Thanks for the kind words, Mihaela! I’m glad people resonate with my ideas.

I think neither us nor the rules are broken. I think the way we apply the rules is broken. We forget that rules are for the guidance of wise people and for the obedience of fools. We tend to act like fools and follow everything ad-literam. And when we encounter something that doesn’t fit the “mold” we immediately assume it’s broken, wrong, and obsessively start pointing out to the “Holy Rule Book”.

In my opinion, Agile is not wrong. Just like the Bible is not wrong, or the Quran, or the Torah(Pentateuch) for that matter. It’s people’s interpretation of such concepts, guidelines and rules that’s at fault. It’s our proclivity towards dogma that’s at fault.

Bottom line is that we should treat a team like we would treat ourselves when we have some weird food allergy we can’t link to a specific dish/food. Start with some core process and apply an additive method, incrementally introducing meetings and process-specific items as needed.

Furthermore, don’t abandon this process. Actually, once you get to a point where the team is working properly, and progress is visible, go in reverse and use a subtractive method. Remove everything that doesn’t support the team’s needs and progress anymore.

🙏