Agile is Dead, Welcome to the Post-Agile Era

August 25^th 2009 marks the day we officially entered the post agile era when manifesto co-signatory, Alistair Cockburn was piped on stage and announced “I come not to praise agile, but to bury it” at the Agile 2009 keynote presentation. Despite the inflammatory presentation title and the certainty that Dr Cockburn’s words shall be misquoted and their meaning misinterpreted, the title was well chosen because it marks a transition in agile. Agile is evolving into much more than an umbrella for a set of light-weight software methods. Cockburn likened the process to the dropping of an ice-berg into the ocean, at first creating massive waves and then slowly melting and diffusing into the ocean. However what is it evolving into, and more importantly, what should it evolve into? Part of my reason for participating in this conference is to find out and be part of that evolution. 

While there were many good sessions, the Agile conference is a wonderful opportunity to connect with colleagues to talk, to debate, and to argue about topics we’re passionate about. Cockburn’s keynote set the context for many of my colleagues, and we found ourselves asking what is agile in a “post-agile” era? We’re not working on small co-located teams with dedicated customers, our clients are large multi-nationals with global development constructing mission critical system. The old formulas are simply not going too work.

Despite this, I was surprised to see how many people link agile to a specific set of light-weight software development practices. One of my colleagues coined the term “Church of Agile” to capture this group’s evangelical fervor in defending the pan-applicability of lightweight practices. Another colleague characterized them as the “off piste snow boarders” to describe the rebellious nature of this group towards anything they believe may constrain them.

 I have often joked about the "Church of Agile" and believed perspective was becoming less of a force in the agile community. I must express my concern that if this attitude becomes mainstream it will stifle the evolution of agile and its relevance. While agile movement is about transforming organizations, the primary importance of project context must be acknowledged and embraced. We are agile, we are about adaptability and flexibility. We adapt to serve the organizations needs and organizations should not be forced to adapt to some perceived agile perfection.