Munich, Germany, Sep 18, 2019
  • Siew Kok Ewe, Penang, Malaysia, Sep 22, 2019
  • Nafees Butt, Sydney, Australia, Sep 23, 2019
  • Martin Fišer, Prague, Czech Republic, Sep 27, 2019
  • Cathy Simpson, Oct 4, 2019
  • Kārlis Cinis, Riga, Latvia, Oct 4, 2019
  • Michael Mai, Munich, Germany, Oct 8, 2019
  • Lukas Benedikt, Bratislava, Slovakia, Oct 9, 2019
  • Anton Romanov, Oct 13, 2109
  • Chokchai Phatharamalai, Thailand, Oct 15, 2019
  • Phongsak Ritpitakphong (Jane), Thailand, Oct 16, 2019
  • Ealden Escañan, Philippines, Oct 23, 2019
  • Clarence Xu, Stuttgart, Germany, Oct 24, 2019
  • Daniel Westermayr, Munich, Germany, Oct 24, 2019
  • Helmut Steineder, Graz, Austria, Oct 24, 2019
  • Tom Holt, St. Louis, MO, Oct 24, 2019
  • Colleen Esposito, St. Petersburg, FL, Oct 26, 2019
  • Markus Fuchs, Munich, Germany, Oct 27, 2019
  • David Cole, Munich, Germany, Oct 28, 2019
  • Serena Goh, Singapore, Oct 29, 2019
  • Mohamed Arezki, Oct 30, 2019
  • Harald Dietrich, Munich, Germany, Oct 30, 2019
  • Mohamed Chibani, Oct 30, 2019
  • Paul Sanders, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Nov 1, 2019
  • Niek Jansma, Nov 1, 2019
  • Martin Schwalbe Lohmann, Copenhagen, Denmark, Nov 4, 2019
  • Tuomas Torsti, Helsinki, Finland, Nov 5, 2019
  • Michał Jakubas, Gdynia, Poland, Nov 5, 2019
  • Daniel Heinen, Munich, Germany, Nov 5, 2019
  • Joachim Schmidt, Munich, Germany, Nov 5, 2019
  • Andrii Shevchenko, Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov 18, 2019
  • Nithin Bopanna, London, UK, Nov 29, 2019
  • Den Sunny, Munich, Germany, Dec 15, 2019
  • Frank Ray, London, UK, Dec 16, 2019
  • Christian van Stom, Brisbane, Australia, Dec 16, 2019
  • Anton Nemchinov, Moscow, Russia, Dec 16, 2019
  • Koki Shimizu, Tokyo, Japan, Dec 16, 2019
  • Jayadev Meka, Bangalore, India, Dec 16, 2019
  • Nadja Obenaus, Hamburg, Germany, Dec 17, 2019
  • Sergey Kotovich, Kaluga, Russia, Dec 17, 2019
  • Hernán Paredes, Dec 17, 2019
  • Mirza Asfaar Baig, Dec 19, 2019
  • Frank Quinteros, New York, NY, Dec 24, 2019
  • Ryan Ness, Minneapolis, MN, Jan 2, 2020
  • Pierluigi Pugliese, Munich, Germany, Jan 10, 2020
  • Dario Campagna, Trieste, Italy, Jan 10, 2020
  • Fabio Asnicar, Milan, Italy, Jan 13, 2020
  • Venkatesh Rajamani, Mar 10, 2020
  • Carla Medway, Sydney, Australia, Apr 29, 2020
  • Charles (Randy) Cain, Nashville, TN, May 15, 2020
  • César Bruschi, June 10, 2020
  • Daniele Herbert Raccuia, Milan, Italy, Oct 28, 2020
  • Juliana Ceja, Honolulu, HI, Chicago, IL, Nov 2, 2020
  • Brian Hart, Indianapolis, IN, Dec 3, 2020
  • Milan Schwarz, Brno, Czech Republic, Dec 26, 2020
  • John Mason, Savannah, GA, Mar 11, 2021
  • Dariusz Klupi, Kraków, Poland, Mar 25, 2021
  • Raj Kumar Radhakrishnan, Ireland, Mar 25, 2021
  • Ogden Rojas, Twin Cities, MN, Mar 25, 2021
  • Narendra Shivadas, Mar 25, 2021
  • Marcelo Lopez, Jr., Miami, FL, Mar 25, 2021
  • Rainer Hoferichter, Lauf, Germany Mar, 27, 2021
  • Jayaprakash Puttaswamy, Mar 29, 2021
  • Douglas Gore, North Carolina, Mar 30, 2021
  • Inga Osovsky, New Jersey, Mar 30, 2021
  • Colleen Maguire, New York, NY, Mar 30, 2021
  • Joost Okkinga, Mar 31, 2021
  • Ravi Jay, Isle of Dogs, London, UK, Apr 3, 2021
  • Maurice Huellein, London, UK, Apr 5, 2021
  • David Koontz, Dallas, TX, Apr 18, 2021
  • Michael J. Tardiff, Seattle, WA, Apr 18, 2021
  • Stefan Büche, Heidelberg, Germany, May 4, 2021
  • Fabiano Magno Pechibella, Brazil, May 25, 2021
  • Lisa Fraga, May 26, 2021
  • Christina Dorfman, May 26, 2021
  • Behzad Nazarbakhsh, June 15, 2021
  • Anna Wach, Marki, Poland, July 3, 2021
  • Magnus Vestin, Skelleftea, Sweden, Sep 2, 2021
  • Chadwick Lau, Hong Kong, Sep 5, 2021
  • Just Meddens, Hilversum, The Netherlands, Sep 13, 2021
  • Terry Yin, Singapore, Sep 14, 2021
  • Kiran Hosahalli, Budapest, Hungary, Sep 16, 2021
  • Mike Baker, Eden Prairie, MN, Oct 5, 2021
  • Emran Bhojawala, Eden Prairie, MN, Oct 22, 2021
  • Sebastian Zebrowski, Oct 24, 2021
  • Neil Marini, Atlanta, GA, Nov 24, 2021
  • Piotr Pilakowski, Poland (living in Germany), Dec 20, 2021
  • Lukasz Florczak, Cracow, Poland, Dec 23, 2021
  • Julie Holman, Phoenix, AZ, Feb 9, 2022
  • Bhanu Prasad Bodgari, Hyderabad, India, Feb 25, 2022
  • Vivek Jayaraman, Chenai, India, Mar 12, 2022
  • Frederik Vannieuwenhuyse, Brussels, Belgium, Apr 12, 2022
  • James Chan, Sydney, Australia, Nov 24, 2022
  • Martin Salias, Buenos Aires, Jun 30, 2023
  • Bastiaan van Hamersveld, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Jul 3, 2023
  • Benoit Dupard, Paris, France, Jul 4, 2023
  • Patrick C. Fernando, Brisbane, Australia, Sep 12, 2023
  • Salman Mohd Sultan, Sep 29, 2023
  • Roy Klein, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Oct 2, 2023
  • Alex Schwartz, Berlin, Germany, Oct 2, 2023
  • Michael Voorhaen, Olmen, Belgium, Oct 2, 2023

  • Add your name!