Each and every day I check my social feeds, wanting to keep up on what is new in the world. I especially
follow topics and people in the agile movement, as I am passionate about bringing humanity to the
workplace. Yet sadly, most of my agile feed doesn't reflect that humanity I so want to see.
From an external view, there are so many twitter wars arguing over who is right and who is wrong, agilists
proudly proclaiming blocking each other, and individuals trying to raise themselves up by putting
something else down.
The whole thing makes me sad.
This agile movement is better than this. We are better than this.
I fear the divisiveness has moved the conversation away from the core tenets and values, reducing the agile movements credibility in the eyes of those those outside our immediate space. When people view us, they view how we behave with each other, and test to see if this movement is really unified in direction and cause, or is it more like a noisy playground of unruly kindergartners. Sadly, I've seen playgrounds better behaved some days.
Estimates or no estimates, which agile scaling is wrong or never scale, coaching vs consulting, word for word disagreements from the scrum guide, pink stickies or yellow stickies - in truth, little of this matters. Companies want to be more adaptive, more iterative, and incremental. They want to delight their customers - and they are looking to us for help. If we spend all of our energy fighting with each other about whether it’s “ok” to use Jira or not, we’re not only going to fail to help, we’re going to erode the confidence executives have in our ability to help in the first place.
I'm convinced this isn't peoples intent, nor is it the entire movement toward agility. I believe that there is a silent majority that likely feels a bit like me, hoping for something more. Something better.
My friend, @RonJeffries said it well a bit earlier today:
For me, I'm committing to only add to the collective voice when it's words of hope, stories of success, or items that might bring this movement closer together. I believe our agile movement needs more examples of unity, of brightness, and direction.
There is a chance I'm alone in this feeling, and few will echo this concern, but I'm willing to take the chance and put this out there.
If this resonates with you, I encourage you to make a commitment on what you will add. And maybe, this agile movement will be just a little bit better and kinder place.
Please Note: this article was originally published on my LinkedIn account March 3, 2022
