I keep running into folks with cool job titles like Advanced Agile Scrum Master, or business leaders bragging about how their company is “doing Agile”. And I used to crack jokes about how we practice “Agency Agile” - where you don’t plan anything but just accept and work through orders in the form of tickets whenever your project manager comes up with them.

I don’t think those jokes are very funny anymore.

Everyone should read the agile manifesto. Even though it’s been usurped by talking heads in the business community as some kind of silver bullet it was never intended to become, there is a lot of value in the principals it puts forth. The most important is the focus on human interaction.

All problems are human problems. > > Someone Smart

Working software is the most visible output of my work but my job is less about writing code and mostly about figuring out what problems people are having. Usually there’s a big disconnect between what folks think will make things work better and what things actually will. If your developers are spending most of their days writing code instead of talking to other people, you might be missing something important.

Organizations truly embracing Agile are internalizing workflows that put people first and prioritize delivering results quickly. Who wouldn’t want that? But it takes more than a piece of software or a new process checklist to get the benefits. It all starts at the top by creating and sharing a strong vision. People want to do well so give them a mission and get out of their way.

Let’s get back to our roots this year. Every month we’ll look at one of the Agile principles and remind ourselves what it means in our daily life.

Do you have any Agile adoption success stories (or horror stories) to share?