Agile is DEAD: The Rebirth of Adaptability in Business

Yesterday, I published a post here on LinkedIn. I received a kind and thoughtful message in response, describing it as “a thought-provoking perspective on the state of Agile in 2025” and asking, “Will you be writing a more detailed supporting article?”

I hadn’t planned to write another after yesterday —but let’s be honest, posts often disappear into the great LinkedIn void. So why not?

A Provocative Proclamation

"Agile is dead."

This phrase has echoed through boardrooms, technology conferences, and LinkedIn feeds with increasing frequency over the last year. It's a statement that elicits strong reactions - from nods of agreement to vehement opposition.

But what if we've misunderstood what "dead" really means in this context?

The Evolution of Agile

As we approach the quarter point of 2025, Agile continues to be a cornerstone of modern software development practices. However, the landscape has shifted dramatically since the Agile Manifesto was written in 2001.

The phrase "Agile is dead" has become increasingly common, but as many astutely point out, this doesn't necessarily mean the end of Agile. Instead, it signals a transformation.

Returning to Fundamentals

There's a growing movement away from heavyweight frameworks back to core Agile principles and values. This shift emphasizes simplicity and delivering customer value rather than adhering to ceremonial processes. Organizations are integrating Agile practices into daily work without drawing attention to them, focusing on streamlining processes and embracing continuous improvement. This sounds more like an evolution than a demise.

Reframing DEAD: Dynamic, Evolving, Adaptable, Disruptive

As an Agility Strategist with over three decades of experience - predating even the Agile Manifesto - I've witnessed the ebb and flow of agile methodologies. I've seen agility morph, migrate, and mature. But I've also observed its hollowing out when it becomes a ritual rather than a response to real-world challenges.

This is why I previously proposed a new interpretation of DEAD:

• Dynamic: Constantly in motion, responsive to change

• Evolving: Growing and adapting to new environments

• Adaptable: Flexible in the face of new challenges

• Disruptive: Challenging the status quo, driving innovation

This isn't a tombstone for Agile. It's a wake-up call.

The Erosion of Agile's Core Principles

To understand why a reframing of Agile is not just helpful but necessary, we must confront some uncomfortable truths. Over the past two decades, many implementations of Agile have drifted far from the values and principles that once made it transformative. Instead of catalyzing learning, innovation, and adaptability, Agile has, in many contexts, become something performative, prescriptive, and stagnant.

Here are my top 10 symptoms of that erosion:

1. Iteration without Learning: When did the act of iterating become more important than the insights gained from each cycle? Retrospectives are held but not heard. Metrics are gathered but not questioned. We iterate because the board says it's sprint day, not because we've learned something that demands a response.

2. Frameworks as Fences: How did flexible guidelines calcify into rigid, restrictive processes? Scrum, SAFe, LeSS, Nexus—initially helpful scaffolds—have often become cages. The "rules of the framework" are followed blindly, even when they impede flow, collaboration, or value delivery. We confuse structure with success.

3. Status Quo over Innovation: At what point did Agile stop challenging established norms and start reinforcing them? Instead of enabling creative disruption, Agile has often been co-opted to preserve hierarchical decision-making and control. It gives the illusion of change while maintaining traditional power dynamics.

4. Velocity over Value: Why are we still measuring speed instead of impact? Teams are incentivized to increase their throughput of user stories, regardless of whether those stories make a meaningful difference to the user or the business. We’ve mistaken activity for achievement.

5. Outputs over Outcomes: When did shipping features become more important than solving problems? Roadmaps overflow with deliverables, but rarely with the problems they aim to solve. We prioritize the visible over the valuable. The backlog becomes a dumping ground for solutions in search of a problem.

6. Tools over Talk: When did the tools start replacing the conversations they were meant to support? We obsess over Jira workflows and dashboards, losing sight of the essential human interactions that underpin agility. Agile was meant to enhance collaboration, not automate it away.

7. Compliance over Curiosity: When did we stop asking ‘why’? Teams follow ceremonies and rituals without questioning their purpose. Learning cultures give way to checklist cultures. Exploration, experimentation, and emergence are replaced by rigid roles and rote behavior.

8. Scaling Before Succeeding: Why are we scaling practices that haven’t even worked at the team level? Organizations rush to implement scaled frameworks before they’ve understood how to be agile in small. The result? Bureaucracy dressed in Agile clothing.

9. Predictability over Possibility: Why has Agile become a new way to promise certainty in an uncertain world? Instead of embracing uncertainty and complexity, we now use Agile to forecast, estimate, and plan as if the world were linear. Agile becomes just another method for managing expectations, not navigating complexity.

10. Leadership at Arm’s Length: When did leaders start outsourcing agility instead of embodying it? Too often, executives delegate Agile to delivery teams while maintaining top-down control. True transformation requires leadership to change themselves, not just ask others to change.

These questions aren't meant to bury Agile but to exhume its original intent.

The Paradox of Agile's Success

Agile's widespread adoption has been both its triumph and its downfall. As it spread beyond software development into various business domains, something was lost in translation.

For me, the principles that made Agile revolutionary - embracing change, prioritizing individuals and interactions, and delivering working solutions - often became diluted or distorted.

This dilution has led to "Zombie Agile" - the mindless following of ceremonies and rituals without understanding or embodying the underlying principles.

Reviving the Spirit of Agility

Agile was never meant to be a destination. It was a mindset, a compass, a rebellion against rigid thinking and outdated management. If we want to breathe new life into Agile, we must move beyond rituals and frameworks, and reawaken the essence that made it powerful in the first place.

Here’s how we wake up the undead, 10 areas we need to address:

1. Return to First Principles: Revisit the Agile Manifesto and its 12 principles. What do they mean in your context today? Strip away the layers of ceremony and jargon. What remains? Individuals and interactions. Customer collaboration. Working software. Responding to change. These are not quaint historical footnotes—they are enduring truths. Use them as lenses to evaluate how you work now.

2. Embrace True Flexibility: Adapt Agile practices to fit your unique context, rather than distorting your context to match a framework. Agility is not a kit you install—it’s a mindset you cultivate. Every organization has its own DNA, its own rhythm. Tailor your practices, evolve your ways of working, and discard anything that doesn’t serve your goals, your people, or your customers

3. Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning: Prioritize reflection, experimentation, and adaptation over rigid adherence to process. Make space for curiosity. Encourage questioning. Value small, fast experiments over big, slow plans. When teams feel safe to learn, agility becomes natural—not enforced.

4. Challenge the Status Quo: Use Agile not just to improve how you work, but to rethink what you work on and why. Question assumptions. Challenge outdated products, services, and priorities. Agility without purpose is motion without meaning. Use your agility to steer—not just accelerate.

5. Make Empowerment Real: Move beyond buzzwords—give people genuine autonomy to decide, act, and improve. Too many teams are told they’re empowered while being micromanaged or blocked by layers of approval. Trust your teams. Please support them. Remove the friction that keeps them from moving fast and learning faster.

6. Reconnect with Customers: Stop assuming you know what users want. Start asking, listening, and learning—often. Real agility closes the gap between teams and customers. Test hypotheses. Deliver in slices. Learn in public. Let customer feedback shape your direction.

7. Build Agility Across the System: Agility doesn’t stop at the delivery team. It thrives when supported by the whole system. Finance, HR, Legal, Operations—everyone has a role in creating adaptive, responsive organizations. From my experience, it truly fosters systemic agility, not isolated agility.

8. Lead with Agility, Not Just for It: Executives and leaders must model the mindset they wish to see. Leadership agility means listening more than directing and enabling rather than controlling. When leaders show vulnerability, learn publicly, and adapt visibly, the rest of the organization follows.

9. Measure What Matters: Move from vanity metrics to meaningful signals of progress. Velocity doesn’t equal value. Burn-down charts don’t measure business impact. Focus on outcomes: customer delight, time to learn, reduction in risk, and sustainable pace.

10. Stay Humble, Stay Human: Agility is not a silver bullet. It’s a humble practice of learning and improving together. Let’s stop pretending we have all the answers. In a complex world, no one does. But with a collaborative spirit, a learning mindset, and the courage to experiment, we can move forward—together.

Case Study: Transforming Social Care Through Agile Principles

To illustrate the power of agile thinking beyond software, let me share a transformation I led within a social care organization.

This was a £100 million-a-year service, consistently running 10% over budget, compounded with a 10% cut in funding. Despite a six-year transformation programme, there was slight measurable improvement, either financially or for the vulnerable individuals relying on these services.

We needed a reset.

Rather than reaching for previously attempted solutions or linear frameworks, we grounded ourselves in the spirit of agility—anchored in first principles, product thinking, and Lean Change practices. The goal wasn’t just to cut costs. It was to improve flow, outcomes, and responsiveness—while working with the system, not against it.

So we didn’t start with a framework. We started with questions:

• Why are things done this way?

• What problem are we really trying to solve?

• So what’s the real impact?

• Now what needs to change?

This questioning led us to uncover hidden inefficiencies and deep-rooted assumptions. One of the biggest revelations was the way people were being triaged and moved through the system.

Instead of applying the same process to every case—or worse, letting the most expensive staff handle routine assessments—we introduced Agile-inspired triage and flow models.

The changes we made weren’t flashy—but they were systemic.

• Budget back under control after just one year, with further savings projected.

• Dramatically improved flow efficiency, reducing wait times for initial support and interventions.

• Better outcomes for service users, with needs being addressed more quickly and appropriately.

• Empowered staff, no longer bogged down by bureaucracy, but focused on where they could make a difference.

This transformation wasn’t about "doing Agile"—it was about thinking and acting with agility. We combined Lean thinking, product practices, systems awareness, and a deep respect for the human side of change. And we made space for experimentation, adaptation, and continual learning.

The result? A social care system more humane, more effective, and more sustainable.

The Future of Agile is DEAD

As we look to the future, it's clear that for Agile to survive, it must die - at least in its current form. We need to let go of dogmatic interpretations and embrace a more fluid, responsive approach that truly embodies the spirit of agility.

The future of Agile is DEAD:

• Dynamic enough to respond to rapid changes in technology and society

• Evolving to meet the needs of diverse industries and organizational structures

• Adaptable to new ways of working, including remote and hybrid models

• Disruptive in its ability to challenge outdated business practices and drive innovation

A Call to Action

If your Agile implementation feels lifeless, it's time to let that version go. Revive what agility really means for your organization. Ask yourself:

• How can we prioritize learning and adaptation over rigid processes?

• In what ways can we break down the fences our frameworks have built?

• How can we use Agile principles to challenge and improve our status quo?

The death of Agile, as we know it, isn't an end. It's an opportunity for rebirth, for a return to the core principles that made it revolutionary in the first place. It's a chance to create something Dynamic, Evolving, Adaptable, and Disruptive.

👉 Share your thoughts below:

Agile is DEAD. Long live Agility.

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