Agile first
When Innovation Turns Into a Ritual
In the world of agile, where everything is "sprints" and "scrums," our Founder is a true believer—but not without his skepticism. The story dives into the hype around agile methodology, showing how even the most well-meaning businesses can end up in an endless loop of "stand-ups" and "retrospectives." Consulting firms made a fortune selling this revolution, even when it didn’t fit, turning functioning companies into chaos in the name of agility.
Agile—the word that once promised freedom from bureaucratic red tape and soul-crushing waterfall processes. It was supposed to make our lives better, more dynamic, more human. And hey, for a while, it did. But fast forward a few years, and Agile has gone from being a revolutionary mindset to a buzzword so overused it might as well be on our company T-shirts. So, here’s the burning question: Has Agile really changed the way we work, or is it just another corporate ritual?
When our Founder first encountered Agile back in the late '90s, he was hooked. After all, who wouldn’t be after sitting through enough mind-numbing project timelines to question the meaning of life? Inspired by Agile pioneers like Kent Beck, Jeff Sutherland, Robert C. Martin, Martin Fowler, et.al., he dreamt of a company where self-organization and collaboration thrived—a place where developers weren’t cogs in a corporate machine, but masters of their own destiny. So, of course, we built our company on these Agile ideals.
But here’s where things get... ironic. In the beginning, Agile was all about cutting through the nonsense—no more endless paperwork, no more rigid hierarchies. But somewhere along the way, Agile started to look a lot like the corporate nonsense it was supposed to eliminate. Now, instead of spending hours writing detailed specs, we’re spending hours on daily stand-ups, sprint retrospectives, and backlog grooming sessions. We’ve traded Gantt charts for Kanban boards, but it seems we’ve kept the meetings.
Agile promised flexibility, right? So why are we tied to more rituals than ever before? Want to start coding? Better wait for the sprint planning meeting. Need to change direction? Let’s schedule an emergency sprint retrospective. And if you dare to suggest that maybe we’re overdoing it, you’ll be met with the stern gaze of a certified Scrum Master™ who’ll tell you to “trust the process.”
It doesn’t stop there. The Agile-industrial complex has taken off. Consultants, workshops, training sessions—all designed to teach us what we already knew: collaboration is good, communication matters, and maybe we shouldn’t make people work 80-hour weeks. Meanwhile, we’ve got developers spending more time in ceremonies than actually writing code. We’ve essentially created an entire industry just to remind us to be flexible—which feels a lot like defeating the purpose.
And yet… despite all the irony and Agile fatigue, the truth is, when we manage to cut through the rituals, Agile still works. Sure, we might laugh at the endless sprints and retrospectives, but Agile has helped us navigate complex, fast-moving projects without sinking the ship. Back when the Founder started this company, we were dealing with corporate giants and their never-ending procurement processes. Agile gave us the tools to stay nimble, keep the team motivated, and avoid the trap of becoming another lumbering IT tanker.
In the end, Agile’s real value isn’t in the ceremonies or the sticky notes. It’s in the mindset: the idea that we can adapt, learn, and change as we go. Even when Agile starts to feel like a buzzword, it still pushes us to challenge the old way of doing things—and that’s worth holding onto.
So, is Agile just another empty corporate ritual? Maybe sometimes. But when done right, it’s still the best tool we’ve got to survive in an industry that never stops changing. We just need to remember: the stand-up isn’t the point. The flexibility is.
And maybe, just maybe, we could cut down on a few retros, okay?
Got thoughts? Share them at ifeel@lostindigital.blog